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.
Note: These requests also appear in Action Items, alongside everything else waiting on you. Non-admin reviewers approve and decline them there.
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:
Everyone assigned to a review gets the Action Items email, a weekday round-up of what is waiting on you, so the request doesn't slip past you.
Notifications in the sidebar shows a badge, and its panel has a card, such as "2 approvals waiting for you", that opens Action Items.
Admins also see a count next to Recognition > Pending approvals in the admin navigation.
Where to find Pending Approvals
Where you go depends on your role:
Admins: click Admin settings in the sidebar, then Recognition > Pending approvals.
Non-admin reviewers: open Action Items from the Notifications panel. The Pending approvals page is part of the admin area, so reviewers without an admin role act from Action Items.
Both pages show the same requests: the ones where you are an approver.
What you'll see on the page
Pending requests are listed newest first. For each row you'll see:
Date the award was given or the incentive was claimed
Name of the award or incentive
Message the requester wrote
Open a row to see the full picture:
Claim reason for an incentive, or Given by for a manual award
Message in full
Attachment, the proof (images or documents) when the incentive required it
Approval process, so you can see who else is in the chain
Review log, showing what's been decided so far
If your queue is long, select several rows and use Approve selected or Decline selected to handle them together.
Requests that have already been decided are on the Approved and Declined tabs of the Pending approvals page, or under Historical Items in Action Items.
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.
Decline. The points don't move and the requester is notified to follow up with an admin if they want context.
Approving takes effect as soon as you click. When you decline, you can add an optional reason.
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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