Employee Recognition & Engagement for Software & Tech Teams | Karma
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Recognition built for software teams that never stop shipping

Your developers work in Slack, MS Teams, or Telegram — Karma meets them wherever that is. Peer recognition, automated milestones, rewards, and culture analytics built directly into the tools your team already uses. And for teams that don't use a messaging platform, Karma's standalone web app has everything too. No recognition program that gets abandoned by week three.

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  • 17k+

    Karma points issued in a year at 8allocate (100+ people)

  • 300+

    Rewards redeemed across 8allocate's distributed engineering teams

  • 6yr

    Tuatara has used Karma as part of their daily team rhythm

  • 0

    Extra logins required — works inside Slack, MS Teams, Telegram, or standalone web

Remote engineering teams are hard to keep engaged — and standard HR tools make it worse

Software engineers don't open HR portals. Recognition platforms that require a separate login get ignored within weeks. Karma lives where engineers already are — Slack, MS Teams, Telegram, or the web — so adoption isn't a project, it's inevitable.

What changes with Karma

  • Recognition happens where your team already works — Slack, MS Teams, Telegram, or Karma's standalone web platform
  • Peer-to-peer by default — a simple @name++ sends a public shoutout, awards points, links to a value
  • Birthdays and workiversaries celebrated automatically — nothing missed, nobody forgotten
  • Culture analytics surface morale trends before they become attrition — managers see the data, not just the resignation

What engineering teams run into

  • Async work means wins go unnoticed — no office where you can casually celebrate a shipped feature
  • Distributed time zones make real-time recognition moments structurally impossible
  • Standalone recognition tools require a new habit — another login, another dashboard, zero adoption from people who are already in five tools
  • Work anniversaries and birthdays get missed because nobody's tracking them manually across a global team

Software teams that made recognition a daily habit

From a 25-person data startup to a 100+ person global engineering company — here's what a peer recognition program looks like in the real world.

    • Software Dev
    • 100+
    • Global

    17k+

    Karma points / year

    300+

    Rewards redeemed

    520+

    Achievements received

    2015

    Founded, HQ Estonia

    The goal was to maintain a strong sense of appreciation and engagement — even without physical office moments.

    Lydia Nilova

    Head of HR, 8allocate

    Read the full story
    • Data Services
    • 25
    • Global startup

    25

    People, fully remote

    Daily

    Recognition cadence

    Skeptic → ritual

    From first-week doubts to a company-wide daily habit — inspired by Atlassian's culture

    I really liked the automated gift card feature. I could set up the exact rules I needed to make an incentive system that comes with some payment requirements.

    Zoltan Bettenbuk

    CEO, ScraperAPI

    Read the full story
    • Digital Transformation
    • ~20
    • Colombia

    6yr

    Using Karma

    10yr

    In business

    Daily rhythm

    Karma became part of Tuatara's everyday team rhythm — so embedded Fabrizio can't imagine the culture without it

    Tuatara turned recognition into a daily habit that helps remote teammates feel seen, valued, and connected — across every timezone.

    Fabrizio González

    CEO, Tuatara

    Read the full story

Five features software teams use every day

Every feature works inside Slack, MS Teams, Telegram, and Karma's standalone web platform. No new habit for your engineers to form — just recognition, rewards, feedback, milestones, and analytics where work already happens.

  • Peer-to-peer recognition

    @name++ in Slack, MS Teams, or Telegram — or via the web platform. Public shoutout, karma points, value tag in two seconds.

    See how it works

  • Rewards & gift cards

    Karma points convert to gift cards, charity donations, or custom non-monetary perks. Zoltan at ScraperAPI used automated gift cards to build an incentive system that runs itself.

    See rewards

  • Milestone automation

    Workiversaries, birthdays, and achievement badges celebrated automatically — the right message, the right channel, the right day. Tuatara has run this for six years without a missed milestone.

    See milestones

  • Anonymous feedback

    Pulse surveys with rating scales and open-ended questions. Fully anonymous — engineers tell you what they actually think. Available for Slack workspaces.

    See feedback

  • Culture analytics

    AI-powered culture reports from recognition and survey data — values adoption, morale trends, inclusion scores. 8allocate's HR team uses this to stay ahead of disengagement across a global team.

    See analytics

  • All customer stories

    See how teams across software, SaaS, logistics, education, and e-commerce have built recognition cultures with Karma.

    Read stories

Frequently asked questions

How do software companies recognize remote employees?

The most effective approach for software teams is peer-to-peer recognition built into the tools developers already use. Karma works inside Slack, MS Teams, and Telegram — a simple @name++ command in any channel sends a public shoutout, awards points, and links to a company value. For teams that don't use a messaging platform, Karma's standalone web platform provides the same experience without any integration required.

What is the best employee engagement program for tech teams?

Tech teams need engagement programs that require zero onboarding and don't add to tool fatigue. Karma works inside Slack, MS Teams, and Telegram via simple commands — no new dashboard to remember to open. For teams without a messaging platform, the standalone Karma web app offers the same full feature set. The program covers peer recognition, automated milestones, anonymous pulse surveys, rewards, and culture analytics.

How do you celebrate employee appreciation day for large software companies?

For large or distributed software companies, employee appreciation day works best as a company-wide recognition campaign — encouraging every team member to give kudos across Slack, MS Teams, Telegram, or the web platform, running a group reward toward a shared celebration, and posting leaderboards highlighting the year's top contributors. Karma automates the milestone message and awards bonus karma points on the day, making it visible across the whole engineering team.

How does peer recognition improve employee retention in software companies?

Engineers leave companies because they feel unseen, not just because of salary. Peer recognition addresses this directly — when recognition comes from the colleagues who see your work every day, it carries more weight than manager-only praise. Software teams using Karma see recognition become a daily habit, which creates the consistent signal of appreciation that keeps engineers engaged and significantly less likely to leave.

Does Karma work for fully remote and globally distributed tech teams?

Yes — Karma was built for remote-first teams. 8allocate, a 100+ person AI and software development company with teams across Europe, issues over 17,000 karma points annually and has redeemed 300+ rewards across their distributed workforce. ScraperAPI's CEO Zoltan Bettenbuk brought the peer recognition model from Atlassian specifically to build culture across remote teams. Tuatara, a Colombia-based digital agency, has used Karma as part of their daily team rhythm for six years.

Ready to get started?

If you're ready to get started with Karma, sign up now and explore the benefits of the recognition for your team. You can also reach out for a free demo.

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Karma bot privacy policy

Effective date: 18 August 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Sliday LTD ("Sliday", "we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, shares, and protects personal data. It covers both the Karma application (for Microsoft Teams, Slack, Telegram, and the web) and the https://karmabot.chat website.

Who we are and how to contact us

The data controller is Sliday LTD, a private limited company registered in Cyprus under company number HE450506, with its principal place of business at Pavlou Valdaseridi 2A, 1st floor, Larnaka, Cyprus, 6018.

For any privacy-related enquiry, or to exercise your data protection rights, contact us at hi@karmabot.chat.

Privacy matters are overseen by our Legal Advisor / Operational Security Manager, Stas Kulesh. A dedicated Data Protection Officer has not been appointed, as Sliday LTD is not required to appoint one under Article 37 of the GDPR; privacy responsibilities are held by the Legal Advisor.

Personal data we handle and where it comes from

From the Karma application

When your organisation installs and uses Karma, we process the following personal data, obtained from Microsoft Teams / Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) and from your use of the application:

  • Display name — from Microsoft Teams / Microsoft Graph
  • Email address — from Microsoft Teams / Microsoft Graph
  • User Principal Name (UPN) — from Microsoft Graph (/me)
  • Microsoft Entra (Azure AD) object ID and tenant ID — from Microsoft authentication
  • Profile photo — from Microsoft Graph (/me/photo)
  • Team and channel names — from Microsoft Teams
  • Karma activity (karma given and received, associated messages) — from your use of the app

Where Karma is used with Slack or Telegram, the equivalent identity and workspace data is obtained from that platform instead.

From this website

  • Contact details you give us — such as your email address and name when you subscribe to updates, request a demo, or contact support
  • Usage and device data — IP address, browser type and version, pages visited, date, time and duration of visit, referring page, and similar diagnostic data
  • Cookies and similar technologies — see "Cookies and website analytics" below

Why we process personal data

We process personal data to:

  • Identify you and link you to your organisation's Karma workspace
  • Operate the core recognition ("karma") features, leaderboards, and adaptive cards
  • Display your name and profile photo within the app
  • Deliver notifications and service communications
  • Administer subscriptions and billing
  • Provide customer support and respond to your enquiries
  • Monitor, secure, maintain, and improve the service, and detect and address technical issues
  • Send newsletters, marketing, or promotional material where you have chosen to receive it — you can opt out at any time via the unsubscribe link in any email, or by contacting us

Lawful basis for processing

We process personal data on the following lawful bases under the GDPR:

  • Performance of a contract — to provide the Karma service to your organisation
  • Legitimate interests — to operate, secure, and improve the service, where not overridden by your rights
  • Consent — for marketing communications and for non-essential cookies and analytics, where consent is required
  • Legal obligation — where we are required by law to retain or disclose data, including for tax and accounting purposes

Where your organisation is the controller and we act as processor, processing is carried out on your organisation's documented instructions.

Who we share personal data with

We share personal data only with the sub-processors listed below, each of which is necessary to deliver the service and is engaged under an appropriate data processing agreement. This is the complete list of sub-processors with access to personal data. We do not sell personal data.

Service sub-processors

  • DigitalOcean — application hosting and managed database
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) — profile photo storage (S3)
  • Cloudflare — edge delivery and web application firewall
  • Microsoft — authentication, the Teams platform, and Microsoft Graph
  • Stripe — subscription billing and payment processing
  • Sentry — error monitoring
  • MailerLite — notification and marketing email delivery

We do not store or collect your payment card details. That information is provided directly to Stripe, our payment processor, whose use of your personal information is governed by its own privacy policy (https://stripe.com/privacy). Stripe adheres to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council.

Website analytics and marketing providers

The https://karmabot.chat website additionally uses:

We may also disclose personal data where required to do so by law or in response to a valid request by a public authority, or where necessary to protect our legal rights, prevent or investigate wrongdoing, or protect the safety of users or the public.

Cookies and website analytics

Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your device. We use cookies and similar technologies (including beacons, tags, and scripts) to operate the website, remember your preferences, keep the service secure, and understand how the site is used.

The cookies we use fall into these categories:

  • Essential cookies — required to operate the website and keep it secure
  • Preference cookies — to remember your settings and choices
  • Analytics and marketing cookies — set by the providers listed above to measure traffic and advertising performance

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to notify you when a cookie is set. If you refuse cookies, some parts of the website may not function correctly.

We do not currently respond to browser "Do Not Track" (DNT) signals.

How long we keep personal data

We retain personal data for the duration of your organisation's active subscription and for six (6) months after subscription cancellation, after which it is deleted. This applies to customer account and identity data, profile photos, and karma transaction records.

  • Database backups operate on a rolling 7-day point-in-time recovery window, so any backup containing erased data is automatically superseded within 7 days.
  • Upon a verified data deletion request, we action it as promptly as reasonably possible and in any event within one month, as required by the GDPR.
  • Billing and accounting records may be retained for longer where required by law.
  • Operational data — error telemetry, security logs, and backups — is disposed of automatically as it ages out of the relevant service's retention window.

Full details are set out in our Data Retention and Disposal Policy.

Your data protection rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:

  • Be informed about how your personal data is used
  • Access the personal data we hold about you
  • Rectification — to have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected
  • Erasure — to have your personal data deleted
  • Restriction — to request that we restrict processing of your personal data
  • Data portability — to receive your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format
  • Object to our processing of your personal data
  • Rights relating to automated decision-making and profiling — Karma does not carry out automated decision-making producing legal or similarly significant effects
  • Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on your consent

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hi@karmabot.chat. We may ask you to verify your identity before responding.

Making a Subject Access Request (SAR)

To submit a Subject Access Request, contact us at hi@karmabot.chat. We respond to all SARs within one month, as required by the GDPR, unless the request is complex or numerous, in which case we may extend the response time by a further two months and will tell you if we do. We maintain a data mapping process that lets us locate and retrieve all personal data held about a specific data subject across our systems — principally the production database and the profile photo object storage — so that a SAR can be fulfilled thoroughly.

International transfers and safeguards

Karma production data is hosted in the United States (DigitalOcean SFO region). As Sliday LTD is established in the EU (Cyprus), this involves a transfer of personal data to a third country.

Such transfers — and transfers to other sub-processors located outside the EU/EEA, including Microsoft, AWS, Cloudflare, Stripe, Sentry, and the analytics providers listed above — are protected by appropriate safeguards, principally the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) incorporated into each sub-processor's Data Processing Agreement, supplemented by those providers' certification frameworks, including the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where the provider participates.

Sliday LTD takes all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Your right to complain to a supervisory authority

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority.

Our lead supervisory authority is the Office of the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection of the Republic of Cyprus:

You may also lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority in your own country of residence.

Security of data

The security of your data is important to us. We apply technical and organisational measures appropriate to the risk, including encryption in transit, access controls, vulnerability scanning, and error monitoring. However, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children's privacy

Our service is not directed at anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will take steps to remove it.

Our service may contain links to sites we do not operate. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content or privacy practices of any third-party site. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of every site you visit.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the updated policy on this page and update the effective date at the top. Where changes are significant, we will notify you by email and/or a prominent notice on our service before the change takes effect. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, contact us:

  • By email: hi@karmabot.chat
  • By post: Sliday LTD, Pavlou Valdaseridi 2A, 1st floor, Larnaka, Cyprus, 6018