How To Create A Useful Employee Recognition FAQ For Your Team

You've researched dozens of HR tech vendors and picked the perfect recognition platform. Employee morale and productivity are set to skyrocket across your organization as your team members begin to praise and appreciate each other. But before the good stuff rolls in, you're hit by a barrage of questions—your employees and managers aren’t sure how to use your new recognition solution. You're fielding queries left, right, and center, and everything feels a little chaotic. 

Get ahead of the quizzing by designing and distributing an employee recognition FAQ guide so everyone feels on the same page. This guide provides: 

• What to include in your FAQs
• Examples of 25 questions for users and 16 questions for managers 
• A customizable, downloadable template as a base for your own FAQ doc

What Is An Employee Recognition FAQ? 

An employee recognition FAQ guide is a value-packed document or section within your overall employee recognition policy that answers common questions about your recognition program. 

Your FAQ can be shaped by questions you expect or by adding things your users have already asked. The goal is to create a helpful knowledge base for anyone who gives, receives, and manages recognition in your organization. 

Nancy Stewart, HR Leadership Consultant at Talent Alchemists shares, 

"I swear by the efficiency and effectiveness of Employee FAQs and include them with every HR program launch. I create a shared document with anticipated questions from employees and corresponding answers. As new questions arise, I’ll add these to the documents."

Why Use An Employee Recognition FAQ When Launching Your Program?

Rather than answering similar questions repeatedly, an FAQ removes friction by providing all the information upfront so you can start giving and receiving praise smoothly. Here are the key benefits of creating a custom FAQ guide: 

Encourage Participation 

The bottom line is that your people will only participate in your program if they understand how to use it. Your recognition platform investment can fall flat if there isn't enough interest or involvement in it. That’s why simple solutions to common queries ensure that everyone knows exactly how to use some of your tool's clever features. 

Ensure Consistency

Strong communication is the backbone of a consistent recognition program. A central hub for all questions and answers enables you to share standardized information across your organization. Everyone is on the same page, and there's no room for confusion, misinformation, or rumors. 

Provide First Line Support 

If your HR team or department managers are constantly fielding questions about recognition, your FAQ doc can be a serious time-saver. Your users can quickly browse the answer to a question rather than waste time waiting for a response from an overrun support team. 

Address User Concerns 

While FAQs cover technical queries, they’re also a fantastic opportunity to answer questions related to how recognition links to company culture, professional development, and bias. 

For example, some employees may question if the recognition program is fair or just another way for managers to play favorites. These bigger-picture questions address employees' concerns or doubts about your program’s impact on their personal growth. 

What Should You Include In Your Employee Recognition FAQ? 

Every aspect of your employee recognition program is customizable, so it follows that your FAQs can include absolutely anything you want to address or clarify. As a kicking-off point, consider covering the following topics in some way: 

• Program overview: Provide general background info about the purpose and goals of the program—what’s your mission, and what are you trying to accomplish? 
• Technology and tools: Provide general setup and implementation of your software platform. 
• Eligibility and participation: Clarify who can give and receive praise and rewards. 
• Types of recognition and rewards: Outline the different forms of monetary and non-monetary rewards and public or private recognition available. 
• Nomination and selection process: If you run Employee Awards programs, clarify how the nomination process works. 
• Legal considerations: Cover any legal considerations or compliance issues related to the program.
• Support and training: Provide video guides, helpdesk contact details, or further training documentation. 

25 Employee Recognition FAQs For Employees 

The following questions and sample answers are aimed at non-managerial employees with basic user privileges who want to understand how to use the system and how recognition works across your organization in general. 

General Access And Participation

Bear in mind that your employees are busy and probably already have a handful of tools in their tech stacks to collaborate on. Questions in this section should answer the basics of logging in and navigating your recognition suite, including: 

Question: How do I access the recognition platform?

Provide URL details or instructions on how to log into your software, including the credentials you'll need, such as a username/email address and password. 

Question: How do I reset my password or change my email address? 

Include password reset instructions or details on how to contact administrators to force a reset. 

Question: How does the recognition platform work? 

Describe the basic premise of how your program works. For a points-based recognition system like Nectar, you'd explain that peers, managers, and leaders exchange public shoutouts and Nectar points in a social feed. Recipients then redeem their accumulated points for a selection of rewards. 

Question: Is there a tutorial or guide for first-time users?

Create a Loom or YouTube video explaining your platform to visual learners who pick up new concepts more easily from images and recordings than written text. As a best practice, create a series of short videos rather than a longer one, so that they’re easier to digest. Bite-sized content allows learners to pause, rewind, and rewatch at their convenience. 

Giving Recognition

Once your employees are logged in, they'll have more complex questions about giving and receiving recognition to each other. Their questions might include: 

Question: What employee behaviors should be recognized? 

This is your chance to bring your recognition program to life and explain how you want recognition to support your company culture and overall mission. Some employee behaviors you may wish to applaud include:

• Helping a team member 
• Achieving a sales win 
• Promoting your employer brand on social media
• Actively living the company’s core values 
• Achieving excellence on a recent project 

Provide precise examples so your employees feel comfortable recognizing similar activities and behaviors when they see them in action.

Question: What steps should I take to give recognition to my colleagues? 

In your FAQ guide, create a linear process that describes how users give recognition. This might involve: 

• Selecting recipients
• Assigning points
• Writing meaningful recognition messages
• Posting public or private shoutouts

Screenshot examples are also useful for learners who need visual cues. 

Question: Are there any restrictions on who can give and receive recognition within the company? 

Explain eligibility criteria, such as only recognizing employees within the same department or geographical location. You should also define whether part-time employees, contractors, and interns are eligible to participate in your program.

Question: How can I find the name of the person I wish to recognize? 

In larger organizations, highlight how employees can search for a specific person. You may point them toward a directory search facility or provide contact information for managers or HR team members who can help users locate the correct person. 

Question: Can I give recognition points to the same person every time?

Some employees may be tempted to give points to their "work bestie" frequently. Although understandable, this behavior may create an imbalance and make other employees feel left out or undervalued. 

Depending on your approach to recognition, you may outline how your company has introduced program guardrails to avoid this situation. This could be through implementing a points cap per recipient or by encouraging employees to give recognition to different colleagues each time.

Question: Can I give points to myself?

While self-recognition can be super valuable for personal and professional development, it may not align with your company's recognition program goals. If so, clarify that the spirit of your recognition program is to celebrate your coworkers' contributions. When people give regular praise, they’ll likely attract positivity from others in return. 

Question: Are there guidelines for writing a recognition message?

According to Nectar's recent recognition survey, authenticity is the variable that makes recognition most meaningful. Your FAQs could provide your stance on using generative AI in employee recognition or include a useful recipe to deliver genuine, thoughtful feedback based on the following ingredients: 

• The recipient’s name 
• A message of gratitude 
• A description of the behaviors or specific acts you want to recognize 
• An explanation of how it supports your company’s values 
• Any results produced by their contribution 
• A motivating summary prompting them to keep up the great work 

Managing Recognition

With your recognition system in full swing, users may have questions about regular tasks such as tracking their points balance, redeeming rewards, or reporting technical issues.

Question: How can I edit or delete a recognition message?

Provide details on removing or correcting a post if recognition-givers make a mistake in their message, accidentally give the wrong amount of points, or post a duplicate shoutout. 

Question: Can I review praise history? 

Praise has a fantastic impact on employee morale, so some of your workers may wish to review a historic message that gave them a particular boost. Explain how users can view, archive, print, or take screenshots of their recognition so the positivity is never far away. 

Question: Who can see recognition posts?

Explain whether recognition posts are public or private in your organization, including the reasoning behind your strategy. For example, you might wish for all recognition to be public, or you may wish for managers to give occasional praise in private to support individual performance goals. 

Question: How do recognition notifications work?

Explain how your employees will know when they receive recognition. For example, you might set up email notifications or integrate your recognition platform with software like Slack or Microsoft Teams and receive DMs there. 

Question: How can I flag recognition as inappropriate?

If employees receive praise messages that violate company policies or promote problematic behavior, clarify how they should flag and report such issues, and who will handle the incident. 

Points

For companies that use points-based recognition, your employees undoubtedly have questions about what these points mean in the real world. Questions might include: 

Question: Do points expire?

If you’re using a points-based system, increase participation in your recognition program by having points to give expire at the end of the month. This creates a sense of urgency to use them or lose them. You may prefer to have no expiration date associated with points to redeem, allowing employees to save up for a larger reward. 

Question: How many points can I give?

Explain how your points allowances work. For example, each user might receive 50 points to give each month, which expire if they don't use them. 

Question: How can I boost my points?

When users have run out of points to give, you may allow them to boost their points-to-give allowance by converting some points to redeem. If so, provide a quick explanation or demonstration on how to do this. 

Question: How much are points worth?

Explain how your points currency works. For example, 10 points may equal $1. 

Question: How do you redeem points?

Share how your company lets employees redeem their points, such as gift cards from popular brands, access to an online catalog, or custom rewards your company offers. Clarify exactly how and when platform users can cash in their points and receive their rewards. 

Employee Awards 

Employee awards tie in with recognition, providing extra elevation to people who have achieved particular excellence. Whether you run regular Employee of the Month awards or opt for specialist categories such as "Salesperson of the Quarter" or "Rookie of the Year," provide clarity about how they work by answering the following: 

Question: What employee awards are available?

Outline your specific calendar of awards, including: 

• The name of the award
• The frequency of the award
• The deadline for nominations 
• Who is eligible to receive the award 
• Who can nominate people to win the award
• Any other important criteria for the award (e.g., company values, performance metrics, etc.) 

Question: How can I nominate someone to win an award?

If your organization accepts peer-based nominations, describe the submission process. This should include deadline dates, eligibility criteria, and any required evidence. 

Question: Who reviews nominations to select the award winner?

Explain who determines award winners to increase trust in your award program. If you use a nomination committee, state who is part of the committee, how votes are determined, and who gets the deciding vote in the event of a tie-break. 

Question: How are nominees and winners notified?

Explain how employees can expect to hear if they have been nominated or won an award. For example, will you announce it on the recognition platform, by email, in a town hall meeting, or in person?

16 Employee Recognition FAQs For Managers

Manager involvement in recognition sets the tone for your entire program. When leaders actively and openly praise their team members and peers, they permit others to follow suit. The questions in this section are aimed at managers and supervisors with administrative privileges who access the recognition system's back-end. 

Recognizing Employees 

While people of any rank or role in your org chart should feel comfortable giving recognition, there's more pressure on managers to get it right. In Nectar's employee recognition survey, 40% of employees reported that managers were the group that had the most impact on them recognition-wise. 33% craved recognition from the C-suite, and 28% depended on peer feedback. With this in mind, consider including the following questions in your FAQ guide: 

Question: What are the different ways to recognize someone?

Encourage managers to think about multiple forms of recognition. For example, you might use a recognition platform combined with quarterly awards, and shoutouts during team meetings. 

Question: How frequently should I recognize employees? 

We know from our recognition statistics that 49% of employees receive feedback daily or weekly. When the frequency dips to monthly, quarterly, or worse, it becomes harder to motivate your workers. Use your FAQ doc to offer guidance on when to appreciate your employees, such as: 

• Hitting a big sales target 
• Showing improvement in key performance areas 
• Celebrating a birthday or work anniversary 
• Having a positive impact on their team 

Encourage managers to balance consistency with spontaneity and suggest that they recognize employees for small and large wins in equal measure.  

Question: Can I recognize a team or group, and how?

Describe how managers can appreciate the collective effort of their entire team, perhaps at the end of a project or when winning a new client. For example, Nectar offers a group give facility that might also be useful on Employee Appreciation Day or as a holiday bonus. 

Question: Can I recognize employees from different departments?

While managers often focus on their own team members, they'll occasionally want to honor someone from an adjacent team. Provide details of how they can do this, either by contacting the employee's manager to pass on the recognition or by appreciating them directly. 

Question: Can I give recognition in private? 

There's much to be said for acknowledging your employees in public, setting an example to teammates, and showing everyone else their efforts are appreciated. However, your managers should know how to share recognition privately, too, perhaps if an employee has expressed a preference for staying out of the limelight or if they've been working on a private performance goal under their manager’s supervision.

Budgeting And Financials 

Formal recognition programs are an investment, so your managers must understand how to deliver effective praise and rewards while aligning with the company’s financials. Relevant questions may include: 

Question: How much money per department for recognition?

Provide details of how much a manager can spend on employee recognition each month, quarter, or year. This is straightforward with a points-based system, as managers will have a customizable allocation of manager points to distribute, preventing them from going over budget. 

Question: How much can we spend on recognition events, such as awards ceremonies? 

If your employee awards are accompanied by a formal celebration such as a dinner and drinks event or a ceremony, state how much money your managers can spend on throwing a lavish occasion. 

Question: What information does payroll need for taxable gifts?

Liaise with your payroll department about the tax implications of giving employee rewards and communicate these to your employees and managers. List the specific information that your payroll administrators may require to remain compliant.

Handling Recognition Issues

If your company offers a culture where employees feel safe to raise concerns, they’ll look to their managers to handle any recognition issues. Equip your managers by answering questions like: 

Question: How should I handle inappropriate recognition?

Highlight the procedure you wish your managers to follow, which might be: 

• Immediately reviewing the flagged recognition message
• Hiding the recognition message from any public channels 
• Asking the person who placed the recognition to clarify their intentions 
• Investigating and escalating to senior management and HR as required 
• Providing ongoing support for the recognition recipient 

This process will give your managers the confidence to handle any uncomfortable recognition instances and provide a channel for employees to communicate their discomfort. 

Question: What steps should be taken if an employee feels the recognition system is unfair? 

If employees feel their peers receive more recognition than them or are never nominated for employee awards, they may become disengaged with the system. Encourage managers to address any concerns in a supportive and fair manner and remind them to recognize all employees for their contributions. 

Offer suggestions on how managers can gather feedback from their team members and, if necessary, improve the recognition program, such as by increasing the diversity of their nominations committee. 

Question: How can we collect feedback to improve the recognition program?

Create clear feedback mechanisms such as regular employee surveys to support your managers in understanding employee sentiment. Share a data analysis plan and outline how to improve recognition practices continuously. 

Technical Management 

Managers must complete various admin tasks due to their higher-level system permissions. Answer questions such as: 

Question: How do I deactivate users?

When employees leave the team voluntarily or involuntarily, provide clear visual or video instructions on how to deactivate their recognition accounts. 

Question: What is the process for reinstating a deactivated user?

Similarly, if a deactivated user, such as a person on sabbatical or parental leave, returns after a period of absence, provide instructions on how to restore their account. 

Question: Is user data stored securely? 

Employees may approach managers with questions about how recognition data is stored. Provide details about encryption, backups, and other security measures that they can pass on. 

Question: How does the recognition platform integrate with my other software?

While some recognition platforms may be standalone, others, like Nectar, offer integrations with a range of HRIS, Single Sign On, and work collaboration systems to increase participation. Describe how these integrations work, and explain the implications for logging in, or setting up automations between systems. 

Question: How do we access technical support? 

Include key support details in your manager FAQs, such as email addresses, phone numbers, and any knowledge base articles or community forums that could support their queries. 

Download Nectar’s Employee Recognition FAQ Template

Ready to create your own employee recognition FAQs? This workbook provides everything you need to answer your employees' and managers' frequently asked questions. Feel free to customize the workbook by adding or removing questions based on your own program. We've included an action items column to note down any info you need to gather before publishing your guide. 

Improve Employee Recognition With Nectar 

Nectar’s employee recognition framework is easy for your employees and managers to get to grips with. Our platform offers the following features to appreciate every member of your organization: 

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• Recognition: Nectar's social feed allows peers, managers, and leaders to exchange shoutouts of praise and redeemable points.  
• Rewards: Users redeem Nectar points for their choice of Amazon products, gift cards including PayPal, charity donations, company swag, and custom rewards. 
• Challenges: Leaders set up company-wide employee challenges related to wellness, company training, health and safety, or any other initiative they want to encourage. Employees earn points for participation and achieving certain goals. 
• Awards: Leaders celebrate exceptional employees, honoring them with any employee award they create. 
• Anniversaries: Employees receive a celebratory message and Nectar points on their birthdays and work anniversaries. These milestones are all automated, so no one's special date is ever missed. 

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Request a free Nectar demo today to build an effective recognition program, and download our FAQ template to keep everyone in your organization up to speed.