What's New in Kudos: Your Quarterly Product Update

👷 Recognition for Every Worker: Deskless Support Is Live

The challenge: Frontline, hourly, and field employees often don't have a company email address, which has historically kept them out of recognition programs entirely. These are the people recognition can impact the most.

Signup Codes and Employee ID Login

Deskless workers can now join Kudos without a company email. Admins generate signup codes for their frontline teams, and employees log in using their Employee ID. No inbox required.

Self-Serve Password Recovery

Deskless users are prompted at first login to add a recovery method, either SMS or email. If they ever forget their password, a one-time password is sent to that method so they can reset it themselves, without a trip to HR or IT. Users who skip the setup see a friendly banner reminding them to add one later.

Full Rewards Access

Deskless users can now redeem rewards from both our global rewards catalogues. For many Kudos clients, recognition without redemption is half the experience, so this one mattered to us.

Together, these updates mean your entire workforce can participate in recognition, whether they work at a desk, on a factory floor, or in the field.

✍️ A Smarter AI Recognition Assistant, Everywhere You Need It

The challenge: Finding the right words can be the hardest part of giving recognition. A blank message box stops a lot of well-intentioned moments before they start.

Our AI Recognition Assistant got a two-part upgrade this quarter. First, we improved how it refines your writing. Suggestions are now less templated and more varied, so your refined message still sounds like you wrote it. Second, it's no longer limited to recognition messages. You'll now find it across the platform:

• Awards: Get help polishing your message when sending an award, with a tone tuned to feel a little more celebratory

• Cards: Signing a birthday or celebration card? Refine your note before you post it

• Nominations: Strengthen your written case for why someone deserves recognition

The goal is simple: lower the effort, keep the sentiment. You write the thought, AI helps it land.

📊 Engagement Reporting, Rebuilt

The challenge: HR leaders need current, granular engagement data to act on – not a weekly snapshot of the whole company.

A New Engagement Summary

We rebuilt the Engagement Summary report from the ground up. Admins can now view each core KPI (participation, reach, and activation) on a timeline, and choose exactly which activity types to display. And the calculations behind them now refreshes daily instead of weekly, so you're looking at a near real-time view of your organization.

Engagement by Team

A new report that breaks engagement down by team, helping admins spot groups that may need more active support and compare trends across the organization.

Engagement by Manager

Managers drive recognition culture more than any other role. This new report shows the level of interaction and reach between managers and their direct reports, so you can see who's modelling the behaviour and who might need a nudge.

Sharper Metrics

We also refined how the numbers are calculated. Sent awards now count toward participation, participation rate is based on activated users, and reach rate reflects your total user count over the period. The result is metrics that better reflect what's actually happening in your program.

A Redesigned Reports Page

Finding the right report is now easier too. The new All Reports landing page includes previews of each report, so admins can see what they're opening before they open it.

🔧 More Control for Admins

The challenge: HRIS data is messy, and admins need better tools to keep user records clean without risking historic data.

HRIS Auto-Invite Rules

Admins can now configure which HR records are automatically invited to the platform, giving you control over rollout timing and eligibility straight from your HRIS sync.

Sync History and Error Reporting

A new sync history view shows the status of every HRIS sync job, with downloadable error files when something needs attention. Less guessing, faster fixes.

MFA Reset

Admins can now reset a user's MFA methods directly from the user details view, cutting out a support ticket when someone gets a new phone.

🎯 Smaller Updates Worth Knowing

• Higher award limits: The maximum points allowed on a single award increased from 10,000 to 25,000

• Better exports: Redemption transaction exports now include an email column

• Simpler date filtering: Custom date ranges on reports now sit in line with the preset options, one click away
  

Built for Every Employee. Improving Every Week.

This quarter's updates share a theme: making sure recognition reaches everyone, and making sure you can measure it when it does. Every feature here came from conversations with the HR teams, admins, and employees who use Kudos every day.

If you're an existing customer, reach out to your Client Success Manager to learn more about activating any of these features, including deskless support for your frontline teams. If you're new to Kudos, we'd love to show you around.

See you next quarter!

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