This article is best for:

- Global Admins

In this article:

Every Bonusly user has a monthly allowance to give to their peers to recognize outstanding work and valuable contributions. By default, each user receives the same amount.

Bonusly admins can set the size of their users' monthly allowance by entering it into the 'Monthly Allowance' field in the Company > Recognition settings tab of the Admin panel. You can choose any amount greater than 10.

In addition to setting the monthly allowance, you can choose a name or a symbol for your custom currency. Custom currencies let you have fun and show off your team's culture! We've used "robots" as the company's currency name in this example.

Alternatively, we can choose to use an emoji (the robot, in this case) as the custom currency sign, for example:

IMPORTANT NOTE: Custom currencies always exchange at a rate of 10:1. Ten units of your custom currency equals one unit of your base currency. For most currencies, this exchange rate allows flexibility to give enough meaningful pieces of recognition without diluting the value of points. Drastically high or low exchange rates can either dilute the meaning of points or allow users to give only a few pieces of meaningful recognition, both of which can negatively impact frequent participation.

Additionally, the 10:1 ratio helps keep things clear for employees and consistent for global companies with a common currency. You can see this exchange rate listed under the 'Custom currency sign' in company settings:

When you're done, don't forget to click "Save Settings" at the bottom once you have everything the way you want. When you click "Save Settings," your changes will be reflected immediately. 🎉 

You can set custom rules based on certain conditions, such as department, location, or role. To do this, click on the "Manage custom settings" link under "Monthly Allowance rules." Unless custom rules are set, each user receives the same amount regardless of department, location, or role.

The default setting will show that you have "No rules defined." To create a new rule, click the "New Rule" button at the top right of the page:

First, you will set the amount of giveable points for this group. We're going to give users with their department set to "Leadership" 400 points per month. We've put 400 in the "Monthly allowance amount" field:
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Click the "Add a condition" button, select the "Department" option, and select "Leadership":

After you've clicked submit, you will see your new rule appear.

You also have the option to give users with direct reports a specific number of points per direct report. For example, let's say we want to provide all managers with five extra monthly points per direct report. You would put 5 in the "Additional allowance per direct report" box:

You can also set custom rules for the "Additional allowance per direct report" field, similar to the custom rules for the base monthly allowance outlined above. To do so, click the "Manage custom settings" link beneath the "Additional allowance per direct report" section.
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What if a user matches multiple custom rules that I've set?

If multiple custom "Monthly Allowance rules" match, the rule with the highest value will be used for that user.

What if someone gains additional reports in the middle of the month? Will their monthly allowance increase accordingly?

No, they will not receive extra points for expanding their team until the following month.

When can I expect changes to allowances go into effect?

Changes to the overall Monthly allowance take effect immediately as well as changes to any custom allowance rules.
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Questions? Please send us a note to [email protected]; we'd be happy to help!

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