Some recognition programs need a quick human check before the points go out. Maybe it's a manual award an admin proposed, or an incentive someone claimed, and you want to confirm it before it posts. The Pending Approvals page is where those requests land so you can clear the queue without digging through email.
This article is for admins and any non-admin reviewers your company designates as approvers.
What ends up in Pending Approvals
Two types of recognition flow through this queue:
Manual Awards that require sign-off before they're given. An admin proposes the award, and a designated reviewer (or another admin) confirms it.
Claimable Incentives that someone on your team has claimed. If your incentive is configured to need approval, the claim sits here until a reviewer acts on it.
Awards and incentives that don't require approval don't appear here. They post and pay out as soon as they're given or claimed.
How you'll know there's something to review
You won't have to go hunting. Bonusly tells you when a request is waiting:
Admins see a small notification on the Admin Tools entry in the navigation, with a count of how many items are pending.
Non-admin reviewers see a banner on the home feed letting them know action is needed, plus a Pending Approvals link in the navigation.
Everyone assigned to a review also gets an email so the request doesn't slip past you.
Where to find Pending Approvals
The link sits in two places depending on your role:
Admins: open Admin Tools and click Pending Approvals.
Non-admin reviewers: click Pending Approvals in the main navigation.
Both routes land you on the same page, scoped to the requests assigned to you.
What you'll see on the page
Pending requests are listed in the order they came in, so the oldest items rise to the top. For each row you'll see:
Date the award was given or the incentive was claimed
Award name
Recipient(s) who'll receive the points
Amount of points that'll be sent
Approve and Deny actions
Open a row to see the full picture:
Claim reason or message the requester wrote
Requested by, the person who gave the manual award or claimed the incentive
Approval process, so you can see who else is in the chain
Review log, showing what's been decided so far
Proof (images or documents) when the incentive required it
If your queue is long, use the dropdown at the top of the page to filter by award, then work through one program at a time.
Approving or denying a request
You can act on a request right from the list:
Approve. The recognition posts to the public feed, points move to the recipient, and the requester gets confirmation. Done.
Deny. The points don't move and the requester is notified to follow up with an admin if they want context.
Take a moment with denials. A short heads-up to the requester after you deny (in chat, email, or a quick recognition for trying) keeps the program feeling supportive instead of opaque.
Multi-level approvals
Some programs route through more than one reviewer before they're final. When that's the case, your approval moves the request to the next person in the chain, not straight to the feed. Nothing posts and no points move until every level has approved.
The Review log on the request shows where it is in the chain, who's already acted, and who's still up.
If a single level denies, the request stops there. The recipient isn't paid out and the requester is notified.
Questions? Send us a note to [email protected]; we'd be happy to help!
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