Asking someone to attach a point value to a shoutout is asking them to price recognition, which most people have no basis for doing. One person gives 500 points for the same contribution another gives 5,000. The inconsistency is visible to recipients and it makes reporting hard to read.
Point tiers solve this by giving each award level a name, a short guideline, and concrete examples. The sender picks the tier that matches what happened rather than guessing at a number.
The three points modes
Point tiers is one of three options under Points amount mode:
Mode | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
Preset amounts | Users select from a list of point values | Teams that want consistency without guidance |
Custom amount | Users enter any amount within their budget | Teams with high trust and established norms |
Point tiers | Users select based on named guidelines and examples | Teams that want consistency and want to teach what each level means |
Point tiers is the most opinionated of the three, and the most useful if your program is new or if you have seen wide variance in how people award points.
Setting up tiers
Navigate to app.hithrive.com/admin/recognition/settings and select Point tiers under Points amount mode.
Click Add New to create a tier. Each one takes four fields:
Field | Limit | What it does |
|---|---|---|
Tier name | 50 characters | What the sender sees when choosing |
Point value | — | The points awarded, shown alongside its dollar equivalent |
Short description | 150 characters | The one-line guideline for when to use this tier |
Examples | 400 characters | Bulleted scenarios that make the tier concrete |
Click Save Changes when done. Add as many tiers as you need, though four to six covers most programs.
What your team sees
When someone composes a shoutout, the points field shows No points selected with a Choose points link rather than an open input.
Clicking it opens a selection window headed Choose a point amount, with the prompt "Use these examples to match the points to the contribution." Every tier is listed with its name, point value, and short description. The sender's available balance and the running total are shown at the top.
Selecting a tier expands it to reveal an A good fit when... section containing the examples you wrote. This is where your examples do their work: the sender sees them at the moment of deciding, next to the tiers immediately above and below.
The sender confirms with a button labeled with the amount, for example Add 10,000 points, which returns them to the composer with the points attached.
💡 Examples only appear on the tier a sender has selected, so they function as a confirmation rather than a menu. Write them to answer "is this the right level?" rather than "what is this level for?"
Writing tiers that work
Name the tier for the moment, not the amount. "Great Assist" tells someone what kind of thing this is. "Level 2" tells them nothing.
Make the description a decision rule. The sender is deciding between two adjacent tiers. Your description should help them pick. "Went noticeably beyond the day job to help someone else succeed" draws a line. "For great work" does not.
Use examples to mark the boundary. The hardest judgment is between neighboring tiers, so examples are most useful when they show what belongs at this level rather than the one below or above.
Space the values meaningfully. If your tiers are 1,000 / 1,200 / 1,500, the distinctions are not worth the choice. Steps that roughly double keep each tier distinct.
Here is a working set:
Tier | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
Quick Thanks | 2,500 ($25) | Everyday appreciation. The most common award, use freely and often. |
Great Assist | 5,000 ($50) | Went noticeably beyond the day job to help someone else succeed. |
Standout Play | 10,000 ($100) | Meaningful individual impact beyond role expectations. |
Clutch Performance | 15,000 ($150) | Sustained excellence over a project cycle, sprint, or quarter. |
MVP | 25,000 ($250) | Reserved for truly exceptional moments. Your rationale should make the "why" obvious. |
💡 Say which tier should be the common one. Without that signal, people anchor high early and the top tier loses meaning. Naming the everyday level in its own description, as "Quick Thanks" does above, does that work for you.
Editing and removing tiers
Open any tier to edit its name, value, description, or examples, then click Save Changes.
To remove a tier, open it and click Delete Tier. The tier is removed from the composer going forward. Shoutouts already sent at that value are unaffected.
Changes take effect immediately for anyone composing a shoutout after you save.
After you launch tiers
Check the distribution in reporting after a few weeks at app.hithrive.com/admin/reports.
Everything clustering in one tier usually means the descriptions are not distinguishing between levels. Tighten them.
Nobody using the top tier is often fine. The top tier should be rare. It becomes a problem only if genuinely exceptional work is being awarded at the middle tier because people are unsure whether they are allowed to go higher.
Everything at the top tier means either your values are spaced too tightly or nobody feels comfortable giving a smaller award. The fix is usually reframing the lowest tier as the default rather than as a lesser option.