Reward & Recognition - How To Manage Recognition Budgets on the Platform

Introduction

This article explains how invoicing works for recognition programmes, the currencies invoices are issued in and alternatives to the invoicing process. The article also gives information on how budgets are allocated to different recognition initiatives. This guide is designed for members working with recognition programmes.  

Overview

To create and maintain the budget for their recognition initiatives, clients need to purchase top-ups for their recognition programmes in advance.

The amount that they purchase is flexible, based on their needs and budget. Clients might want to pre-pay their entire annual budget, or be invoiced monthly, quarterly or on an as-needed basis.

Top-ups are based on invoices clients request to Reward Gateway | Edenred, so that the funds they need can be released upon payment, enabling award senders to recognize their colleagues with monetary awards.

For information on Managing Credit & Transfer Requests directly in Reward Manager, see this article. 

How Does Invoicing Work?

These are the steps involved in the invoicing process:

1. The client communicates their desired amount to their Client Success Manager or Client Support Team
2. The Client Success Manager or Client Support Team contact the Reward Gateway | Edenred's Finance team to request that an invoice is issued to the client
3. The Finance team issue an invoice within 2 - 3 working days of the request
4. The client arranges payment of the invoice
5. The Finance team release the recognition funds on the client's programmes upon payment

When funds run out (or if a top-up is needed before then), the client can request credit using the Request Credit option (details here).

Clients will not be able to send out any awards when their recognition budget has a 0 balance, or not enough balance to fund the total value of the awards they want to allocate.

What Currency are Invoices Issued in?

For each recognition programmes, Reward Gateway | Edenred will issue all invoices and update all budgets in the same currency.

For clients operating local programmes, the currency depends on the country the workforce is based in:

• GBP for a UK programme
• USD for a US programme
• AUD for an Australian programme
• EUR for the Republic of Ireland

For clients operating multi-country programmes, we use the concept of home currency. This is the main currency the client wants to track their budget and receives invoices in, regardless of which and how many other countries employees receiving awards are based in. The home currency can be chosen between GBP, USD, EUR and AUD.

For more information about multi-country awards and currency conversions, read the Multi-country Awards Client Welcome Pack.

Alternatives to the Invoicing Process (UK only)

As an alternative to the invoicing process described above, UK clients can choose to replenish their recognition budget via Direct Debit. The advantages of setting up a Direct Debit are:

• Payments are taken automatically on the client's chosen date, with no need for manual administration on the client's end
• As payments are scheduled on a set date, the Reward Gateway | Edenred's Finance team can release new recognition funds more quickly, without waiting for an invoice to be paid

The process to set up a Direct Debit is:

1. The client completes a Direct Debit instruction form (provided by Reward Gateway | Edenred) and sends it to their Implementation Specialist or Client Success Manager

The client states:

• which day of the month they would like their Direct Debit payments to be taken
• which day of the month they would like to receive invoices on (for their internal records)
• amount of the first recognition budget top-up should be

2. The Implementation Specialist or Client Success Manager share the completed form with the Reward Gateway | Edenred's Finance Team
3. The Finance Team processes the form with the bank and confirms once the Direct Debit is set up (this may take up to 3 - 4 weeks)

Once the Direct Debit is set up, any recognition funds required by the client can be released by the Finance team within 1 - 2 working days of receiving a request. Invoices will follow on the client's chosen day of the month, for their internal records.

Please note: UK clients who have a Direct Debit set up can also use it to manage their payroll benefits. The amount and frequency of payments taken for these may be different, depending on the configuration of each benefit.

How are Budgets Allocated to Different Recognition Initiatives?

Depending on the products in their contract (e.g., InstantAwards, AwardNominator and / or AwardFilePlus), clients can host multiple recognition programmes on their platform.

Each recognition programmes draws funds from one main client budget (Client Balance), where recognition funds are added every time an invoice is paid.

The steps to add budget to specific recognition programmes are detailed below.

1. Client pays an invoice for recognition funds
2. The Reward Gateway | EdenredFinance team release the recognition funds in the client's main budget (Client Balance)
3. For AwardNominator and / or AwardFilePlus programmes:
   1. Once released in the main budget (Client Balance), the recognition funds can be immediately used to send out awards
   2. Alternatively, the client can decide to assign specific portions of the funds to these programmes. This means the programmes will have a dedicated budget that needs to be topped up again from the Client Balance when there are not enough funds to send awards.
   3. Clients can allocate the correct funds separately to each programmes using the Request Credit option or transfer between programmes (details here). 
4. For InstantAwards Programmes:
   • Once released in the main budget (Client Balance), the recognition funds need to be transferred to each InstantAwards programmes Main Pot.
     • Clients can allocate the correct funds separately to each programmes using the Request Credit option or transfer between programmes (details here).
     • Funds added to the Main Pots of InstantAwards programmes can then be allocated to Manager Pots directly by the client, or used to send awards.