Recognition for colleagues who don't use Slack
How to include people on a shop floor, at a front desk, or on the road in a recognition program, with the joining options, what to check on a phone, and a rollout you can copy.
On this page
Recognition programs tend to start where the tool lives. If that's Slack, the people at desks get thanked and everyone else hears about it secondhand. For many companies that leaves out the people whose work customers see: the warehouse, the clinic, the front desk, the field team.
This guide covers the options for including them and what to check before you launch. It uses Pulsido's features as the example, but the questions apply to any tool.
Three ways in
| Who it suits | What they need | What they can do | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The web app on a phone | Anyone with a work email, or a personal one you're happy to invite | An invite link | Everything: give and receive kudos, coins, rewards, the pulse, feedback |
| Employee QR codes | A shared space, such as a break room or a station | A phone and a Pulsido account | Scan, sign in once, give kudos straight away |
| Guest QR codes | Customers, patients, visitors | Nothing; no sign-in | Thank a named person; a reviewer approves the note before it posts |
These suit different needs. The web app is how frontline people take part fully. Employee codes make giving quicker in a place people pass every day. Guest codes bring in thanks from outside the company. Guest notes count toward kudos people receive, but not toward participation, because the guest isn't an employee.
Joining without Slack
People can join a Pulsido company in two ways: an invite link, or signing in with Slack. Without Slack, use invite links:
- Invite up to 100 emails at a time from Manage → Members. If email is set up, each person gets their link; otherwise copy each link and send it however suits: a text message, a printed sheet, or your onboarding checklist.
- Links work once and expire after 30 days. Inviting the same email again replaces the old link.
- Someone signing up with an email and password confirms the address first, so only the owner of the inbox can accept.
If some frontline staff don't have a work email, decide early whether you'll invite a personal address. Ask them first; some people won't want to give one, and that's fine.
Check it on a phone before launch
Most frontline people will use the program on their own phone, often on mobile data, between tasks. Run through this on an ordinary phone before you invite anyone:
- Open an invite link from a text message, not from email on a laptop. Sign up and join.
- Give a kudos from Home, with a value and a GIF. Time it: it should take under a minute.
- Turn the phone sideways and back, and zoom in. Nothing should be cut off.
- Check notifications. People without Slack hear about kudos in the app, or by email if email is set up for your company. Decide which they'll rely on.
- Scan an employee QR code with the camera app. It should open the kudos form after one sign-in.
- Redeem a reward, if coins are part of the program. Gift card emails arrive at the address the person signed up with.
If a step is awkward, fix it, or tell people about it, before launch. A clumsy first try loses a frontline team faster than anything else.
A two-week rollout for a frontline team
Week 1: set up with the team lead
| Task | Owner | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| Run the phone checklist above | Program owner | Every step works on an ordinary phone |
| Agree with the team lead how people will get their links | Team lead | A list of emails, or a plan to collect them at a shift briefing |
| Print an employee QR code for the break room, if you use one | Program owner | It's on the wall, with a line saying what it's for |
| Ask the lead to send the first three kudos | Team lead | The feed has examples from the team's own work |
Week 2: launch in person
- Launch at a shift briefing, not by email. Five minutes: what it is, why, and a demo on a phone. Hand out links, or let people scan a code.
- Recognize someone on the spot. Ask a leader to give a real kudos during the briefing so people see it land.
- Mention it at the next two briefings. Read out one kudos each time. That's how the habit forms where there's no channel to scroll.
Things that go wrong
- Desk staff recognize each other, and the frontline only receives. Watch who gives kudos, not only who gets them. Pulsido's recognition insights show participation by team, and who hasn't been recognized yet.
- The QR code becomes the only way in. Codes are a shortcut, not the program. People still need an account to see their kudos and rewards.
- Guest notes with private details. Customers sometimes include phone numbers or account details. Guest codes have a reviewer step, and a setting to keep message text out of notifications.
Sources and limits
The joining, QR code, and notification behavior described here is Pulsido's, as documented in the help center on 7 November 2026. Microsoft Teams support isn't generally available in Pulsido yet; for now, people outside Slack use the web app.