Workhuman Review

Learn how Workhuman integrates AI into its employee recognition platform, and how this approach supports engagement, retention, and workplace culture

Workhuman Review

AI is everywhere these days, embedded in nearly every tool and system. A growing concern is the threat of AI replacing human jobs and tasks. But what if AI is used to enhance human skills, strengths, and capabilities instead? 

This is what Workhuman, an employee engagement platform, is all about. In this article, find out how it uses AI technology to help you gain insights into your workforce. We’ll also talk about the platform’s other features and qualities that make it stand out.  

What is Workhuman? 

Workhuman is an employee recognition platform that aims to build a culture of recognition and feedback in the workplace. Employees praise peers for their hard work, support performance conversations, and celebrate key milestones.  

At the heart of the platform is its unique AI tool, Workhuman iQ, which delivers what Workhuman calls Human Intelligence. It uses AI and recognition data to generate actionable insights for HR professionals and managers. 

The platform is designed to encourage frequent and consistent appreciation across teams. The end goal is to improve employee engagement and retention.  

Workhuman is accessible via web and mobile applications. It has been recognized by HRD as one of the top employee rewards programs. 

How does Workhuman work? 

Workhuman integrates with the tools employees already use, making it easier to share recognition and feedback in real time. 

It also uses AI to spot recognition trends, suggest meaningful messages, and highlight potential unconscious bias. The system supports global teams and provides a structure for embedding recognition and feedback into everyday work, regardless of where employees are based. 

Key features and capabilities 

The Workhuman platform has modules covering different aspects of workforce management. We’ve gone over them in more detail: 

Social Recognition 

Workhuman Social Recognition is a peer-to-peer recognition platform that allows employees to acknowledge and congratulate each other through company-wide, team-based social feeds. Employees can likewise earn recognition points, which they can use to redeem items from Workhuman’s global network of retailers. 

Social Recognition also works with popular messaging apps, including Slack and Microsoft Teams, so it can be easily integrated into your company’s daily workflow. 

Conversations 

Workhuman Conversations is a continuous performance management tool that enables employees to request and receive feedback from anyone in the company at any time. Managers can also use the platform to gather input and track an employee’s progress and performance. 

This module integrates with Social Recognition so that employees can turn feedback into recognition.  

Life Events 

Workhuman Life Events enables businesses to build social connections by celebrating important life moments outside the office calendar. These include: 

  • birthdays 
  • engagements 
  • weddings 
  • pet adoptions 
  • moving to a new home 

The platform allows employees to share these moments with each other through congratulatory messages, photos, and videos. They can also earn rewards points, which they can use to redeem items from the Workhuman marketplace. 

a group of people celebrating a birthday with drinks, party hats, and confetti

Service Milestones 

Workhuman Service Milestones lets businesses celebrate an employee’s career highlights through personalized messages, images, and videos. These work achievements can include: 

  • onboarding 
  • transfers 
  • promotions 
  • work anniversaries 

Employees can choose items from Workhuman’s rewards catalog to celebrate their achievement.  

Marking milestones in an employee’s lifecycle makes them feel valued, which translates to higher retention and engagement. It’s a win-win for the company and your people. 

Community Celebrations 

Workhuman Community Celebrations is a venue for people with shared interests to hold group events and celebrate milestones. These include: 

  • volunteer projects 
  • corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives 
  • employee resource groups 
  • cultural events 

Employees feel like they’re part of a bigger community. This helps build a deeper sense of belonging and connection with their peers, leading to improved well-being.  

Workhuman iQ 

Workhuman’s team of data scientists and language experts have come together to build algorithms for AI, data science, and people analytics. Workhuman calls it “the world’s first and only tool to mine the rich, human data of your employee recognition program for Human Intelligence.” 

Some applications of the Workhuman iQ tool:  

  • AI Assistant helps you pull up and analyze data from across your organization’s Workhuman platform. It uses a recognition-focused language model to come up with insights and proposed action 

  • Inclusion Advisor helps detect potentially biased recognition messages. It offers real-time coaching by flagging problematic language as employees write   

Expert Consulting 

Workhuman’s team of advisors are on hand to provide guidance and advice based on data. These advisors are experts in various disciplines: 

  • former HR practitioners 
  • program experts 
  • customer success managers 
  • project managers 
  • communications experts 
  • change management experts 

The platform also has a library of thought leadership pieces on the Workhuman website.  

Admin Hub 

With Workhuman’s Admin Hub, you and anyone with admin permissions can control and customize the platform the way you want it. You can: 

  • review and approve awards 
  • delegate tasks to others, especially when you’re away 
  • monitor any incidents of potential fraud in the awards process 

Admins have access to dashboards and customized reports to see program uptake and usage among employees. 

Global Rewards 

The Workhuman Store boasts over a million rewards items across over 180 countries. Nike, Sony, Kate Spade, Le Creuset and other popular brands are part of the catalog. Workhuman credits partnerships built over the last 20 years in building an extensive array of rewards, with your employees reaping the benefits.  

Integrations 

Microsoft Teams 

According to a 2022 study, employees toggled between apps and websites around 1,200 times every day. Integrations can help address this by embedding a social recognition tool like Workhuman into your organization’s collaboration platform.  

Workhuman integrates with Microsoft Teams, allowing your employees to give recognition to their colleagues on the spot. No need to toggle between Teams and Workhuman – everything can happen on Teams.  

Other integrations 

Workhuman also integrates with: 

  • Workday 
  • Slack 
  • Yammer 
  • Outlook 

Workhuman’s Open API allows integration with other apps and programs as well. 

Plans and pricing 

Information on Workhuman pricing isn’t available on the website. If you’re interested in knowing more, you’ll have to contact the sales team for a demo session. You can do that by clicking on the red Talk to Sales button on every page of the Workhuman website.  

After sales and customer services  

You can contact Workhuman through their sales and customer service channels, both via contact forms on their website. There’s no indication whether these operate 24/7. 

Workhuman does have an extensive Resources page featuring research, blogposts, and podcast episodes for HR leaders.  

What makes Workhuman stand out? 

In our view, there are four qualities that set Workhuman apart from their competition: 

  1. Workhuman iQ 
  2. Inclusion Advisor 
  3. ROI guarantee 
  4. Workhuman Live 

Here’s why we think they’re standout features: 

1. Workhuman iQ 

Workhuman uses AI in analyzing employee recognition data to come up with actionable insights for better engagement and retention. The platform helps with: 

  • identifying the skills your employees receive the most recognition for 
  • understanding how recognition impacts employee retention 
  • assessing team engagement  

According to Workhuman, this is the world’s “first and only tool” for analyzing human data as part of an employee recognition program.  

2. Inclusion Advisor  

Workhuman cites research that shows how minority groups suffer from poor psychological health and low self-esteem because of micro-aggressions. Workhuman also found that well-meaning colleagues tend to use biased language when writing recognition messages.  

Inclusion Advisor helps bring awareness to unconscious bias in the workplace. It’s an AI tool that’s embedded in Workhuman’s Social Recognition module. As employees write their recognition messages, Inclusion Advisor: 

  • flags potentially biased messages 
  • says why they’re biased 
  • suggests ways to rewrite the message  

It’s real-time coaching for your employees to help address unconscious bias. 

Here are five myths about unconscious bias and what organizations can do to address them. 

3. ROI guarantee 

Workhuman commits to helping you meet your goals while working with them. Follow their advice; if you don’t meet your targets at the end of the first year, they’ll refund the fees. (We have yet to see a money back guarantee from other employee engagement platforms.) 

4. Workhuman Live  

Workhuman Live is a yearly conference that brings together HR professionals and business leaders to talk and learn about work, people management, and leadership. It features keynote talks, breakout sessions, and networking opportunities.  

This event positions Workhuman as a contributor to thought leadership in the HR space. Past speakers include Michelle Obama, Simon Sinek, Viola Davis, and Dan Levy, who shared his management style in Workhuman Live 2022. 

Workhuman Live 2025 has best-selling author Adam Grant and award-winning host Trevor Noah among its guest speakers.  

Company overview 

Year established: 1999  
Size (number of employees): 1,001 – 5,000  
Global locations: Massachusetts, USA and Dublin, Ireland  
Businesses served: 100+  
Key people: Eric Mosley (founder, CEO and board member), KeyAnna Schmiedl (chief human experience officer), Tom Libretto (president), Sarah Whitman (SVP, e-commerce), Jonathan Hyland (CTO), Steve Cromwell (chief accounting officer), Richard Maclachlan (CMO) 

Formerly known as Globoforce, Workhuman was co-founded by current chief executive Eric Mosley and Eddie Reynolds in Dublin, Ireland in 1999. The company was rebranded to Workhuman in 2019, also its 20th anniversary.  

The rewards and recognition HR software firm achieved unicorn status in 2020 after being valued at $1.2 billion. It has also been consistently recognized as one of the best places to work by various awarding bodies. 

A star employee at Workhuman is recruitment manager Lauren Van Duyn, one of HRD's top global HR leaders in 2023. 

Is Workhuman the right choice for your company? 

Workhuman is an employee engagement software that leverages AI technology to deliver data and insights on your workforce. Its use of AI in spotting unconscious bias is impressive. The company’s Workhuman Live events and ROI guarantee are other key points that set it apart.  

One drawback to consider is its short list of integrations compared to its competitors. This might be a major deciding factor, especially if you have an established and reliable tech stack. If, in the end, Workhuman isn’t a great fit for your company, here are other engagement platforms to explore: 

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