> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help-empuls.xoxoday.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Microsoft Teams: how to use the Empuls app
> A complete guide to using and administering Empuls within Microsoft Teams — recognition, rewards, surveys, and your social intranet, in the flow of work.
**Recognition and rewards, inside Microsoft Teams.** A complete guide to using and administering Empuls within Microsoft Teams.
**Quick link:** [Add Empuls to your Microsoft Teams account](https://teams.microsoft.com/l/app/7ea47aaa-7c43-4fba-82fb-a81223e7cc2c?source=app-details-dialog)
## 1. Overview — Empuls, inside Microsoft Teams
Empuls integrates natively with Microsoft Teams, bringing recognition, rewards, surveys, and your social intranet directly into the platform your employees already use every day.
Instead of asking employees to log into a separate tool, Empuls meets them where they already are. Recognitions happen in the flow of work. Survey nudges arrive in chat. Rewards are redeemed without switching tabs. And everything syncs back to Empuls automatically, giving HR the visibility and data they need to run a meaningful engagement programme.
The result is higher participation, stronger culture, and an engagement platform employees actually use.
## 2. Why the Teams integration
Most recognition programmes fail for the same reason: employees have to go somewhere new to use them. A separate login, a new tab, another app to remember. The tool exists, but participation never follows.
When Empuls lives inside Teams, that friction disappears. Employees recognise teammates mid-conversation, respond to surveys without leaving their workflow, and redeem rewards the moment they get notified. Recognition stops being a task and becomes part of how work happens.
Setup takes under 10 minutes from the Teams admin center, costs nothing to integrate, and needs little to no training for employees.
For the full results and methodology behind these numbers, read the [MS Teams Integrations case study](https://www.xoxoday.com/empuls/case-studies/rewardsrecognition-in-ms-teams).
## 3. What you can do inside Teams
Empuls is accessible across three surfaces inside Microsoft Teams: the **Home tab**, the **Chat tab**, and directly inside channels and chats via the **message extension**. Here is a full breakdown of what is available on each surface.
Prefer to watch instead of read? This 2-minute demo video walks through everything below.
### Home tab
The Home tab gives employees a single view of everything happening across the organisation. It is divided into the following sections.
**Hero banner and points overview**
At the top of the Home tab, employees see their current points summary — including points available to give for recognition and points available to redeem in the rewards store. Quick action buttons to **Go to shop** and **Recognize** are available here.
**Feeds**
Shows the latest activity happening across the organisation — including recognitions posted, company updates, team announcements, and social interactions from Empuls. Employees can click any feed item to view the full details.
**Recommendations**
Empuls surfaces items that need attention — including polls to participate in, team discussions needing input, and suggested actions or alerts.
**Celebrations**
The Celebrations section surfaces birthdays, work anniversaries, and new joiners across the organisation, organised by date. Employees can switch between the three tabs to see who is celebrating today or in the coming days, and click **Wish** to send a personalised message or appreciation instantly.
**Recognition Rally (leaderboard)**
Shows a list of top performers and most appreciated employees in the current cycle. Employees can track appreciation momentum and see who is contributing actively to the culture.
**Employee discount programme**
Shows exclusive brand deals and offers enabled through Empuls. Employees can click **Explore** to browse the full catalogue of offers.
**Surveys and quizzes**
Empuls delivers survey and quiz invites directly to employees inside Teams. Employees can view and respond to active surveys and quizzes without leaving the Home tab.
**Wall of Fame**
The Wall of Fame highlights the most recognised employees across the organisation, updated monthly. Employees can browse by month, filter by department or team, and see peer-nominated highlights for each person. Each card shows the employee's name, role, and a recognition message from their peers. The Wall of Fame can also be shared directly from within Teams.
**Reports and insights**
Provides personal and team-level insights. Employees can see how often they recognise or get recognised, compare with team and org averages, and understand recognition patterns. Clicking **View Reports & Insights** opens the detailed dashboard.
### Chat tab
The Chat tab is where employees interact directly with the Empuls bot for quick actions without navigating through the Home tab.
**Welcome message and quick actions**
When opening the Chat tab for the first time, employees see a welcome message from the Empuls bot with options to **Appreciate** a colleague, **Learn more about Empuls**, or start typing a message directly.
**Recognise teammates from chat**
Employees can recognise colleagues directly from chat using the **Appreciate** button or by typing "Recognize". The recognition flow lets employees search for a teammate by name or email, select the person, choose a value card or award, add a message, and submit.
**Redeem reward points**
Employees can redeem points from chat using the **Redeem Points** command or via automated reminders sent by Empuls. The bot shows the current points balance and a **Go To Store** button to open the full rewards catalogue.
**Surveys, nudges, and notifications**
The Chat tab is where Empuls delivers survey and quiz invites, recognition alerts, approval notifications, and nudges to participate or respond. Employees can open and complete surveys directly from the chat thread.
**Commands and prompts**
Employees can view all available shortcuts by clicking **View Prompts** at the bottom of the Chat screen. Available commands include **Recognize**, **Redeem Points**, **Help**, and **Survey Responses**.
### Inside channels and chats (message extension)
The Empuls message extension is available in all Teams channels and group chats, allowing recognition to happen directly in the flow of conversation.
**Recognise from a channel or chat**
Employees can give value cards, monetary awards, or nominations without leaving the channel.
Steps to add MS Teams on chat and appreciate peers:
Click on the three dots on your Teams group to add Empuls.
Click **Continue** and Empuls will be added to your chat.
Open any channel or group chat in Teams.
Select the teammate, choose an award or core value, write a message, and submit.
If the award requires approval, the recognition post is published after the approver reviews it.
## 4. Admin setup and controls
This section covers everything IT administrators and HR admins need to deploy, configure, and manage the Empuls app across the organisation.
### Installation guide for IT admins
Deploy and configure the Empuls app across the organisation via the Microsoft Teams admin center.
**Install Empuls for all employees (Add to Me)**
This installs Empuls as a personal app for every employee in their individual Teams space. Once deployed, employees will see Empuls pre-installed and pinned in their Teams app bar and messaging extensions without having to search for or install it themselves. This is the recommended deployment method as it ensures organisation-wide access from day one, with no action required from individual employees.
Log in to the Microsoft Teams admin center at [admin.teams.microsoft.com](https://admin.teams.microsoft.com).
Go to **Teams Apps** and select **Manage apps**, then search for Empuls.
Go to **Setup policies** and select **Global (Org-wide default)**.
Under **Installed apps**, click **Add apps** and add Empuls. This pre-installs it for all users.
Under **Pinned apps**, click **Add apps** again and pin Empuls to the Teams app bar and messaging extensions.
Scroll down and click **Save**.
**Install Empuls on Teams channels (Add to Team / Add to Chat)**
This installs Empuls as a message extension on specific channels or group chats, allowing recognition to be sent directly from those channels.
Log in to the Microsoft Teams admin center at [admin.teams.microsoft.com](https://admin.teams.microsoft.com).
Go to **Teams Apps** and select **Manage apps**, then search for Empuls.
Select **Add to Teams**.
Choose the required channels and click **Save**.
**Permissions required**
**Mandatory, SSO.** The following permissions must be granted with admin consent to allow employees to access the Empuls Teams app via SSO:
* `User.Read`
* `email`
* `openid`
* `profile`
* `offline_access`
To grant admin consent, go to **Permissions** and select **Grant admin consent for the organisation**.
### Empuls admin controls
HR admins have a dedicated set of controls inside Teams to manage and configure the Empuls platform for the organisation. These are accessible directly from the Empuls app inside Teams under **Admin Settings**.
**Configure messages**
Publish all awards, appreciations, and other automated messages by Em Bot to a selected Team or Group Chat. This ensures recognition moments are visible to the whole organisation in one dedicated channel.
Open the Empuls app inside Teams and go to **Admin Settings**.
Under **Configure messages**, click **Select Team or Group Chat**.
Then select the Team or Group Chat where you want all Empuls messages published.
Select the types of messages to be published and save.
**New user**
Add, update, or remove user accounts from the Empuls admin centre. HR admins can update an individual user or make bulk updates across the organisation. Clicking **Add New User** or **Import All Users** opens the Empuls admin centre directly from within Teams.
*Add new users individually*
To add an individual employee, click **Add New User**. Fill in the basic details (name, work email, and user access role) along with any relevant professional and personal details, then click **Save**.
*Import all users*
To add multiple employees at once, click **Import All Users**. This opens a 5-step bulk upload flow.
Review the guidelines before proceeding. Upload a `.csv` file with a maximum of 1000 users at a time. Required fields are first name, last name, and email address. Download the sample template if needed.
Upload your employee data file.
Map the columns from your file to the correct Empuls fields.
Review the preview to confirm the records are valid.
Choose to send invites now or later, then complete the import.
**Sync profile picture**
Enable automatic syncing of each employee's Microsoft Teams profile photo to their Empuls profile. Once enabled, employee profiles stay consistent across both platforms without any manual effort from employees or HR.
Under **Sync Profile Picture** in Admin Settings, click **Enable**.
Once enabled, Teams profile pictures will automatically sync to Empuls for all users.
**Reports and insights**
Access programme-level reports directly from within Teams. Clicking **Reports and Insights** opens the full reporting dashboard in the Empuls admin centre with the following report types available:
* Recognition Report
* Budget Report
* Redemption Report
* Gift Report
* My Organisation Report
* Raw Data
Each report can be filtered by date range, viewed by a specific person or role, and further refined using pivot and filter options. Reports live in the Empuls admin centre — Teams simply gives you a direct route in, so you never have to go looking for a separate login.
## 5. FAQs
You won't be able to find the Empuls app if your Microsoft Teams admin has blocked users from accessing public (third-party) apps from the store. Ask your admin to enable Empuls on the Microsoft Teams app store. Refer to the installation guide above for more information.
This appears when the Microsoft admins at your organisation have added controls to prevent users from installing or using apps from the Microsoft store. To resolve it:
* In the input box, enter your reason for using the Empuls app and click **Request Approval**. This submits your request to your Microsoft admin.
* Your Microsoft admin can see the request in the Azure portal under the Enterprise applications section.
* The Microsoft admin can then allow the Empuls app so all users can sign in without additional permissions.
Once approved, all users can log in and start using the Empuls app.
Empuls requires the following permissions, granted with admin consent, to authenticate employees via SSO: `User.Read`, `email`, `openid`, `profile`, and `offline_access`. These allow employees to sign in to the Empuls Teams app securely without a separate login.
Yes. Once SSO permissions are granted, employees are authenticated automatically through Microsoft Teams and do not need to log into Empuls separately.
You can uninstall the app from a channel by navigating to the Apps section from the Manage Team option.
You can uninstall the Empuls bot from your account by following these steps:
* Navigate to the chat section.
* Hover on the Empuls app.
* Right-click on the app and select **Uninstall**.
No. The Microsoft Teams integration is free to connect and takes under 10 minutes to set up from the Teams admin center.
Yes, when the IT admin uses the "Install for all employees (Add to Me)" method. Empuls is pre-installed and pinned in every employee's Teams app bar and messaging extensions, with no action required from individual employees.
If the award requires approval, the recognition post is published after the approver reviews it.
Yes. Empuls works inside the Microsoft Teams mobile app, so employees can recognise teammates, redeem rewards, and respond to surveys on the go.
***
**Bring recognition into the flow of work.** Free to connect, live in under 10 minutes from the Teams admin center, with little to no training needed for employees.
Get a walkthrough of Empuls inside Microsoft Teams.
Learn more about the Empuls engagement platform.
## 2. Why the Teams integration
Most recognition programmes fail for the same reason: employees have to go somewhere new to use them. A separate login, a new tab, another app to remember. The tool exists, but participation never follows.
When Empuls lives inside Teams, that friction disappears. Employees recognise teammates mid-conversation, respond to surveys without leaving their workflow, and redeem rewards the moment they get notified. Recognition stops being a task and becomes part of how work happens.
**Celebrations**
The Celebrations section surfaces birthdays, work anniversaries, and new joiners across the organisation, organised by date. Employees can switch between the three tabs to see who is celebrating today or in the coming days, and click **Wish** to send a personalised message or appreciation instantly.
**Recognition Rally (leaderboard)**
Shows a list of top performers and most appreciated employees in the current cycle. Employees can track appreciation momentum and see who is contributing actively to the culture.
**Employee discount programme**
Shows exclusive brand deals and offers enabled through Empuls. Employees can click **Explore** to browse the full catalogue of offers.
**Surveys and quizzes**
Empuls delivers survey and quiz invites directly to employees inside Teams. Employees can view and respond to active surveys and quizzes without leaving the Home tab.
**Wall of Fame**
The Wall of Fame highlights the most recognised employees across the organisation, updated monthly. Employees can browse by month, filter by department or team, and see peer-nominated highlights for each person. Each card shows the employee's name, role, and a recognition message from their peers. The Wall of Fame can also be shared directly from within Teams.
**Reports and insights**
Provides personal and team-level insights. Employees can see how often they recognise or get recognised, compare with team and org averages, and understand recognition patterns. Clicking **View Reports & Insights** opens the detailed dashboard.
### Chat tab
The Chat tab is where employees interact directly with the Empuls bot for quick actions without navigating through the Home tab.
**Welcome message and quick actions**
When opening the Chat tab for the first time, employees see a welcome message from the Empuls bot with options to **Appreciate** a colleague, **Learn more about Empuls**, or start typing a message directly.
**Recognise teammates from chat**
Employees can recognise colleagues directly from chat using the **Appreciate** button or by typing "Recognize". The recognition flow lets employees search for a teammate by name or email, select the person, choose a value card or award, add a message, and submit.
**Redeem reward points**
Employees can redeem points from chat using the **Redeem Points** command or via automated reminders sent by Empuls. The bot shows the current points balance and a **Go To Store** button to open the full rewards catalogue.
**Surveys, nudges, and notifications**
The Chat tab is where Empuls delivers survey and quiz invites, recognition alerts, approval notifications, and nudges to participate or respond. Employees can open and complete surveys directly from the chat thread.
**Commands and prompts**
Employees can view all available shortcuts by clicking **View Prompts** at the bottom of the Chat screen. Available commands include **Recognize**, **Redeem Points**, **Help**, and **Survey Responses**.
### Inside channels and chats (message extension)
The Empuls message extension is available in all Teams channels and group chats, allowing recognition to happen directly in the flow of conversation.
**Recognise from a channel or chat**
Employees can give value cards, monetary awards, or nominations without leaving the channel.
Steps to add MS Teams on chat and appreciate peers:
### Empuls admin controls
HR admins have a dedicated set of controls inside Teams to manage and configure the Empuls platform for the organisation. These are accessible directly from the Empuls app inside Teams under **Admin Settings**.
**Configure messages**
Publish all awards, appreciations, and other automated messages by Em Bot to a selected Team or Group Chat. This ensures recognition moments are visible to the whole organisation in one dedicated channel.
*Import all users*
To add multiple employees at once, click **Import All Users**. This opens a 5-step bulk upload flow.
## 5. FAQs