MeritForge FAQ

MeritForge is an employee recognition and growth platform. The Recognition module covers everyday thanks with Sparks, forged badges, titles and rewards. The Growth module covers check-ins, 1:1s, feedback, pulse surveys, objectives, career paths and readiness reviews. Both feed one Growth Record each employee owns, and the first 10 seats are free.

Yes. Each module works on its own, and you can start with one and add the other later. Together they share one login, one profile and the same admin controls, and each makes the other more useful: recognition counts as evidence for growth, and wins from check-ins can become recognition.

MeritForge uses playful medieval language, but it is not designed to make work feel childish. Sparks, medals, titles, and honors are used to make recognition more memorable, not to turn employees into leaderboard competitors. The goal is simple: help people remember meaningful contributions.

Many recognition tools focus mainly on points, rewards, or quick praise. MeritForge focuses on identity and company memory: what people are known for, which values they represent, and which contributions become part of the team’s story.

Recognition works when it feels worth giving and worth receiving. MeritForge makes everyday appreciation lightweight with Sparks, while bigger achievements can become medals, titles, and public recognition moments. The experience is designed to feel social, visible, and memorable.

Any recognition system can be misused if it only rewards ranking. MeritForge is designed around appreciation, not aggressive competition. Admin controls, limited allowances, approval gates, and configurable settings help companies keep recognition healthy and aligned with their culture.

Recognition can be connected to company values, behaviors, and cultural themes. Instead of values living only in a handbook, employees see them reflected in real examples: who helped others, who showed ownership, who protected quality, and who made an impact.

Sparks are lightweight recognition employees can give to others for everyday help, effort, wins, and support. Companies can configure how many Sparks employees receive and how each cycle works.

Yes. Admins can configure Spark allowances and decide how they should work for their organization, including whether unused Sparks expire at the end of each cycle.

Medals are more memorable recognition artifacts for meaningful contributions. Titles help show what someone is becoming known for inside the company. Together, they make recognition feel more lasting than a simple thank-you message.

Yes. Companies can use approval flows for more significant recognitions, so rare or high-impact honors stay meaningful and are not overused.

Growth brings check-ins, 1:1s, feedback, pulse surveys, objectives, career paths, self-assessments and readiness reviews into one place. Every input leads somewhere, everything adds up in a Growth Record each employee owns, and managers get a lighter week instead of another dashboard.

On the team's rhythm (weekly, fortnightly or monthly), people share their mood, a win and anything in their way in about a minute. Mood is shared only with the direct manager and never compared with others. Managers mark check-ins as seen, reply in a short conversation and can take topics to the next 1:1.

The obstacle goes to the manager, who answers it and can commit to an action with a date. If nobody answers, MeritForge sends reminders and can escalate it to the next manager or the People team. Open obstacles are also suggested for the next 1:1, so nothing goes into a void.

Each pair has a steady rhythm and a shared agenda both people add to, with suggested topics such as open obstacles or recent check-ins. There are shared notes, private notes for each person and commitments that carry over until they are done. When a manager is away, a covering manager can run the 1:1s.

Pulses are confidential by design. Results appear only after a minimum number of people have answered, they are shown for the group and never per person, and anyone can choose Prefer not to say. Managers can record an action and share a “You said, we're doing” update, and the next round shows what changed.

Yes. Company, team and personal objectives have key results measured as numbers, thresholds or done and not done, with confidence kept separate from status. Progress can be backed by evidence and colleagues' confirmations, and managers validate objectives at checkpoints and at the end of each Season.

Career tracks describe each role as observable expectations. People choose a target role and show they meet each expectation with evidence and colleagues' vouches, and a reviewer decides. Every role and signature achievement earns an insignia. Ready-made career templates are available in English and Spanish.

Yes, with readiness reviews. The employee reviews themselves first against the target role, up to five colleagues add private input, and the manager rates each expectation with reasons. The review ends in Ready or Not yet, and the manager decides when to share it. At the end of each Season, self-assessments prepare the conversation.

The Growth Record collects each person's wins, feedback, recognition, contributions and evidence, each linked to its source, plus a recap every Season. It has no score or ranking. It is visible to the person, their manager chain and the People team, and the person can see who opened it.

It changes what they rest on. Instead of a once-a-year review written from memory, managers and employees arrive with a Season of check-ins, feedback, objectives and evidence, a self-assessment and, when someone is close to their next role, a readiness review.

Yes. Growth works on its own. If you also use Recognition, check-in wins can become Sparks, recognition can count as evidence, and Growth activities can earn Honor and XP.

Growth is designed around managers' time. Your week and the Manager Brief show what needs each person in one place, items clear themselves once handled, and MeritForge sends at most three interruptions a day. AI assistants can also prepare check-ins and updates for approval.

Pricing is per seat per month with graduated volume tiers, and the first 10 seats are free in every package. On average, Recognition costs at most $2.58 per seat per month, Growth at most $4.25 and both modules at most $5.15, and the average drops as your team grows. See the pricing page for every tier and a calculator.

No. MeritForge can be used purely for peer recognition, medals, titles, culture-building, and analytics without enabling monetary rewards.

No. The MeritForge subscription covers access to the platform and all its features. Budgets for gift cards, payouts, or real-world rewards are managed separately by your company — we send them but we don't charge those through MeritForge.

MeritForge is priced per active seat, with graduated pricing ranges based on team size. This keeps pricing clear while allowing larger teams to benefit from volume-based pricing.

Yes, the full MeritForge experience includes Sparks, medals, titles, recognition feeds, admin controls, analytics, management of the rewards and available integrations. But the budget of real-world rewards are handled separately through your company.

Yes. MeritForge supports importing members and organization structure using XLS or CSV files, making it easier to set up teams, departments, managers, and members.

Current integration areas include Slack recognition, Microsoft Teams recognition (give Sparks from Teams and celebrate them in a channel), Jira recognition (give Sparks from Jira Cloud issues), AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can draft Sparks, check-ins, and objective updates that people approve in MeritForge; see what MeritForge shares with AI assistants), approved third-party reward providers for real-world rewards, external badge sharing (on LinkedIn, with a public link or as an image), and XLS/CSV imports for organization structure and members.

Yes. MeritForge is designed to work for small teams as well as bigger companies. Smaller teams can use it to build recognition habits early, while larger organizations can use admin controls, structure, analytics, and approval flows. All features will be available in any case.

Yes. Admins can configure recognition settings, company values or tags, Spark allowances, approvals, and reward-related controls so the system matches the company’s culture.

No. HR and People teams can own the system, but MeritForge is designed for everyday use by employees, managers, founders, and leadership teams. Recognition should not live only in HR; it should become part of the company’s daily culture.