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Automated gifts are occasion-based rewards that Empuls delivers without any manual trigger. Configure them once and Empuls fires them every time the trigger condition is met — on every birthday, every work anniversary, or every new joiner’s first day. Each automation can carry reward points, a merchandise or gift-card collection, or just a personalised message.
Birthday and work-anniversary greetings are generated automatically as soon as an employee’s date of birth (DOB) or date of joining (DOJ) is added to Empuls via their profile or HRMS sync. You do not need to create a separate greeting for each individual.

Common automated events

Create an automated gift

1

Navigate to Manage Gifts

Go to Admin Dashboard > Gifts > Manage Gifts and click Create Gift.
Manage Gifts page with the Create Gift button in Empuls admin
2

Select Automate

Choose Automate and click Create.
Automate option selected when creating a new gift in Empuls
Confirmation screen after choosing to create an automated gift
3

Start the setup wizard

Click Let’s Begin to open the step-by-step configuration form.
Automated gift setup wizard intro with Let's Begin button
4

Select the trigger event

Choose the lifecycle event — Birthday, Work Anniversary, New Joiner, Festive, or a custom event.
Trigger event selection: birthday, work anniversary, new joiner, festive
5

Enter gift details

Fill in the Greeting Name, Description, and any stakeholders (such as the recipient’s manager) who should be notified when the gift fires.
Greeting name, description, and stakeholder notification fields
6

Configure the reward

Choose one of three reward options:
  • Reward points — Enter the points amount to credit to the recipient’s account.
  • Products from the store — Link a merchandise or gift-card collection (see Physical and product-based gifts).
  • Non-monetary — Send a personalised greeting without any monetary reward.
Reward configuration with points, store products, or non-monetary options
7

Compose the message

Write the message title and body. Use placeholders — {{First Name}}, {{completed_year}}, {{department}} — so each recipient gets a personalised message.
Personalised message composer with placeholder tokens like First Name
8

Define recipients and confirm

Specify the audience using filters (department, designation, location, or custom fields). For standard lifecycle events, Empuls determines recipients automatically from employee data. Review the summary and click Confirm and Create.
Recipient audience filters and Confirm and Create summary screen

Service award automation (milestone years)

Service awards automatically celebrate employees on their work anniversary milestones — year 1, 3, 5, 10, and beyond. Empuls reads each employee’s date of joining from your HRMS and triggers the award on the anniversary date with no manual effort from HR. Key features of service award automations:
  • Tiered rewards — Create separate automations for each milestone year with different point values, gift collections, and certificate designs.
  • Yearbook — A digital keepsake compiled from all feed posts and wishes on the anniversary day.
  • Wishboard — Colleagues post personalised messages; AI suggestions make it quick for busy teammates.
  • Branded certificates — Downloadable certificate templates tailored to each milestone year.
  • Multi-channel notifications — Award winners are notified via Microsoft Teams, Slack, and email (based on your integrations).

Set up a service award automation

1

Navigate to gift automation

Go to Admin Dashboard > Gifts > Manage Gifts > Create Gift and select Automate.
Manage Gifts navigation for creating a service award automation
Automate option selected for a new service award gift
2

Select the work anniversary event

Click Let’s Begin, then select Celebrating a Work Anniversary from the event template list. Click Continue.
Celebrating a Work Anniversary template selected from event list
3

Add gift details

Enter a Gift Name and Description (e.g., “5-Year Work Anniversary Award”). Select the anniversary milestone year from the dropdown (1, 3, 5, 10, or a custom value). Add stakeholder notifications if needed.
Service award gift details with milestone year and stakeholder fields
4

Configure the award

Choose Reward points or Products from the store. For products, select or create a gift collection filtered by country for region-specific relevance.
Choose between reward points or products from the gift store
Create a gift collection filtered by country for region-specific items
Selecting catalog items to include in the service award gift collection
Gift collection preview with included products and country settings
Reward configuration confirmed for the service award automation
5

Add a certificate (optional)

Check the box to include a certificate. Click + Add Certificate, choose a template or upload a custom design, preview it, and click Continue. Use {{completed_year}} in the message to automatically insert the number of years served.
Add Certificate option in the service award setup wizard
Certificate template gallery for work anniversary awards
Certificate design editor with custom upload option
Certificate preview with completed_year placeholder before confirming
6

Compose the message

Write the message title and body with personalisation placeholders. For example:Title: Celebrating {{completed_year}} year(s) of excellenceBody: {{First Name}}, it’s been a privilege to have you on the team for {{completed_year}} year(s).
Service award message composer with personalisation placeholders
7

Select recipients and confirm

Choose Everyone or filter by department, designation, or location. Click Save and Continue, review all settings, and click Confirm and Create to activate.
Recipient selection with Everyone or filter by department, location
Final review with Confirm and Create button to activate the automation
Set up a separate automation for each milestone year (1 yr, 3 yr, 5 yr, 10 yr) with different reward values and certificate designs to create a tiered programme.

Manage existing automated gifts

Navigate to Gifts > Manage Gifts > Automated Gifts. From the three-dot menu on any card you can:
  • Edit — Update message, points, or recipients. Changes apply from the next trigger date.
  • Disable — Stop the automation from firing. Re-enable it at any time.
  • View Report — See the full history of sends, automation details, and delivery status.

Greeting template fields

Tips and limits

  • Greetings rely on accurate DOB and DOJ in employee records. Keep your HRMS sync healthy or fill in data manually.
  • Point gifts draw from the org budget. Set caps in Budgets to control monthly spend.
  • A greeting fires once per employee per trigger date. Re-enabling a disabled greeting won’t backfill missed dates.

Physical and product-based gifts

Set up merchandise or gift-card collections to attach to automated gifts.

Budgets

Cap the points budget that funds automated gifts.

HRMS integration

Sync DOB and DOJ so greetings fire accurately.