Levels & Badges FAQ
Answers to common setup and operating questions about Levels & Badges.
For what the app is and how to set it up from scratch, see the
Levels & Badges Overview.
XP — shown in the app as points — is a progress score, not money; it is never spent. Company Store points are separate.
Setup
Do I need to configure anything before XP starts being earned?
No. Once the app is enabled and licensed for your business, all ten badge categories are active by default and XP begins accumulating immediately. The one decision to make up front is whether to leave all categories on or turn some off under Settings > Active badge categories.
One step remains before employees can see any of it: publishing. A newly enabled app is admin-only until a company admin goes to Admin → Apps → All Apps → Levels & Badges and clicks Publish to users (or publishes it to specific groups). XP earned before then is kept.
Who sees what once the app is published?
Everyone the app is published to sees My Progress (their own level, tier, XP, and badges) and the Badges catalog. The Leaderboard tab is visible to everyone when the Enable leaderboards toggle is on (on by default). Managers with at least one direct report also see a Team tab showing each report’s level, XP, and badge count. The Admin menu (Analytics, Manage badges, Settings) is visible only to company admins and designated app admins.
Permissions and access
Can I delegate Levels & Badges administration without making someone a full admin?
Yes. Anyone designated as an app admin for Levels & Badges gets the same Admin menu — Analytics, Manage badges, and Settings — without any other admin privileges. Publishing the app, and choosing which groups have it, stays with company admins: that is done on Admin → Apps → All Apps, which an app admin cannot open.
Day-to-day
What’s the difference between Levels & Badges and Recognitions?
Recognitions points carry real value and are redeemable in the Company Store. Levels & Badges XP is a status signal by default — not spendable. The two are separate systems; giving or receiving a recognition is simply one of many activities that can earn XP. You can optionally turn on the Company Store points bridge so that level-ups also mint store points, but even then the two pools stay distinct.
What work earns XP, and can I choose which behaviors count?
Activities that earn XP span ten categories: on-time attendance and shift completion (Reliability), picking up open shifts and completing swaps (Shift Hero), finishing tasks and checklists (Execution), safety inspections and observations (Safety), completing courses (Learner), passing quizzes (Quiz Whiz), completing surveys, submitting ideas, and casting ballot votes (Voice), giving or receiving recognition (Team Player), participating in or winning contests (Contests), and platform engagement such as logging in, reading content, commenting, and posting (Engagement). Each category can be toggled on or off under Settings > Active badge categories. Disabling a category stops all XP and badge awards for those activities immediately.
How do levels and tiers work?
XP accumulates across a 60-level curve. Each rewarded action adds XP, and the running total determines your level. Because “Level 47 of 60” means little to a frontline worker, levels roll up into five named career tiers: Rookie (levels 1–9), Contributor (10–21), Pro (22–37), Veteran (38–53), and Master (54–60). Tiers lead: employees see their tier name and a progress bar toward the next tier, with their own level and all-time points shown as a detail beneath it on My Progress — the same figures their manager sees on the Team view. The leaderboards and the weekly digest show other people’s tier and points, never their level number. The XP required per level increases as you advance: leaving level 1 costs 50 XP, and the last level-ups (from level 55 up to 60) cost 425 each. 280 XP is Level 5; 750 XP reaches Level 10 and the Contributor tier; 16,075 XP reaches Level 60. The curve and the XP each action is worth are the same in every company and cannot be changed.
How do the leaderboards work?
There are monthly and all-time leaderboards. The monthly board resets at the start of each calendar month in your business’s timezone. Each board shows top performers, the person directly ahead of the viewer as a “chase target,” and the viewer’s own rank once they have earned XP in that period — someone with no XP in the period has no row on that board yet. The bottom of the board is never exposed. Boards name everyone who has earned XP in the period; there is no per-person opt-out. Under Settings > Leaderboard scope you choose from four options: Everything (company, location, market, and job title — the default), Company-wide only, By location and market only, or By job title only. Rankings refresh from a nightly snapshot (00:20 UTC), with a live fallback so a newly enabled company sees data right away.
Can I customize badges — rename them, change thresholds, or create new ones?
Yes. From Admin > Manage badges, you can rename any badge (up to 80 characters), change its icon, adjust the threshold to earn it (minimum 1), and edit its unlock message (up to 280 characters). You can also enable or disable individual badges. Any built-in badge can be reset to its default at any time. You can create entirely new custom badges within any existing category. Built-in badges cannot be deleted, but custom badges can.
How does the Company Store points bridge work?
By default, XP is a status signal with no monetary value. To convert level-ups into spendable points, set both Store points per level-up and Monthly store-points budget to a value above zero under Settings > Company Store points. This is a double opt-in — nothing is minted unless both values are set above zero. The monthly budget is a hard ceiling: once what is left for the month cannot cover another level-up, further level-ups are held — not lost — and paid as the budget allows on a later award. Settings shows how much of this month’s budget level-ups have minted. The Company Store app must also be enabled for your business. Each level is paid at most once. Employees who can open the Company Store are told when a level-up pays them points, and My Progress shows them any reward that is held.
What notifications do employees receive?
When Send badge and tier-promotion notifications is on (the default), employees who can open the app get an in-app notification on tier promotions and badge unlocks. It also goes to their phone only if they have turned on push for Recognition in their notification settings; these notices are never emailed. Notifications fire only when someone moves to a new tier, not on every individual level-up, so pings stay meaningful. Separately, when the Company Store points bridge is on, a level-up that pays points sends a Company Store notice (“You earned 50 points!”) to employees who can open the Company Store, governed by their own Company Store notification preference. A separate Send weekly leaderboard digest email toggle (off by default) sends the current month’s top 10 performers to active company administrators every Monday at 14:00 UTC.
When something looks wrong
“I completed a shift on time but didn’t get any XP”
The most common cause is that the Reliability category is turned off under Settings > Active badge categories. Also verify the app is enabled and licensed for your business. XP is awarded after the shift ends, not during — the award runs in the background and may take a moment to appear. If the employee clocked in after the shift’s start time plus the configured grace period, the shift counts as late, which earns fewer XP (8 instead of 20) and resets any on-time streak.
“I gave someone a recognition but didn’t earn any XP for it”
Three things to check. First, self-recognition is excluded — if someone recognized themselves, neither the “given” nor the “received” XP is awarded. Second, only the first 3 recognitions given per day earn XP (a daily cap to prevent gaming); on the receiving side, the first 10 recognitions received per day earn XP. Third, the Team Player category must be enabled under Settings.
My leaderboard rank hasn’t changed even though I earned XP today
Leaderboard rankings refresh from a nightly snapshot at 00:20 UTC. XP earned today will appear on the leaderboard tomorrow. When a company first enables the app, a live fallback shows data immediately, but once snapshots exist the board reflects the previous night’s standings.
I lowered a badge threshold but nobody who already qualifies received the badge
When you lower a badge’s threshold or re-enable a disabled badge, a background job runs to award the badge to everyone who already qualifies. This job processes asynchronously and may take a few minutes. If qualifying users still haven’t received the badge after several minutes, check that the badge’s category is enabled under Settings.
Licensing and limits
Does Levels & Badges require a licence?
Yes. It requires a licence and is enabled per company by a company admin through Admin → Apps → All Apps. It is not enabled by default, and once enabled it is admin-only until that admin clicks Publish to users on the app’s page there.
What happens to existing XP and badges if I disable the app?
All existing data — XP events, levels, badges, and leaderboard standings — is preserved. No new XP is awarded while the app is disabled, and the Levels & Badges tabs are hidden from employees. When you re-enable the app, everything resumes from where it left off. XP is append-only and is never clawed back.
What are the limits I should know about?
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Maximum level | 60 |
| Career tiers | 5 (Rookie, Contributor, Pro, Veteran, Master) |
| Built-in badges | 45 across 10 categories (6 of them need Contests) |
| Badge name length | 80 characters |
| Unlock message length | 280 characters |
| Badge threshold minimum | 1 |
| Daily cap — tasks completed | 10 |
| Daily cap — safety observations | 5 |
| Daily cap — ideas submitted | 3 |
| Daily cap — ballot votes | 5 |
| Daily cap — recognitions given | 3 |
| Daily cap — recognitions received | 10 |
| Daily cap — daily login | 1 |
| Daily cap — content reads | 5 |
| Daily cap — posts created | 3 |
| Daily cap — reactions | 5 |
| Daily cap — comments | 3 |
| Daily cap — videos watched | 3 |
| Daily cap — media submitted | 2 |
| Daily cap — company events attended | 2 |
| Weekly digest recipients | Up to 25 admins per business |
| Site engagement target default | 80% |
More help
- Levels & Badges Overview
- Ask AI — the assistant answers Levels & Badges questions from these articles.