How Custom Reward Redemptions Work
How custom reward redemptions move from request to fulfillment and what admins and employees see at each step.
Custom rewards
Custom rewards are rewards your company creates and manages — things like branded merchandise, vendor deals, or experiences such as lunch with leadership. When an employee redeems one, the request comes to your admin team to review and fulfill.
What this is
When an employee redeems a custom reward, PraisePal creates a redemption request and immediately deducts their points. From that moment, an admin is responsible for reviewing the request, progressing it through a series of statuses, and ultimately delivering the reward.
Why it exists
Gift cards are handled by PraisePal end-to-end, but custom rewards represent things only your company can provide: merchandise, vendor deals, experiences, or anything else you've created. That means someone on your team needs to own the fulfillment process — and the redemption workflow gives you the structure to do that without losing track of requests.
It also keeps the employee informed. Each status change triggers an email, so nobody has to wonder where their reward stands.
How it works
Points and timing
Points are deducted the moment an employee confirms their redemption — not when you approve or fulfill it. A redemption sitting at Pending has already consumed the employee's points. If you later refund it, those points are restored immediately.
Statuses
Every custom reward redemption moves through these statuses:
Statuses move forward only. You cannot revert a redemption to a previous status — for example, moving a Fulfilled redemption back to Approved isn't possible. The only way to reverse course from Pending or Approved is to refund.
A Fulfilled redemption cannot be refunded. If you need to reverse a fulfillment, contact support via the help widget or support@praisepal.com.
Notifications
When an employee redeems a custom reward, the admins you've designated in your notification settings receive an email. You configure who gets notified — all admins, admins with reward permissions, or a single specified admin — on the Custom Rewards settings page.
Each time you change a redemption's status, the employee receives an email letting them know. They can also track their redemption status on their Activity page.
Audit trail
Every status change is recorded with who made it and when. If multiple admins handle redemptions, this timeline helps your team coordinate without stepping on each other's work.