What Happens to Unredeemed Points
How earned point balances behave over time — no expiry, what offboarding means for balances, and the controls available to admins.
Summary
Earned points in PraisePal do not expire. An employee's balance accumulates until they choose to redeem it or an admin adjusts it. When someone is offboarded, their balance becomes inaccessible — but it is not deleted, and reactivating the account restores access.
Monthly Allowance (the points employees give to others) is a separate pool that resets each month and is not covered here. For details on how both pools work, see the related article on how points are earned and tracked.
Why this matters for finance
Understanding the lifecycle of point balances helps with two things: forecasting the potential cost of future redemptions, and knowing what controls exist when employees leave or programs change.
Because earned points convert to real-cost rewards (gift cards, custom rewards), every unredeemed balance represents a possible future charge. There is no automatic expiry that reduces that exposure over time, so it is worth understanding the levers available.
How earned point balances work
Employees accumulate Earnings whenever they receive recognition, are included in a celebration, or receive a manual points award from an admin. Those points sit in the employee's balance indefinitely — there is no time-based decay or forfeiture schedule.
Points are consumed on a first-in, first-out basis when an employee redeems a reward. The oldest points in the balance are drawn down first, and PraisePal maintains a full audit trail of which points funded each redemption.
What happens when an employee leaves
When a user account is deactivated, the employee loses access to PraisePal and can no longer redeem rewards. Their point balance is preserved in the system but is effectively frozen — no one can spend it while the account is inactive.
If the account is later reactivated, the full balance becomes available again and the employee can resume redeeming as normal.
Employees should redeem any rewards they want before their account is deactivated. Once access is removed, redemption is no longer possible until reactivation.
What happens if the workspace subscription changes
Downgrading or cancelling a PraisePal subscription does not delete employee point balances. Depending on the plan, certain redemption features (such as gift cards) may become unavailable, but the underlying balances remain intact.
Admin controls
Admins can manually add or deduct Earnings at any time through the points adjustment feature. This provides a direct way to correct balances, recover points during offboarding, or make discretionary awards.
Common questions
Do earned points ever expire on their own?
Do earned points ever expire on their own?
No. Earned points remain in the employee's balance until they are redeemed or manually adjusted by an admin. There is no time limit.
Can we recover points from a departing or departed employee?
Can we recover points from a departing or departed employee?
Yes. An admin can manually deduct points from an employee's Earnings balance whether the account is active or deactivated.
What about monthly Allowance — does that carry over?
What about monthly Allowance — does that carry over?
No. Allowance is a separate pool used for giving recognition to others. It resets on the first of each month and unused Allowance does not roll over. This article focuses on Earnings (the redeemable balance).
Are there tax implications for unredeemed balances?
Are there tax implications for unredeemed balances?
PraisePal does not provide tax advice. For guidance on how earned points and redeemed rewards may interact with tax and payroll obligations, see the related article on tax considerations.
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