Kudos

What are kudos?

Kudos means public praise or recognition for a specific piece of work or action. At work, kudos are short messages in which a colleague, manager or anyone on the team acknowledges someone's contribution so that everyone can see it.

The word comes from the Greek kŷdos, meaning glory or renown. Strictly speaking it is an uncountable noun ("kudos to you"), although people often talk about giving "a few kudos". Kudos are one of the simplest forms of employee recognition.

Kudos vs rewards vs feedback

Kudos do not replace continuous feedback but complement it: people hear not only what to improve but also what is already working.

Kudos examples

• "Thanks, @Anna, for rebuilding the client deck in one evening. They signed the contract."
• "Kudos to @James for onboarding two new starters. They are already closing tasks on their own."
• "Special thanks to @support for the weekend: not a single ticket left unanswered."

Good kudos are specific: they show who did what and what the result was. A general "well done, everyone" works less well than thanks for a particular action.

How to build a kudos culture in 5 steps

1. Provide a simple tool. Saying thanks should take a minute and be visible to the whole team, not lost in private messages.
2. Lead by example. When managers thank people publicly and often, the team quickly picks up the habit.
3. Link to values. Recognise actions that reflect company values, so kudos reinforce your culture.
4. Don't turn it into a contest. Leaderboards of who received the most devalue thanks and breed resentment.
5. Look at the data. If someone never receives kudos, that is a reason for a conversation. Regular recognition supports engagement and retention.

Kudos and recognition in the UK

Kudos themselves are not regulated, but anything of value attached to them can be. Cash bonuses and vouchers linked to recognition schemes are generally taxable and subject to National Insurance, while small non-cash gifts may qualify as tax-free trivial benefits if they cost £50 or less and are not a reward for work or performance.

Because of that last condition, many UK employers keep kudos as pure public thanks and run any rewards through a separate, documented scheme. Read more about building recognition into everyday work in our article on feedback culture.

In Perform, any employee can give kudos with no approval needed. You write a short message and @mention your colleagues, and the kudos appear on the company feed and in each mentioned person's own kudos. You can browse kudos for the whole company, your team or just your own, and recipients are notified in PeopleForce, Slack or Microsoft Teams. Learn more about employee recognition in PeopleForce.