Introduction
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Nectar is a peer-to-peer employee recognition software best suited for companies with 50-2,000 employees. Features include shoutouts tied to core values, custom challenges, plus an Amazon integration for rewards.
Ratings
Ease of Use
Best For
Key Differentiator
Price
Free Trial
PROS
- Regularly introduces new features and enhancements to its products.
- Volume discounts available for organizations with 500+ employees.
- You pay for the rewards that are claimed. Points and allowances that remain unused won’t cost you a dime.
CONS
- The priced plans are not available to start off as a self-service process. You’d have to book a demo and pay to access some of the premium features.
- The rewards selection could feel limited to some teams, especially those looking for more experiences in offer.
- No longer offer a free plan.
C.A. Short Company
C.A. Short Company
Nectar
Nectar
Motivosity
Motivosity
Terryberry
Terryberry
Guusto
Guusto
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Nectar is a 360° recognition & rewards platform, as it includes social recognition, awards, challenges, milestones, discounts, and other kinds of perks. We’ll go into more detail on what these mean, but first, we must point out that Nectar also stands out for having a completely free version and being especially friendly for remote-first teams.
Nectar's solution is built around a peer-to-peer recognition feed that aligns employee accomplishments with company core values. The feed itself is very much like a social network. You can mention a coworker, add a reason why you recognize them in a public forum, add a certain number of points, and mention which of the operational core values (why you’d previously set) is tied to this commendation.
As to rewards, each employee (including managers) gets a points balance each month, which they can allocate to colleagues who go above and beyond. Those points don’t expire and are redeemable within the same platform. Nectar is also known for its extensive reward selection, including Amazon products, gift cards, company swag, charities, and a whole lot more.
An additional perk that sets Nectar apart is that companies can offer exclusive discounts to their employees. As of 2022, the companies that Nectar has partnered with for this offering include Airbnb, Six Flags, Papa Johns, Walt Disney World, Costco, and many more.
Other recent features include their organizational network analysis component and their internal communications tool. The former gives HR insights into which teams recognize one another the most and is a part of their broader analytics module, while the latter has done a great job delivering engaging content to employees in a clear, consistent format.
As a final note, we’ll add that we’ve kept in constant contact with the guys at Nectar for years and have noticed that they tend to release new features and high-impact integrations with good frequency.
We use nectar for staff and management to reward employees exceptional work with points. Also, it is useful in terms of keeping employees connected with each other and interested in each other's work by allowing them to engage in a way similar to social media. It also was helpful for management to see areas of staff success that otherwise may go unseen, which was particularly helpful in things like formal evaluations. Since staff could comment on each other's posts, it allowed ongoing positive interaction daily to engage with teammates, learn more about each other and collaborate. It also was helpful for management to incentivize positive behaviors via tangible rewards.
I liked how it dramatically improved morale in a short time by giving tangible rewards to staff that felt stronger than just a thank you. Also, the way it connected the staff to each other and fostered collaboration and teamwork was great. I think it improved our retention too, and diminished some of the conflicts we used to see by creating a better sense of community.
We used it for 2 years. When many employees had to go remote due to covid, we were concerned about a lack of engagement and a lack of connection amongst team members. Introducing this tool improved both. It allows team members to interact and reward each other for excellent work, or for going the extra mile. It helped motivate staff to take on tasks and volunteer as they could see it was noticed and the benefits were more tangible than just a thanks. Also, it eliminated the need for staff to approach management or HR to request things like a small thank you gift and having to deal with the budgets involved. So, it has made keeping everyone connected to each other, to the company, and enthusiastic about their work much easier.
Not everyone was a fan and some staff members felt it had the potential to be a bit like a popularity contest and that the competitions it sometimes inspired were not helpful. Some managers were concerned it was too much like social media and could be a distraction. The analytics and reports could have been more in depth.
I think nectar is better than some similar tools in that its interface is really fun for staff and easy to use. I have used two such programs, and preferred nectar mainly because I saw a lot of engagement from the staff and it required very little instruction to get people up to speed on its use.
Does it make sense for the company to invest in these kinds of rewards, as it is an added cost. Also, it is important to have participation, and ideally that should be voluntary, so people should assess if this tool seems to match the culture of the company and would be well received by staff. Also, there is the possibility for some competition, which can be healthy and positive, but people should consider that and be aware and ready to discuss if staff are concerned.
The company seems to have improved its education and sharing of ideas with its users over time.
Remote companies who are concerned about employee connection, engagement and recognition will benefit. I think a young workforce in particular enjoy this kind of tool, and are used to the social media-like aspects.
I think not all older workers may enjoy it. Also, companies where a lot of the employees are very highly compensated and advanced professionals may not be as interested in these kinds of rewards and interactions.
We have managers give recognition at least once a week. Employees use it to get items with their points. They also like to have another way to communicate with each other.
We like the user-friendly platform. They have great customer service. Our employees are able to use their points towards stuff they enjoy.
We purchased it to engage employees and give recognition. We love the idea of employees giving positive feedback to each other. Our employees wanted to be able to give each other recognition as well. We used it for 2.5 years.
Nectar took a while to implement. Our employees would like to see additional / new options to purchase with points. Notifications to employees didn’t always work.
They are very similar to competitors. Their gift selection seems smaller then others.
Consider time of implementation. Make sure that your team uses it on a regular basis. Give incentives for employees to give each other recognition.
They are always making updates to improve. They have improved the overall design of the app.
Larger companies that aren’t able to recognize and acknowledge every employee all the time.
Small companies that interact every day.
While they do offer volume discounts to companies with more than 500 employees, enterprise customers with over 2,000 employees don’t make up the bulk of Nectar’s current customer base. Those looking for more of a white glove service and having more resources deployed for their account might not be the best fit for Nectar, as they’re a smaller team and definitely more on the SMB and remote-friendly end of both spectrums.
Heineken, Teachable, Major League Baseball, SHRM, Eightfold.ai
- Sizeable reward catalog: On demand company branded swag as rewards, plus a large variety of other rewards including gift cards, charities, etc. Amazon products are also available as rewards for millions of options plus quick shipping.
- Analytics: A reporting module shows you the most/least active employees, Leaderboards
- Organizational network analysis (ONA): Tied to reporting, this feature allows you to see which teams are supporting which other teams.
Nectar also has capabilities for creating:
- Step count and other fitness challenges
- Recognition for employee awards like President's club, employee of the month, etc.
- Single sign on (SSO)
- A variety of HRIS integrations: Bamboo, Rippling, Paycor, ADP, Namely and many more
- Slackbot that allows people to give/receive recognition via slack
- Microsoft Teams integration where you can use the entire product within Teams
Nectar requires a minimum annual agreement of $4,000. The platform no longer offers a free tier and its pricing has increased a bit since our last review.
- Plus: $5 per employee per month when billed annually and includes key features like peer-to-peer recognition, manager-to-employee recognition, HRIS integration, recognition automation for birthdays/anniversaries, and dedicated account manager.
- Premium: $6 per employee per month when billed annually and includes everything in Plus, and: nominations program, swag store, rewards cards, and multi-language.
- Custom: Quotation-based available for enterprises.
Organizations with 50-2,000~ employees who want a high engagement peer-to-peer employee rewards solution that is cost-effective.
Implementing Nectar at first is as easy as signing up and inviting your colleagues to join. You can start using the platform pretty much instantly. For one of the paid plans, you’d have to first book a demo so their customer success team can get a good sense of your needs and the program that you’d create within the platform. Implementation times will vary depending on the outcome of said demo and the scope of your team’s needs.
Companies on the Plus Plan get a dedicated account manager.
While many workforce engagement platforms are about peer-to-peer & manager-to-employee recognition, Nectar has always been about helping distributed teams stay connected. This philosophy has set them apart even since 2015, when remote work wasn’t as common as it is today.
Which is not to say that they can’t be a good fit for centralized companies too. It’s just that their features definitely revolve around being able to reward and recognize employees anytime and anywhere.
Now, although the philosophy behind Nectar has stayed steady over the years, the platform is constantly evolving, as we mentioned in the review and features sections of our deep dive. Working out of Orem, Utah and other parts of the US, it’s remarkable that a team of 30~ has been servicing companies like Heineken and the MLB quite successfully.
Company HQ
Orem, Utah
Number of Employees
30+
Year Founded
2015
Amount Raised
$1.12M
