Reward & Recognition - How to manage recognition budgets on the platform

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

The amount that they purchase is flexible, based on their needs and budget. Clients might want to pre-pay for 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, so that the funds they need can be released upon payment, enabling award senders to recognise 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 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 program 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 program, Reward Gateway will issue all invoices and update all budgets in the same currency.

For clients operating local programs, the currency depends on the country the workforce is based in (i.e. GBP for a UK program; USD for a US program; AUD for an Australian program; EUR for the Republic of Ireland).

For clients operating multi-country programs, 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 .

Are there any 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 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:

• The client completes a Direct Debit instruction form (provided by Reward Gateway) 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)
  • what the amount of the first recognition budget top-up should be
    
    
• The Implementation Specialist or Client Success Manager share the completed form with the Reward Gateway Finance Team
  
  
• 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 (i.e. InstantAwards™, AwardNominator™ and / or AwardFilePlus™), clients can host multiple recognition programs on their platform.

Each recognition program 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 programs are detailed below.

1. Client pays an invoice for recognition funds
   
   
2. The Reward Gateway Finance team release the recognition funds in the client's main budget (Client Balance)
   
   
3. For AwardNominator™ and / or AwardFilePlus™ programs:
   
   
   • Once released in the main budget (Client Balance), the recognition funds can be immediately used to send out awards
     
     
   • Alternatively, the client can decide to assign specific portions of the funds to these programs. This means the programs 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.
     
     
     • Clients can allocate the correct funds separately to each program using the Request Credit option or transfer between programs (details here).
       
       
4. For InstantAwards™ programs:
   
   
   • Once released in the main budget (Client Balance), the recognition funds need to be transferred to each InstantAwards program's Main Pot.
     
     
     • Clients can allocate the correct funds separately to each program using the Request Credit option or transfer between programs (details here).
       
       
   • Funds added to the Main Pots of InstantAwards programs can then be allocated to Manager Pots directly by the client, or used to send awards.