Employee Recognition Glossary

Key terms and definitions for employee recognition, engagement surveys, gamification, and workplace culture programs.

Employee Recognition

The practice of acknowledging and rewarding employees for their contributions, behaviors, and achievements. Effective recognition programs improve engagement, reduce turnover, and strengthen company culture. TeamToast implements recognition through peer-to-peer toasts, formal awards, and automated rituals.

Toast

A toast is a public or anonymous shout-out sent from one team member to another in TeamToast. Toasts include a message, optional points, and can be delivered via Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, or the web dashboard. Toasts appear on the Toast Wall and contribute to leaderboard rankings.

Toast Wall

A shareable web page that displays all recognition within an organization in real time. The Toast Wall has a unique URL, optional password protection, and a TV presentation mode designed for office displays, lobbies, and all-hands meetings.

Related: Toast, TV Presentation Mode

TV Presentation Mode

A full-screen display mode that rotates through recent toasts on the Toast Wall. Designed for office TVs, lobby screens, and meeting presentations. Auto-advances without interaction, supports dark and light themes, and works on any device with a web browser.

Related: Toast Wall

Pulse Survey

A short, frequent employee survey (typically 1-5 questions) designed to measure engagement, satisfaction, or sentiment in real time. TeamToast supports Likert scale, NPS, yes/no, multiple choice, and open text question types with scheduled or event-triggered delivery.

Related: NPS, Employee Engagement

NPS (Net Promoter Score)

A metric that measures employee loyalty and satisfaction on a 0-10 scale. Respondents scoring 9-10 are promoters, 7-8 are passives, and 0-6 are detractors. NPS is calculated as the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, yielding a score from -100 to +100.

Related: Pulse Survey

Peer-to-Peer Recognition

A recognition model where any employee can acknowledge a colleague's contribution, not just managers. Peer-to-peer recognition democratizes appreciation, captures contributions managers may not see, and is 36% more likely to have a positive impact than manager-only recognition.

Related: Employee Recognition, Toast

Anonymous Recognition

Recognition sent without revealing the sender's identity. In TeamToast, anonymous toasts, feedback, and survey responses are truly untraceable — the sender identity is never stored alongside the content, and even administrators cannot reveal who sent an anonymous message.

Related: Toast, Psychological Safety

Recognition Ritual

A recurring, automated recognition ceremony with three phases: a kickoff message that prompts the team to recognize each other, a mid-period nudge to boost participation, and a recap message that celebrates top contributors. Rituals are delivered via chat platforms on configurable schedules.

Related: Employee Engagement

Giveable Points

A monthly point allowance that each team member uses to recognize others. When you send a toast, you attach giveable points. These points are replenished monthly by the system. Giveable points cannot be spent on rewards — they are exclusively for recognizing colleagues.

Related: Spendable Points, Team Points

Spendable Points

Points earned by receiving toasts from colleagues. Spendable points accumulate in the recipient's balance and can be redeemed for items in the gift shop — such as company swag, gift cards, extra PTO, or charitable donations. They represent the tangible reward component of recognition.

Related: Giveable Points, Gift Shop

Team Points

A shared point pool used for team-level awards and recognition. Team points enable collective celebrations — for example, a manager can grant a team award that draws from the shared pool rather than individual balances.

Gift Shop

An admin-configured catalog where employees redeem their spendable points for real rewards. Admins add items with names, images, descriptions, and point costs. Common items include company swag, gift cards, extra PTO, lunch vouchers, and charitable donations.

Related: Spendable Points, Awards

Badge

A visual achievement unlocked automatically when a team member reaches an activity milestone — such as sending their first toast, reaching 50 recognitions, or completing a survey. Badges are organized into four categories (giver, receiver, survey, special) and appear on user profiles.

Related: Streak, Recognition Gamification

Streak

A count of consecutive active days where a user sends or receives recognition. Streaks create gentle accountability and habit formation. Current and longest streaks are visible on profiles, and a streak leaderboard ranks the most consistent team members.

Related: Badge, Leaderboard

Employee Engagement

The emotional commitment an employee has to their organization and its goals. Engaged employees are more productive, less likely to leave, and contribute more positively to culture. Recognition, surveys, and feedback are primary tools for measuring and improving engagement.

Psychological Safety

A team environment where individuals feel safe to take interpersonal risks — such as giving honest feedback, admitting mistakes, or recognizing peers — without fear of negative consequences. Anonymous recognition and feedback features directly support psychological safety.

Related: Anonymous Recognition

eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score)

A variant of NPS specifically for measuring employee loyalty. The question "How likely are you to recommend this company as a place to work?" is scored 0-10. Organizations use eNPS to benchmark employee satisfaction and track it over time via pulse surveys.

Related: NPS, Pulse Survey