How to Give Kudos

What is Kudos?

Kudos is a built-in way for people across your organization to recognize each other for the moments that matter. It gives every employee a consistent, values-driven way to acknowledge great work. Whether shared publicly in a Channel post or privately from a User Profile, Kudos help make appreciation visible and intentional in everyday collaboration.

Ways to give Kudos

You can give Kudos in two ways, depending on how visible you want the recognition to be. Both options notify the recipient and reinforce company values, but they differ in who can see the recognition.

Kudos via Channel posts

Use Channel Kudos when you want recognition to be visible to a broader audience. Sharing Kudos in a Channel helps celebrate teamwork, highlight cross-functional contributions, and strengthen culture in shared spaces.

This option works best for moments you want others to see, learn from, or actively take part in.

Quiet Kudos via a User Profile

Quiet Kudos offer a more personal form of recognition. They are sent directly from a User Profile and are only visible to the recipient.

Quiet Kudos are ideal for one-to-one appreciation or situations where public recognition is not needed. Because they are not shared in Channels, they do not appear on leaderboards.

Choosing the right option

If you want to highlight a contribution publicly or celebrate a value in action, use Channel Kudos. If you want to share appreciation directly and privately, use Quiet Kudos. Both options support connection and recognition across your organization.

When to give Kudos

Kudos are most effective when they highlight actions that move your organization forward and reflect how teams are expected to work together.

Common moments include:

• Celebrating great collaboration: When people work together to solve problems, deliver projects, or support each other across roles or locations, a Kudos helps highlight that teamwork and encourages more of it.
• Acknowledging extra effort: If someone goes above and beyond, such as taking ownership of a challenge or supporting a teammate in a busy period, a Kudos shows that effort is seen and valued.
• Reinforcing company values in action: Because each Kudos includes a value, it helps translate abstract values into concrete behaviors teams can recognize and repeat.
• Recognizing cross-functional or behind-the-scenes support: Some of the most important contributions happen quietly. Kudos make it easy to acknowledge people who help outside their immediate team, clear obstacles, or provide expertise that keeps work moving.

Before you begin

Before giving Kudos, it’s important to understand how the feature is configured and governed.

• Kudos must be enabled at both the platform and Channel level.
• Every Kudos requires a company value.
• Visibility depends on where Kudos is given.
• Recipients control what appears on their own User Profile.
• Channel Kudos follow existing Channel permissions and moderation rules.

How to enable Kudos for your platform

Before teams can start using Kudos, an admin or user with branding permission must enable it at the platform level. 

Enable Kudos at the platform level

1. Click your avatar in the top navigation and go to Admin Settings.
2. Navigate to Branding → Kudos.
3. Toggle Enable Kudos on.

How to enable Kudos in a Channel

Once enabled at the platform level, Channel owners and editors can choose where public recognition should be available.

Enable Kudos in a Channel

1. Navigate to the Channel where you want to enable Kudos.
2. Open Settings from the Channel’s main navigation.
3. Scroll down to Restrictions.
4. Toggle Enable Kudos in this channel on.

🗒️ Note: When giving Kudos via a Channel post, you can only select recipients who are members of that Channel.

💡 Tip: Enable Kudos only in Channels where recognition adds value, such as team, project, or culture-focused Channels.

Enable the Kudos leaderboard in a Channel

The Kudos leaderboard highlights recognition activity within a Channel's sidebar and helps teams see which values and contributions are being celebrated.

1. Open the Channel.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Scroll to Sidebar Widgets.
4. Toggle Kudos on.

The leaderboard updates automatically as Kudos are given. 

How to give Kudos via a Channel Post

1. Open the Channel and start a new post.
2. Select Kudos.
3. Choose the company value that reflects the contribution.
4. Add a short description to provide context.
5. Select one or more recipients.
6. Click Create & Attach.
7. Add any additional text to the post and hit publish.

Once published, the Kudos appears on each recipient’s User Profile and contributes to Channel leaderboard data.

How to remove a recipient from a Kudos

1. Click the three dots next to the post and open the post editor. 
2. Click the pencil icon next to the Kudos and select the X next to the recipient you want to remove. 

Upon removal, the Kudos will not be counted in the leaderboard.

How to give Kudos from a User Profile (“Quiet Kudos”)

1. Open the recipient’s User Profile.
2. Click Give Kudos in the profile sidebar.
3. Select a company value.
4. Add an optional note.
5. Click Send.

The Kudos appears immediately on the recipient’s profile and notifies them directly.

🗒️ Note: If you give a Quiet Kudos, it is not possible to remove it from the recipient’s user profile unless they do it themselves.

How to view Kudos from your User Profile

Your User Profile shows all the Kudos you’ve received, both public and private. Reviewing your Kudos helps you understand which behaviors others value and how your work contributes across teams.

1. Click your avatar.
2. Go to Public Profile.
3. View the Kudos section.

How to remove a Kudos from your profile

You can remove Kudos from your own profile at any time. This helps keep your profile accurate and intentional.

1. Open your Public Profile.
2. Go to the Kudos section.
3. Select the Kudos.
4. Click the trash icon and confirm.

Removing a Kudos is permanent and also removes it from leaderboard counts.

How values work

Values are central to the Kudos experience. Each Kudos includes a value, creating a shared language for recognition and helping teams understand which behaviors matter most.

How values appear across Happeo

Values are displayed consistently wherever Kudos are shown, including:

• Channel posts: Attached to Kudos shared publicly.
• User Profiles: As part of each Kudos and as badges that show how many times a value was received.
• Leaderboards: Grouped by user or value, and filtered by time span (only in the Page Widget) for deeper insights into cultural strengths.

How to create and manage values

Happeo includes a set of default values so teams can start giving Kudos right away. If you haven’t set up any custom values yet, you can easily apply the default ones by going to Admin Settings → Branding → Kudos and clicking Import default badges.

If you want your Kudos to reflect your organization’s unique culture, admins or users with branding permissions can customize these values:

• Value names
• Value descriptions
• Icons

How to create a custom value

1. Click your avatar and go to Admin Settings.
2. Click Branding → Kudos.
3. Select Add Badge and fill in the following:
   1. Badge name (e.g. Team Player)
   2. (Optional): Badge description (e.g. Celebrating colleagues who collaborate openly, support others, and help the team succeed).
4. Upload a badge image by clicking the + icon.
   1. Recommended image dimensions: 512 × 512 pixels.
   2. Recommended image type: PNG.
   3. Recommended image size: Under 200 KB.
5. Once everything looks good, click Add.

How to edit a value

1. Hover over a badge and click the Edit icon.
2. Make the necessary customizations or changes, such as changing the title, description, or image.
3. Click Save once you’re done.

How to delete a value

1. Hover over a badge and click the trashcan icon.

⚠️ Important note: You can only delete values that haven’t been used in Channel or Profile Kudos. 

Leaderboard

The Kudos Leaderboard gives your organization a clear, high-level view of how recognition is shared across teams, helping you spot patterns in collaboration and values in action. It brings together all Kudos activity—who gives recognition, who receives it, and which values are celebrated most to help you understand cultural strengths and identify where appreciation is happening (or missing). 

What the leaderboard shows

The leaderboard aggregates Kudos data and groups it in two ways:

• By user: Total Kudos given and received per person.
• By value: Total Kudos associated with each company value, helping you see which behaviors are reinforced most often.

This provides a simple, visual way to understand how recognition flows across your organization—who contributes, who supports others, and which values show up in everyday work.

How is it ordered?

The leaderboard is sorted by the number of Kudos a user has received, which is why users with higher received Kudos appear higher even if they have given fewer.

Where the leaderboard is available

Leaderboards will be available as a:

• Page Widget: For areas like HR Hubs or Culture & People Pages.
• Channel Widget: So teams can keep recognition visible and relevant in their daily spaces.

This flexibility helps organizations highlight recognition wherever it makes the most impact.

How to use the Kudos Page Widget

The Kudos Page Widget lets you surface recognition and company values directly on Pages, making appreciation easy to discover beyond individual posts, Channels, or profiles. It’s available in Pages 2.0 and is commonly used in shared spaces like HR hubs, culture pages, or team overviews.

For step-by-step instructions and configuration options, see How to use the Kudos Page Widget.

Governance and best practices

Kudos work best when they support a healthy, aligned culture. Here are some guidelines to help your organization get the most value from Kudos:

• Keep recognition respectful and value-aligned: Kudos should reflect how your organization wants people to work together. Use values intentionally to highlight behaviors you want to encourage, such as collaboration, creativity, ownership, support, and more. This ensures recognition stays constructive and meaningful.
• Use Kudos to reinforce positive behaviors, not as performance assessment: Kudos celebrate moments that matter, but they’re not a substitute for formal feedback or performance reviews. Avoid framing Kudos as validation of someone’s overall output; instead, focus on actions, impact, and teamwork.
• Encourage healthy participation: Teams thrive when recognition is evenly distributed and not limited to a few contributors or departments. Encourage everyone, not just managers, to give Kudos so appreciation spreads across the organization.

FAQ

User access and eligibility

Can external users receive Kudos?

No, external users cannot receive Kudos. Kudos can only be given to internal users who are part of the same organization.

Visibility and permissions

Can users see Kudos from a Channel they’re not a member of on someone else’s User Profile?

Yes, partially. If a user views another person’s profile and that person has received Kudos from a Channel the viewer is not a member of, the viewer will see that a Kudos exists and the message attached to it. However, they will not be able to navigate to the post within the Channel. This ensures Channel permissions are respected while still acknowledging recognition.

If a Page displays a Kudos Page Widget from a Channel a user is not a member of, can they still see the leaderboard?

Yes. Users can see the Kudos leaderboard in a Page widget even if they are not members of the underlying Channel.

💡 Best practice: Use this intentionally in shared spaces such as HR hubs, culture pages, or values pages to highlight high-level recognition and cultural signals. Avoid surfacing Kudos from sensitive or highly restricted Channels.

Why can’t I find someone when giving Kudos to multiple Channels?

When posting Kudos to multiple Channels, recipients must be members of the first Channel selected and also have access to all other Channels included in the post. If they’re missing from any of those Channels, they won’t be available as recipients.

Setup and configuration

What happens if I enable Kudos in Admin Settings but haven’t set up values (badges)?

If Kudos is enabled at the platform level but no values have been set up:

• The Kudos button will not appear in Channel posts even if Kudos has been enabled at the Channel level.
• Users will not be able to give Kudos publicly or privately.
• A Kudos section will still appear on User Profiles, indicating where Kudos would normally be displayed.

To start using Kudos, you must import the default badges or create custom values.

Mobile usage

Does Kudos work on mobile?

Kudos is viewable on mobile. Users can see Kudos in Channel posts and on User Profiles. However, creating Kudos is not currently supported on mobile and must be done from desktop.

User lifecycle and leaderboards

What happens if a user leaves the organization? Will they still appear in the leaderboard?

If a user leaves the organization and is suspended, they will still appear in the leaderboard with their full name. 

What happens if a user is permanently deleted?

If a user is permanently deleted, their Kudos will remain in leaderboard calculations, but they will be displayed as “Deleted User”. 

Managing and editing Kudos

Who can remove or edit Kudos?

• Recipients can remove Kudos from their own User Profile.
• Post editors can edit a Kudos post and remove specific recipients.

This ensures both personal control and content ownership, helping keep recognition accurate and appropriate.

What happens if a Kudos post is deleted?

If a Kudos post is deleted, the Kudos itself will remain visible on the recipient’s User Profile and will continue to count toward their overall Kudos and profile badges. However, the original Channel post can no longer be accessed, since it no longer exists.

The purpose of a Channel post is to share a Kudos with a wider audience, but the Kudos can exist independently of the post. As a result, the recipient’s profile and overall leaderboard are not affected when a post is deleted.

The Channel-level leaderboard, however, should reflect the deletion by removing the Kudos from that Channel’s count.

What happens if the Kudos giver edits a post and removes a recipient after it has been published?

If the Kudos giver edits a Kudos post and removes a recipient, that recipient will lose the Kudos. It will no longer appear on their User Profile and will no longer count toward badges or leaderboards.

What happens if the Kudos giver changes the badge they gave to a recipient?

If the Kudos giver changes the badge, the new badge will replace the original one. The recipient’s badge overview on their User Profile will update accordingly, and the change will also be reflected in the leaderboard.