Workstars Expert Reviews, Pricing, Alternatives - 2023

Workstars provides companies in the UK and US with a dynamic platform for highly customizable recognition programs for their employees. Managers can set up their own perks whether they’re financial or internal, like PTO and WFH or office activities.

“Flexibility over rewards'' is how the guys at Workstars define one of their major differentiators. Like with most employee rewards and recognition platforms, managers can use Workstars to send out rewards from a global gift card catalog and even virtual MasterCard and Visa. 

However, they can also do custom rewards within the platform, setting up perks like PTO, mentoring opportunities, career-enhancing activities, WFH days and setting up a catalog of their own. Both catalogs can be made available for peer-to-peer rewarding too.

There are extensive configuration options to manage every aspect of recognition, from peer to peer, manager to employee, with or without reward, service awards, top performer awards, nominations, voting, etc. 

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In a nutshell, the idea is for there not to be a single way and unchangeable of having to do things within the system. With some platforms, there’s one way of working. You have a points system, you send points to the person you wish to recognize, they exchange them for a reward, and that’s it. Simplicity is great, but the guys at Workstars have a different ambition.

During our demo with demo, we were able to see how the tool can take customers through a journey. Every time they decide to recognize a colleague, they can choose from several options available. If they haven’t set up many, they can start with gift cards and set them up for peer-to-peer, for instance.

Once people start using the product, managers can look at the reporting module for insights on how often people are using it, what kind of rewards they are choosing, and which of those get redeemed more often. All this info can be used to justify adding larger budgets for rewards or creating custom perks.

Workstars is very much gift-card oriented at this point. Companies looking to offer a more comprehensive rewards catalog would have to look for a platform with experiential rewards available in their region.

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• Reward Flexibility: Instead of simply giving points, clients can customize rewards with global gift card catalogs, virtual MasterCards or Visa cards, paid time off, career progression ideas, and other fun things.
• Integration and Automation: Numerous Single On and OAuth login options. Integrations with Microsoft Teams, Workplace, and other business chat options. Automated employee data uploads.
• Configuration Flexibility: Extensive configurations and features for managing every aspect of recognition (e.g., peer to peer, manager to employee, with or without reward, service awards, top performer awards, nominations, voting, etc.).,‍
• Comprehensive Reports: Detailed reports and insights for managers and supervisors. One that stands out is checking out recognition stats per team and comparing them with the rest of the company. 

Workstars also has capabilities for: 

• Recognition history
• Interaction maps

• Slack
• Workplace
• Microsoft Teams
• Yammer
• Salesforce

There are no fees for setting up the system for the client. Pricing is strictly dependent on the number of users, the number of features the client wants, and whether the system is for a multinational organization. Workstars offers three subscription plans: Entry, Pro, and Global. To give you an idea, for a company with 251-500 employees, Workstars starts at £1.25 per employee per month.

Companies in the UK & US with 100-10,000 employees, or with their head-office there but with multiple locations. Workstars is especially good for those looking for a highly-customizable rewards and recognition system that can involve every employee regardless of their location.

After a 15-20 minute conversation, Workstars can have a client system up and running. Once they have access to the admin system, Workstars takes their clients through the process of launching it to their employees. While it can take a few weeks for larger organizations, Workstars can be live within two days for smaller clients.

Aside from having very extensive documentation, Workstars is readily involved to help clients in need of assistance. That being said, unless you have a specific concern, using the platform tends to be a pretty self-service journey.

Founded in Manchester, Workstars is focused on providing HR teams with professionals in over 60 countries with the tools to boost their employee engagement and improve their workplace culture. They’re notable for having a small team (less than 50 employees) but contending with bigger players like Blueboard and Reward Gateway. Their aim has always been to offer what you would expect from a top company in the rewards and recognition software niche, but with a leaner and more cost-effective package.

Is Workstars a good bet for an international company? ‍

In a nutshell, yes, the Workstars team has been known to work well with US and UK companies with employees in a variety of locations. Their platform and customer success team can adapt to the needs of employees in other regions, while their rewards catalog is very international and it’s easy to send rewards to somebody in a different country.

Why is Workstars often described as cost-effective? ‍

At a price point that starts at £1.25 per employee per month for a company with 250-500 employees, Workstars does come at a lower cost than similar platforms.