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Reward campaigns (also called reward programs) let you run structured, time-bound recognition cycles. Rather than allowing ad-hoc nominations year-round, you define a window when nominations are open, set point budgets for the cycle, and configure governance rules to prevent favouritism. Reward campaigns are particularly useful for:
  • Annual recognition programmes like “Best Innovation” or “Team of the Year”
  • Quarterly performance recognition cycles
  • Festival or seasonal recognition events

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Video walkthrough

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Create a reward campaign

1

Navigate to Reward Campaigns

Go to Admin Dashboard > Programs > Reward Campaigns and click Create Reward Program.
Reward Campaigns page with Create Reward Program button highlighted
2

Add program details

Enter a Program Name and Description. Select the awards to include in this campaign from the dropdown, and enter the total points budget allocated for the cycle.
Program details form with name, description, awards, and points budget fields
3

Select participants

Click the pen icon to define who can submit nominations in this campaign. You can include everyone or filter by designation, department, location, or other attributes. Click Save and Continue.
Participant selection panel filtering nominators by attributes like department
4

Set nomination limits (optional)

Toggle Yes, Set Limit to cap the number of nominations per award. Enter the maximum number per award (up to 99). This prevents any single award category from being flooded with nominations.
5

Configure dates

Set the start date and time for collecting nominations, the end date to stop accepting new nominations, and the final program close date. You can also configure a custom announcement email and a home page banner to promote the campaign.
Campaign date settings for nomination window, close date, and announcement email
6

Set governance rules

Empuls includes built-in guardrails to ensure fair recognition:
  • Reciprocal recognition: Flags or blocks situations where two employees only nominate each other.
  • Repetitive recognition: Flags nominations where the same person is nominated by the same person multiple times within a configurable window.
  • Over-recognition: Flags excessive nominations for the same individual.
For each rule, choose the enforcement level:
  • Observe mode: Logs violations for admin review without blocking the action.
  • Restricted mode: Blocks the action and asks the user to make a change.
    Governance rules with Observe and Restricted mode toggles for fairness controls
7

Save and launch

Review all settings and click Save and Continue to activate the campaign. Selected participants receive an announcement email and see the campaign banner on their home page.

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Monitor a running campaign

The Reward Program Dashboard (under Programs > Reward Campaigns) shows active and completed campaigns. Click any campaign to access:
  • Submission Details: Total nominations received, who submitted them, number of participants. Send reminder nudges to all participants or filter by award and nominator.
  • Review Details: Nominations awaiting review, approved, and declined. Send nudges to reviewers with pending actions.
  • Governance Report: A log of rule violations in observe mode.
To copy a completed campaign for next quarter, click the three-dot icon on the campaign card and select Make a Copy. The dates automatically shift to the next period.

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Governance rules

Reward governance lets Super Admins define rules that prevent misuse — circular nominations, repeated nominations, and budget overrun — without requiring manual HR intervention.

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Available rules

Reciprocity restriction

An employee cannot reward someone who has already rewarded them within the same cycle, preventing point-swapping between friends.

Duplicate recognition control

A user cannot reward or nominate the same person more than once per cycle. Approvers can only approve one nomination per person per category per cycle.

Reward distribution balancing

An employee cannot receive more than one reward in the same award category per cycle, ensuring recognition spreads broadly across the workforce.

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Enforcement levels

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Real-time messages

When a rule triggers, Empuls shows clear in-product messaging:

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Governance report

The Governance Report (accessible inside each campaign dashboard) logs every rule violation. Each row shows the date, the giver and receiver, which rule was triggered, the enforcement mode in effect, and the outcome (allowed, warned, or blocked). Use the report to monitor behaviour, assess rule impact, and tune your policies over quarter.
Governance rules apply per campaign cycle. The same employees can recognise each other freely across different campaigns.