What Are Incentives

Explains what incentives are in PraisePal, the different types available, how they differ from peer recognition, and when to use them.

Incentives are a type of program in PraisePal

They let admins and program managers award points directly to a group of people — outside the normal peer-to-peer recognition flow. They're useful for moments that don't fit into everyday recognition: onboarding rewards, project completion bonuses, company milestones, or seasonal appreciation.

What incentives are

An incentive is a program that grants a set number of points to a defined audience. Unlike peer recognition, where individuals send points to each other from their monthly allowance, an incentive delivers points directly — no allowance needed on the giver's side.

There are several types of incentive, each suited to different situations:

Type	How it works
One-off	Admin selects an audience, sets points, and executes immediately. Points are granted in a single action.
Claim-based	Admin publishes an incentive; eligible users submit claims (optionally with proof) for approval.
Nomination-based	Peers nominate each other; admin selects winners who receive points.

One-off and claim-based incentives are available today. Nomination-based is coming soon.

Why incentives exist

Peer recognition works well for ongoing, bottom-up appreciation. But some moments call for something more deliberate — a gesture from leadership or People Ops that acknowledges a specific group all at once.

Without incentives, you'd need to manually adjust individual point balances or ask managers to send recognitions one by one. Incentives solve that by wrapping the whole action into a single, trackable event: define the audience, set the reward, and execute when ready.

They also give better visibility. A completed incentive records exactly who received points, how many, and when — which is easier to audit than scattered individual adjustments.

How incentives work

Each type follows a different flow, but they share the same building blocks: a defined audience, a point amount, and a budget that's separate from the monthly recognition allowance.

One-off incentives are push-based. You define who gets points, configure the amount, and execute — everyone receives their points immediately in a single action. Once executed, the incentive is permanently locked.

Claim-based incentives are pull-based. You publish a program with a budget pool, and eligible users submit claims (optionally with proof). You review and approve or reject each claim, and approved claims credit points from the budget. Programs follow a draft → active → closed → completed lifecycle.

Incentives vs peer recognition

	Peer recognition	Incentives
Who initiates	Any user with allowance	Admins or program managers
Point source	Giver's monthly allowance	Separate budget
Recipients	One or more chosen by the giver	Defined audience (can be hundreds)
Reversible	No (but budgets reset monthly)	No (permanently locked after execution)

Who can manage programs

Not every program needs a workspace admin's direct involvement. PraisePal supports delegated program management through per-program membership roles:

Role	What they can do
Manager	Edit settings, choose the audience, review claims, top up the budget, and add or remove program members
Finance	View claims and budget (read-only) — useful for auditing spend without operational access

Workspace users with the Global or Create Programs permission bypass membership checks entirely and can access all programs.

Common misconceptions

"Incentives use the recognition budget." They don't. Each incentive creates its own budget entry, separate from the monthly recognition allowance pool.
"I can edit an incentive after executing it." Once a one-off is executed, settings are locked. For claim programs, you can update settings while the program is active, but approved claims are permanent.
"Recipients have to claim their points." For one-off incentives, points are credited automatically on execution — recipients don't need to take any action. For claim-based incentives, users do need to submit a claim.
"Publish to feed is required." It's optional. If you'd rather keep the incentive quiet (for example, a sensitive bonus), leave the toggle off and recipients are still notified individually.
"Claim programs auto-approve." They don't. Every claim requires explicit approval from an admin or program manager (individual or bulk). There is no auto-approve setting today.
"Only workspace admins can manage programs." Admins can delegate management to individual users by adding them as program members. A program manager has full operational control over the programs they're assigned to, without needing workspace-wide admin access.