What Thanks does

Thanks is a cloud-based SaaS employee recognition platform wholly owned by O.C. Tanner Company, acquired in 2019 to serve the small and medium business segment that O.C. Tanner's enterprise-focused heritage did not address. Headquartered at 1930 South State Street in Salt Lake City, Utah, sharing premises with its parent, Thanks operates with 11–50 employees and maintains operations support offices in India for geographic redundancy and business continuity. The platform serves SMBs as its primary customer segment while also accommodating mid-market and enterprise deployments, with case-study customers spanning trade services (Miller's Plumbing), commercial real estate (CBRE), and international real estate (Harcourts).

The product is a unified core recognition platform augmented by modular features: social peer-to-peer recognition (Say Thanks), automated work anniversary and birthday wishes (Celebrate), performance-based awards (Nominate), a Custom Awards catalog of 9,000+ reward experiences including travel, vouchers, SWAG kits, charity donations, and Amazon rewards, digital keepsake compilations (Memories), gamification, and an Insights analytics dashboard, with additional engagement modules for Polls, Quizzes, Surveys, Ideas, Announcements, Nudges, Campaigns, and a Company Store. The technical architecture is multi-cloud, hosted on AWS and IBM Cloud, with native integrations into Slack, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Gmail, WhatsApp, Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Google Workspace, Okta, and OneLogin, plus iOS and Android mobile apps. Security posture is anchored by ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and SOC 2 Type 2 certifications covering Applications, Systems, People, Technology, and Processes. The platform has been recognized with a 2021 Gold Stevie Award for Best Employee Recognition Solution and a 2021 Brandon Hall Group Bronze for Best Advance in Rewards and Recognition Technology.

Thanks generates revenue through subscription-based SaaS contracts, entering via a free trial on my.thanks.com and converting to paid subscriptions; specific pricing is not publicly disclosed. Its go-to-market combines product-led self-serve onboarding with sales-assisted enterprise demonstrations. Revenue, funding, and headcount figures are not disclosed because Thanks operates as a private subsidiary whose financials consolidate into its private parent O.C. Tanner Company, and no external institutional or venture investors are indicated in the available source material.

Name

Thanks

Legal name

O.C. Tanner Company

Website

https://thanks.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Thanks is a cloud-based SaaS employee recognition platform serving SMBs and mid-market companies with social peer-to-peer recognition, automated milestone celebrations, and access to 9,000+ reward experiences; it operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of O.C. Tanner since 2019.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Employee Recognition Software

NAICS

Business Support Services (5614)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Benefits Administration (BPACAPAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Work Management & Collaboration Suites (BPAMAMAG), Enterprise Work Management & Collaborative Workflow Platforms (HDAEAHAI)

Keywords

• Employee recognition software
• Peer-to-peer recognition
• Service anniversary awards
• Employee engagement platform
• Social recognition SaaS

Headquarters

HQ city

Salt Lake City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Personnel

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription: Thanks operates as a cloud-based SaaS platform with subscription-based pricing for employee recognition programs. Companies pay for access to the recognition platform, custom awards catalog, insights dashboards, and integration capabilities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Thanks is a cloud-based, SaaS employee recognition platform that enables companies to set up social recognition programs with peer-to-peer appreciation, automated work anniversary and birthday wishes, milestone awards, and a catalog of 9,000+ reward experiences. The platform integrates with workplace tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Workday, and SAP SuccessFactors, and is accessed via web and mobile on any device.

Product overview

Thanks is a cloud-based employee recognition SaaS platform organized as a unified core product with multiple integrated modules. The core Thanks platform provides social peer-to-peer recognition (Say Thanks) with real-time appreciation feeds, complemented by specialized modules: Celebrate handles automated work anniversary and birthday wishes; Nominate and Custom Awards manage performance-based and milestone awards with access to 9,000+ reward experiences; Memories creates digital keepsake videos; Gamification adds engagement elements; Insights provides analytics dashboards; and Budget enables department-level budget management. Social features include Idea, Poll, Quiz, Survey, Announce, and Nudges for employee engagement. The Company Store and Free Ecards modules support reward redemption and digital greetings. All modules share the same cloud infrastructure and are accessible on any device, integrated with workplace tools like Slack, Teams, and Outlook. The platform is a subsidiary of O.C. Tanner, acquired in 2019 to serve smaller businesses with the same recognition research that O.C. Tanner uses for enterprise clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SPOT: A peer recognition feature that allows employees to give awards to colleagues who made an especially big difference without manager approval.
• Memories
• Company Store

Products and services

• Thanks Core Platform A cloud-based social employee recognition platform for SMB and mid-market companies that enables peer-to-peer recognition, manager-to-employee recognition, and appreciation aligned to company values, accessible on web, iOS, and Android.
• Celebrate
• Nominate
• Custom Awards
• Memories
• Gamification
• Insights
• Free Ecards

Quantifiable outcome

• 591% increase in employees who are engaged when participating in all three aspects of recognition (giving, receiving, observing)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration14 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• AmazoncoreOthersAmazon is featured as part of the 9000+ award experiences available through the Thanks custom awards network. Employees can win Amazon rewards as part of recognition awards.
• Microsoft TeamscoreTechnology or IntegrationOut-of-the-box integration with Microsoft Teams allowing employees to send recognition and appreciation directly within the Teams workflow without switching platforms.
• SlackcoreTechnology or IntegrationNative Slack integration enabling recognition to be sent through Slack channels and directly within the collaboration platform teams use daily.
• Microsoft OutlookcoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with Microsoft Outlook email platform for seamless recognition delivery and notification within existing email workflows.
• SAP SuccessFactorscoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with SAP SuccessFactors HRMS platform enabling recognition to be tied to employee data and HR workflows.
• WorkdaycoreTechnology or IntegrationWorkday integration connecting recognition platform with Workday HR and financial management system for employee data synchronization.
• AWS (Amazon Web Services)coreOthersAWS is used as a primary data center hosting provider for Thanks platform infrastructure. AWS provides physical security, environmental controls, and cloud infrastructure reliability.
• IBM CloudcoreOthersIBM Cloud serves as an additional data center hosting provider alongside AWS, providing geographic redundancy and infrastructure diversity.
• Google AnalyticsminorOthersGoogle Analytics is used for web analytics tracking visitor behavior and usage patterns on Thanks websites.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Workhuman: Workhuman is a leading cloud-based employee recognition platform offering peer-to-peer recognition, service anniversaries, and rewards. It is a direct competitor to Thanks in the social recognition category and now also owns Bonusly.
• Kudos: Kudos is an employee recognition and engagement SaaS platform that enables peer-to-peer recognition, milestones, and analytics. It competes head-to-head with Thanks in the SMB and mid-market segments.
• Awardco: Awardco is a recognition and rewards platform built on Amazon's catalog with no markup on rewards. It directly competes with Thanks on reward catalog breadth and SMB-friendly pricing.
• Motivosity: Motivosity is an employee engagement platform with peer recognition, leadership coaching, and rewards - targeting similar SMB and mid-market customers as Thanks.
• Bonusly: Bonusly is a peer-to-peer recognition and rewards platform focused on SMB and mid-market customers - directly comparable to Thanks' core offering (now owned by Workhuman).
• Blueboard: Blueboard is an employee recognition and rewards platform specializing in experiential rewards and curated reward catalogs - directly comparable to Thanks' Custom Awards network.
• Recognize (by Michael C. Bush / Great Place to Work): Recognize is a SaaS employee recognition platform offering peer recognition, service awards, and integrations with Microsoft Teams and Slack - overlapping directly with Thanks.

Broad incumbents

• Achievers (by BlackHawk Network): Achievers is an established enterprise employee recognition platform, now part of BlackHawk Network. It competes with Thanks in larger enterprise deals where Thanks also occasionally plays.
• Workday: Workday is a major HCM and HRIS platform that includes native recognition and peer feedback capabilities. It is both a partner (Thanks integrates with Workday) and a competitive incumbent that could bundle recognition into its core suite.

Emerging players

• HeyTaco: HeyTaco is a lightweight peer recognition tool integrated into Slack and Microsoft Teams. It targets similar SMB and team-level use cases as Thanks with a simpler feature set.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/thanksrecognition
• Xx.com/Thankscom11
• Facebookfacebook.com/Thankscom
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thanks-com

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Thanks