See how Reviewr helps you run staff awards and employee scholarships with clear criteria and judging everyone can trust.
In a 2022 Gallup and Workhuman survey of more than 8,000 U.S. employees, only 32% strongly agreed that the recognition they receive is fair and equitable.
Staff awards and employee scholarships often run on habit. Nominations come from the managers who remember to send them. Some winners are picked by an all-staff email vote, others by a few leaders in a meeting. Scholarship applications arrive as attachments, and a few people score them in their own spreadsheets. The units, shifts and locations nobody walks past rarely make the finalist list.
This session draws on two of the five dimensions of Review Integrity, a framework for judging whether an application and review process is fair, consistent and defensible.
The first is Rubric Clarity: are criteria written, weighted and visible before anyone applies? When employees can't see what an award is judged on, many decide it comes down to who you know.
The second is Reviewer Calibration: are reviewers trained, conflicts enforced and score spread measured? A manager judging their own team, or one unusually tough scorer, can decide a winner without anyone noticing.
When those answers are no, recognition works against itself. Employees who never see their unit or location win stop nominating, and the program shrinks. Winners get second-guessed instead of celebrated. When someone asks why a person won, the reasons are scattered across an inbox and a spreadsheet. And recognition is tied to keeping people: in a Gallup and Workhuman study that followed workers from 2022 to 2024, employees who received high-quality recognition were 45% less likely to have left.
Staff awards and employee scholarships follow a set calendar each year, from nomination windows to the start of a school term. Who can nominate, what each award is judged on and who sits on each committee are decided before the first nomination comes in, so that's the time to change them.
You'll also see how to collect winner follow-up, like acceptance forms, headshots and proof of enrollment, and export a recipient report for HR or payroll.
Hospital and health system foundation staff, HR and nursing leaders who run staff awards and employee scholarships, and HR, people-ops and foundation teams at franchise brands and large companies that recognize and fund employees across many locations.
Does Reviewr pay out scholarships or award money?No. Reviewr runs nominations, applications, judging and winner follow-up, like acceptance forms and proof of enrollment. It doesn't disburse funds or track fund balances. You can export a recipient report for HR or payroll.
Can we limit nominations or applications to current employees?Yes. An employee verification step confirms each nominee or applicant before anyone reviews, and single sign-on is available for employees signing in.
Can we keep managers from scoring their own teams?Yes. Nominations can be grouped by award, department or location and sent to the panel you choose, and names can be hidden from judges in the first round.
We run several awards and scholarships. Do they each need their own setup?No. Every program runs under one subscription, with unlimited users, judges and applicants.
Is setup a big project?Reviewr's team builds your program with you from your current forms, typically over about 30 days.
Founded in 2011, Reviewr has processed more than 1 million applications for thousands of organizations and is SOC 2 Type II certified.
The all-in-one platform for managing scholarships, grants and awards programs.
