LinkedIn Kudos was a tool designed to help remote teams publicly recognize and celebrate colleagues’ achievements. It addressed challenges like reduced visibility of contributions and lack of spontaneous recognition in remote work environments. By offering categories like "Team Player" or "Amazing Mentor", Kudos allowed users to highlight achievements with personalized messages visible across professional networks. However, the feature was discontinued in early 2024, leaving users to rely on alternative methods like LinkedIn posts for acknowledgment.
Key Takeaways:
- Purpose: Boost team morale and connection by recognizing contributions.
- How It Worked: Public recognition with badges and messages on LinkedIn profiles.
- Impact: Enhanced visibility, broke hierarchical barriers, and created lasting records of appreciation.
- Discontinued: Removed in early 2024, with no official explanation from LinkedIn.
- Alternatives: Use LinkedIn posts or tools like Closely for recognition and automation.
Recognition remains vital for remote teams to maintain engagement and morale. While LinkedIn Kudos is no longer available, structured acknowledgment through other tools or platforms can fill the gap effectively.
What LinkedIn Kudos Is and Why It Works
What Is LinkedIn Kudos?
LinkedIn Kudos is a feature designed to let you publicly celebrate the achievements and contributions of your colleagues. It’s like giving a virtual high-five, but with a professional twist that reaches beyond your immediate team and into your broader network.
The process is straightforward: you choose from recognition categories like "Team Player", "Amazing Mentor", "Creative Thinker", or "Going Above and Beyond." Each category comes with a vibrant badge, and you can include a personalized message explaining the reason for the acknowledgment.
When you send Kudos, it shows up on both your profile and the recipient’s, ensuring the recognition is visible to your wider professional network. The recipient gets an instant notification, and the acknowledgment becomes part of their LinkedIn activity, adding a lasting professional touch.
What sets Kudos apart is its professional context. Unlike casual interactions on other platforms, LinkedIn Kudos holds more weight in professional circles. It’s a formal way to acknowledge someone’s efforts, boosting their reputation while also strengthening workplace relationships. This structured approach is especially valuable for teams working remotely.
Why Recognition Matters for Remote Teams
Remote work has completely changed how recognition happens in the workplace. In traditional office settings, small gestures like a quick compliment or a thumbs-up are part of the daily routine. These spontaneous moments often disappear in remote environments.
Research shows that a lack of recognition leads to disengagement, and this issue is even more pronounced for remote teams. Without the usual opportunities to connect, contributions can go unnoticed, and managers may find it harder to acknowledge good work.
Recognition acts as the glue that holds teams together, especially in remote settings where casual interactions are rare. Structured recognition creates moments of shared celebration, helping maintain the human connections that are essential for effective teamwork.
How Kudos Helps Remote Team Building
LinkedIn Kudos tackles some of the biggest challenges remote teams face in maintaining strong relationships and a positive team culture.
First, it amplifies visibility. Recognizing a colleague through Kudos makes their achievement visible to not just your team, but their entire professional network. This public acknowledgment encourages others to embrace a culture of appreciation.
Kudos also helps break down hierarchical barriers. It allows junior team members to recognize senior colleagues and vice versa, creating a more balanced and inclusive dynamic. This kind of cross-level acknowledgment fosters open communication and collaboration, which can sometimes be harder to achieve in remote environments.
Another advantage of Kudos is that it creates a lasting record of recognition. Unlike verbal praise that fades once it’s given, Kudos leaves a visible trail of appreciation. New team members can look back at these moments to understand the team’s values and what behaviors are celebrated.
For managers, Kudos offers a structured way to ensure recognition doesn’t get overlooked. In remote work settings, where isolation can be a challenge, this feature helps reinforce team connections and provides a consistent way to celebrate achievements. It’s a simple yet powerful tool to keep recognition flowing, even from a distance.
How to Set Up and Use LinkedIn Kudos
Step-by-Step Guide to Using LinkedIn Kudos
Important Update: As of early 2024, LinkedIn’s Kudos feature is no longer available. Users began noticing the removal of the "Give Kudos" option on LinkedIn profiles in late 2023, and it has now been completely phased out. LinkedIn has not shared any official announcement or explanation about this decision, which seems to align with a broader focus on video and content-driven engagement [1].
Even without the Kudos feature, you can still acknowledge your colleagues’ contributions in meaningful ways. One option is to create a recognition post on LinkedIn. Highlight their achievements, tag them in the post, and include relevant hashtags to increase visibility.
When crafting these posts, make sure to:
- Mention the recipient’s name early on.
- Specify their contribution and its significance.
- Explain how their efforts positively impacted your team or project.
By following these steps, you can ensure your recognition feels personal and impactful.
Best Practices for Meaningful Recognition
Recognizing someone effectively on LinkedIn requires more than a quick shoutout. To make it meaningful:
- Be specific. Mention measurable outcomes or concrete results, like time saved or improvements made, to add weight to your message.
- Act quickly. Acknowledging achievements within 24–48 hours makes the recognition feel timely and genuine.
- Personalize your approach. Some colleagues appreciate public recognition, while others may value a private note of thanks.
- Be mindful of cultural differences. What feels like praise in one culture might not resonate the same way in another. Tailor your message to ensure it’s well-received.
Adding Recognition to Remote Workflows
For remote teams, consistent and thoughtful acknowledgment is essential to maintaining a strong sense of connection and morale.
Here are some ways to weave recognition into your remote workflows:
- Include shoutouts in weekly meetings, project reviews, or monthly updates.
- Use tools like Asana or Monday.com to set up recurring prompts for recognition, ensuring it becomes a regular practice.
- Celebrate cross-department collaborations publicly. Highlighting successful partnerships between teams can encourage more collaboration and help break down silos.
- Track recognition efforts with a simple tool or spreadsheet to ensure everyone gets their moment in the spotlight.
Finally, set reminders in your project management software to schedule regular recognition sessions. A little planning goes a long way in creating a positive and supportive team culture.
Building Remote Team Culture with Kudos
Adding Recognition to Daily Remote Work
Incorporating recognition into your team’s daily rhythm can make a big difference in fostering connection and morale. The key? Make it a habit.
Start by weaving recognition moments into your existing meetings. For example, during your Monday morning standup, ask each person to share one colleague’s contribution that stood out from the previous week. This simple practice creates a consistent expectation that everyone will give and receive acknowledgment regularly.
Another effective idea is Weekly LinkedIn shoutouts. Dedicate Fridays as "Feature Friday", where you highlight a team member’s achievements on LinkedIn. This not only celebrates individual contributions but also keeps your team’s efforts visible to a broader audience.
Themed recognition programs can also keep the momentum going throughout the month. Try initiatives like "Mentor Monday" to spotlight team members who help others grow, or "Collaboration Wednesday" to celebrate successful teamwork across departments. These themes make it easier for everyone to find opportunities to recognize different types of contributions, ensuring no effort goes unnoticed.
To keep recognition top of mind, use tools like Slack reminders or calendar notifications. A quick weekly prompt, such as "Who made your work easier this week?" encourages team members to pause and reflect on their colleagues’ efforts before the moment slips away.
While daily recognition builds routine, tying it to broader company goals can amplify its impact.
Connecting Recognition with Company Values and Goals
Recognition becomes even more meaningful when it aligns with your organization’s values and objectives. Instead of offering generic praise, connect your shoutouts – whether on LinkedIn or internally – to the core principles and goals that define your company.
For instance, if innovation is a cornerstone of your company culture, highlight team members who propose creative solutions or experiment with new ideas. When recognizing their efforts, explicitly mention how their actions reflect your company’s values. This reinforces what your organization stands for and encourages others to follow suit.
Goal-oriented recognition is especially impactful during major milestones like quarterly reviews or project completions. When a team member’s work directly contributes to hitting revenue goals, entering new markets, or boosting customer satisfaction, call out the specific business impact alongside their personal achievement. This not only celebrates the individual but also shows how their work ties into the bigger picture.
You can also create recognition categories that mirror your company’s strategic priorities. For example, if customer success is a major focus, introduce a "Customer Hero" award for those who go above and beyond for clients. If professional growth is important, celebrate "Learning Champions" who earn certifications or share knowledge with the team.
Tracking these recognition efforts can further highlight their connection to company-wide initiatives. When employees see their contributions acknowledged in the context of larger goals, they feel more engaged with the organization’s mission and better understand how their work drives meaningful results.
Beyond aligning recognition with values, encouraging peer-to-peer appreciation can deepen connections across the team.
Building Peer-to-Peer Recognition
While recognition tied to company goals reinforces strategic priorities, peer-to-peer acknowledgment strengthens trust and collaboration. Recognition from colleagues often feels more genuine and impactful than top-down praise. It builds camaraderie and fosters a sense of belonging.
Encourage team members to call out behind-the-scenes contributions. For example, recognize the colleague who always responds quickly to urgent requests, the teammate who shares helpful resources, or the person who keeps virtual meetings lively with thoughtful questions. These small but meaningful actions deserve acknowledgment from peers.
Cross-department recognition is another way to break down silos and encourage collaboration. Imagine your marketing team publicly thanking the sales team for valuable customer insights, or developers recognizing the customer support team for detailed bug reports. These moments of gratitude build stronger relationships across the organization.
To make peer recognition easier, provide clear templates and examples. Share sample LinkedIn posts or internal messages that highlight different contributions, from technical expertise to emotional support during tough projects. Seeing examples can inspire team members to craft their own messages with confidence.
You might also consider introducing recognition partnerships, where employees are paired with colleagues from different departments. Each month, partners can look for opportunities to publicly celebrate each other’s work. This ensures recognition happens consistently and helps team members learn about contributions happening outside their immediate circles.
Measuring and Improving Recognition Efforts
Tracking Engagement and Morale Changes
Understanding the impact of your recognition program requires consistent tracking and adjustments based on real data.
Start by monitoring engagement metrics tied to your recognition activities. Look at how many team members are actively giving and receiving recognition on platforms like LinkedIn. Pay attention to how often recognition posts are shared or commented on, and identify which types of posts spark the most interaction. LinkedIn’s analytics can provide insights into reach, engagement rates, and audience demographics, helping you measure the program’s effectiveness.
Employee surveys and sentiment tracking can also reveal whether your recognition efforts are fostering a positive team environment [3]. Ask targeted questions: Do employees feel appreciated? Are they noticing their colleagues’ contributions being acknowledged? How does recognition influence their connection to company values?
Sentiment tracking goes beyond numbers, focusing on the language employees use when discussing their work and teammates. Are they expressing more positivity about collaborations? Do they mention feeling valued or motivated? For example, Buffer, a fully remote social media management company, emphasizes employee feedback during performance reviews, ensuring team members can share their experiences and get guidance from leadership [3].
Keep an eye on participation trends that might signal gaps. If some employees frequently receive recognition but rarely give it, or if certain departments are consistently overlooked, these patterns highlight areas needing attention. Dashboards can help managers visualize recognition activity, making it easier to address imbalances during regular check-ins.
The goal is to measure both short-term engagement and long-term cultural shifts. A successful recognition program should promote collaboration, improve retention rates, and strengthen alignment with company values over time.
These insights will guide you in finding the right mix of manual and automated recognition methods.
Manual vs. Automated Recognition: A Comparison
As your recognition program grows, you’ll need to decide between manual efforts and automated tools – or a combination of both. Each approach has its strengths and challenges.
Manual recognition feels personal and genuine, offering tailored praise. However, it can be inconsistent. High-performing employees might get overlooked if their contributions are less visible or if their manager is too busy to acknowledge them.
Automated systems, on the other hand, ensure consistency. They can send reminders and even generate draft messages for personalization, helping recognition happen regularly instead of sporadically.
Atlassian’s "Team Anywhere" initiative is a great example of how structured tracking can enhance recognition. Their Workplace Experience team created dashboards for managers to monitor their team’s recognition activity. Managers use this data during quarterly check-ins to encourage more participation. This structured approach contributed to Atlassian’s leap from No. 47 to No. 7 on the 2023 Fortune Best Companies to Work For® List [2].
The most effective strategy combines both methods. Use automation for consistency and reminders, but keep the recognition messages personal and meaningful. Automated prompts can help managers remember to acknowledge achievements, while human insight ensures the recognition feels authentic and specific to the individual.
Striking this balance strengthens team connections, especially in remote work environments.
Improving Recognition Strategies with Data
Choosing the right recognition method is just the start – data can help you continuously refine your approach.
Participation data can uncover patterns in team dynamics. For example, if certain departments rarely engage in recognition, it might indicate they don’t fully understand the program’s value or need extra support. Similarly, if some employees frequently receive recognition but never give it, they may need coaching on how to recognize others’ contributions or encouragement to participate more actively.
Employee feedback is another valuable tool. Preferences for recognition vary – some people appreciate public LinkedIn shoutouts that enhance their professional visibility, while others prefer private messages or recognition tied directly to company values. Surveys and informal conversations can help you identify these preferences, so you can tailor your strategies to what resonates most with your team.
Tracking how recognition aligns with company values is also crucial. When done effectively, recognition can have a significant impact: employees are 2.6 times more likely to feel promotions are fair and 2.2 times more likely to say innovative thinking is encouraged [2]. Regularly evaluate whether your recognition efforts highlight the right contributions and reinforce the behaviors your organization values most.
Finally, create feedback loops to keep employees informed about program improvements. Share quarterly updates on recognition trends, celebrate increases in participation, and highlight changes made based on employee input. This transparency builds trust and encourages ongoing engagement with the program.
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The Playbook for Recognizing Remote Teams (Before It’s Too Late)
Improving Team Recognition with Closely
Closely builds on the foundation laid by LinkedIn Kudos, taking remote recognition to the next level with scalable automation. While LinkedIn Kudos provides a great starting point, managing recognition on a larger scale requires a more advanced tool. Closely steps in by automating workflows, tailoring outreach, and offering detailed insights into the effectiveness of your recognition program.
Using Closely for LinkedIn Automation
Closely’s LinkedIn automation tools enhance team recognition efforts by ensuring consistency and expanding reach. With AI-powered personalization, the platform creates templates that feel genuine while saving time.
The campaign management feature is particularly useful, as it automates reminders for recognition initiatives and supports up to 10 LinkedIn accounts. This helps ensure that recognition doesn’t get overlooked during busy times.
Another standout feature is the unified inbox, which consolidates responses to recognition posts. Whether team members reply with comments or direct messages, Closely gathers all interactions in one place. This way, no acknowledgment is missed, and engagement remains strong.
Closely also offers advanced analytics and reporting tools to measure the success of your recognition campaigns. You can track metrics like engagement rates, response times, and participation levels across teams or departments. These insights help you identify what works best and where improvements might be needed.
Workflow Examples for Recognition Programs
Closely transforms recognition from an occasional gesture into a structured practice. Here are some examples of how teams can use the platform effectively:
- Weekly Recognition Campaigns: Automate LinkedIn campaigns that prompt managers to highlight one team member each week. Closely’s AI can suggest specific achievements to feature, such as recent project successes or performance milestones. The Growth plan includes 3,000 credits per month to support these campaigns.
- Milestone Celebrations: Set up automated workflows to recognize team members for work anniversaries, certifications, or sales achievements. Closely’s data enrichment features pull milestone details from integrated CRM systems, ensuring timely and personalized recognition.
- Cross-Department Recognition: Use multi-account management to encourage collaboration between departments. For example, when marketing launches a successful campaign, Closely can prompt the sales team to acknowledge their efforts publicly on LinkedIn, fostering a sense of connection across the organization.
- Follow-Up Sequences: After recognition posts go live, Closely can automate follow-up tasks, such as sharing the post in team channels or sending personalized notes from leadership.
How Closely Helps Remote Team Building
Closely goes beyond automation by addressing the unique challenges remote teams face in staying connected and motivated. Its features are designed to enhance recognition programs while integrating seamlessly into existing workflows.
For remote teams spread across time zones, Closely’s scheduling tools allow managers to time recognition posts for when the majority of the team is active on LinkedIn. This ensures maximum visibility and engagement, which is especially important for global teams.
CRM integrations further streamline the process by syncing recognition activities with performance tracking systems. For example, when a team member is recognized on LinkedIn, the activity can be automatically logged in your CRM. This creates a comprehensive record of achievements and helps managers ensure recognition is distributed fairly across the team.
Closely also supports brand consistency with white-label options, allowing recognition messages to reflect your company’s branding and tone. This creates a polished and cohesive experience for both internal teams and external LinkedIn audiences.
To keep things running smoothly, Closely provides 24/7 support and dedicated customer success managers. This ensures that recognition programs stay on track, even when timing is critical – like celebrating a major client win or marking a project milestone.
Lastly, Closely’s lead scoring and web research tools can uncover achievements that might otherwise go unnoticed. For instance, if a team member has been actively engaging with industry leaders or sharing insightful content on LinkedIn, managers can use this information to provide more meaningful recognition.
Building Stronger Teams with Recognition
Recognition plays a crucial role in bringing remote teams together and keeping engagement levels high. By blending insights from tools like LinkedIn Kudos with automated platforms such as Closely, you can lay the groundwork for a workplace culture built on appreciation.
Consistency is key. Great remote teams make it a habit to celebrate achievements, big and small. When recognition happens regularly, it becomes second nature for team members to look for moments to acknowledge each other’s efforts.
Be specific and personal. A generic “great job” doesn’t have the same impact as calling out exactly what someone did well and how it helped the team or company. For example, instead of saying, “Thanks for your help,” you could say, “Your detailed analysis in today’s meeting clarified our next steps and saved us hours of work.” This kind of thoughtful recognition not only motivates the individual but also reinforces behaviors that benefit the entire team.
Encourage peer-to-peer recognition. When team members acknowledge each other’s contributions, it strengthens trust and promotes collaboration. This kind of horizontal recognition fosters a more connected and cooperative team dynamic, even in a remote setting.
Tie recognition to core values. Every acknowledgment is a chance to highlight what your organization values most. For instance, if innovation is a core value, recognizing creativity in problem-solving reinforces its importance to the team.
Refine your approach over time. Pay attention to what resonates with your team. Some people might love public shoutouts on LinkedIn, while others might prefer a private message or a note during a team meeting. By observing what generates the most positive reactions, you can fine-tune your recognition efforts to make them more impactful.
The goal is to create a recognition system that feels natural and sustainable. It shouldn’t feel like just another task on the to-do list. When recognition becomes a seamless part of your team’s daily interactions, it builds stronger relationships and boosts morale. Over time, as team members get more comfortable acknowledging each other, this practice becomes second nature, creating a more engaged and connected team.
FAQs
Why was LinkedIn’s Kudos feature discontinued, and will it be replaced with a similar tool?
Unfortunately, LinkedIn has not provided any official explanation for discontinuing the Kudos feature, nor have they indicated whether a similar tool might be introduced later. Any future updates on this matter will likely come directly from LinkedIn.
What are some effective ways for remote teams to maintain recognition and morale without using LinkedIn Kudos?
Remote teams can nurture a sense of belonging and boost morale by embracing thoughtful and personalized ways to show appreciation. One idea is to create virtual recognition programs where team members can give each other shoutouts or celebrate wins during video calls. Small, meaningful gestures like sending e-gift cards or mailing handwritten notes can also make a big impact.
Building stronger team connections is possible through virtual social activities, such as online coffee breaks, team lunches, or lighthearted icebreaker games. Regular, heartfelt praise – whether shared in meetings or through team chat tools – goes a long way in making employees feel valued. The key is to keep it genuine and timely, tailoring recognition to each person’s contributions and personality.
How can I use LinkedIn posts to recognize team members’ achievements in a remote work setting?
Using LinkedIn posts to spotlight your team members’ achievements is a powerful way to build connection and show appreciation, especially in a remote work setting. Here’s how to make your recognition efforts stand out:
- Tie recognition to company values: When you highlight an achievement, connect it to your team’s mission or core values. This adds depth and shows how individual efforts contribute to the bigger picture.
- Celebrate all contributions: From completing a major project to going above and beyond on a smaller task, acknowledging efforts of all sizes can uplift morale and keep your team motivated.
- Share publicly for greater impact: Posting accomplishments on LinkedIn not only energizes your team but also provides a window into your company culture for your professional network.
A well-crafted, values-centered post can go a long way in inspiring your team and reinforcing a positive work environment, even when you’re miles apart.