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Purchase, Send, and Manage Hero Points

Updated

Available for the following plan: Standard, Premium, Platinum, Unlimited
Available for the following user access levels: Admin

Hero Points are Employment Hero's digital currency designed to boost engagement and recognition. Organizations can purchase points to reward employees for hard work, birthdays, or work anniversaries. Employees can then redeem these points for digital gift cards in the Perks Store (available via the EH Work App).

This guide covers how to purchase, distribute, and manage Hero Points.

How Hero Points Work

  1. Purchase: The organization buys points (converting CAD to Hero Points).
  2. Reward: Admins send points manually (for recognition) or automatically (for milestones).
  3. Redeem: Employees spend points on gift cards (e.g., Starbucks, Uber, etc.).

Note: The current conversion rate is approximately 0.048 CAD = 1 Hero Point. A 4% service fee applies to point purchases to cover platform maintenance and transaction costs.

Managing Hero Points

Step 1: Purchase Hero Points

To start rewarding your team, you must first top up your organization's balance.

  1. Navigate to Benefits > Manage Hero Points > Points Management.
  2. Click the Purchase button (or "Purchase Points" if your balance is empty).
  3. Select a points package or enter a custom amount.
    • The system will automatically calculate the CAD cost and the 4% service fee.
  4. Enter your payment details (credit card) and confirm the purchase.
  5. Once successful, your "Available Balance" will update immediately.

View Purchases and Download Invoices:

  1. In Benefits, navigate to Points Management.
  2. Click on the Transaction History tab, and then click on the Purchase tab.
  3. This table displays a record of all bulk point purchases made by your organization.
  4. To obtain a copy of an invoice, click on the Download invoice link under the Actions column.
Step 2: Sending Points to Employees

You can send points immediately or schedule them for a future date.

Manual Send (Recognition):

  1. Go to Benefits & Perks > Manage Hero Points > Send Points.
  2. Select the employee(s) you wish to reward.
  3. Enter the amount of points (the CAD equivalent will be displayed for your reference).
  4. Add a message (e.g., "Great work on the Q3 project!").
  5. Select Now to send immediately, or Set a specific date & time to schedule it.
  6. Click Submit.

Automated Scheduled Rewards (Milestones):

You can set up automatic rewards for birthdays and work anniversaries.

  1. Navigate to Engagement > Rewards.

  2. Configure the amount of Hero Points to be sent automatically when an employee reaches a milestone.

    Ensure you have sufficient balance

    If you have automated rewards you should ensure your balance is always sufficient. If the balance is insufficient at the time of the milestone, the send will fail, and you will receive an email notification.

Step 3: Reporting and Tax Compliance

For Canadian employers, it is important to track the value of Hero Points received by employees to ensure compliance with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) guidelines. Because Hero Points can be converted into gift cards (cash-like instruments), they generally have tax implications in Canada.

We provide tools to help you track this data for your T4 reporting. You can view detailed activity for the calendar year and export reports to determine if specific points should be treated as tax-exempt or as taxable benefits.

Important Disclaimer

Clients are solely responsible for their own tax compliance and must consult with their own tax and legal advisors to ensure their program aligns with CRA guidelines.

View Employee Activity:

  1. Navigate to Points Management.
  2. Click the Employee Activity tab.
  3. Ensure you are viewing the current Calendar Year (January 1st to December 31st).
  4. Here you can see two sub-tabs:
    • Received: A summary of points given to employees within the current calendar year.
    • Redeemed: A summary of items employees have purchased using their points.

View Detailed History:

  1. Next to an employee's name, click on View History.
  2. You will see a detailed breakdown including:
    • Date: When the points were received.
    • Points: The number of points.
    • Value: The monetary value of the points.
    • Type: The category of the reward.
    • Description: The context for the reward.

Export Data for Payroll/Tax:

  1. On the Employee Activity tab, click Export table as CSV.
  2. Select the Calendar Year (e.g., Jan 1, 2025 - Dec 31, 2025) to download a report containing:
    • Employee Name
    • Times Received/Redeemed
    • Total CAD Value