At Camunda, we believe that recognition is more than just acknowledging good work. It's about celebrating the unique contributions, behaviours, skills, and achievements of our Camundi that drive our company's success. We define recognition as the genuine expression of appreciation for behaviours, efforts, and results that align with our F.A.I.T.H. values and support our strategic goals.
CamundiKudos is Camunda's framework for meaningful recognition, is designed to create a positive flywheel effect where appreciation becomes a natural, integral part of our daily interactions.
Note: For more detailed information, jump to the detailed award guidelines below!
Our Approach: Frequent, Timely, and Value-Aligned
Timely: Given promptly after the behavior or achievement occurs
Specific: Clearly linked to a particular action, skill, or result
Personalized: Tailored to the individual's preferences and contributions
Value-aligned: Connected to our Focus, Ambition, Integrity, Talent, and Humor (F.A.I.T.H.) values
Meaningful: Delivered with authenticity and a clear understanding of the impact
Through this program, we aim to:
Reinforce our F.A.I.T.H. values as the cornerstone of our culture
Celebrate standout achievements and behaviors that accelerate our annual goals
Foster a culture of appreciation and motivation across our global remote team
Attract, retain and engage talent to empower Camunda’s long-term success.
CamundiKudos offers a range of recognition opportunities, from peer-to-peer shout-outs to significant awards for high impact contributions.
Why Recognition Matters to All of Us:
In our fast-paced, globally distributed work environment, recognition plays a crucial role in connecting us, motivating us, and reinforcing our shared purpose. Whether you're a manager looking to empower your team or an individual contributor seeking to understand your impact, recognition is a powerful tool that benefits us all.
For Managers:
Recognizing your team members can:
Boost team morale and productivity
Reinforce desired behaviors and outcomes
Strengthen team cohesion and loyalty
Provide clear guidance on what excellence looks like
Support talent retention and development
For Individual Contributors:
When your efforts are acknowledged and appreciated, it:
Boosts your motivation and job satisfaction
Provides clear feedback on what you're doing well
Strengthens your connections with colleagues and managers
Enhances your sense of purpose and alignment with Camunda's goals
Supports your professional growth and career development
We call these benefits our "emotional salary"—the non-monetary rewards that make our work deeply satisfying and meaningful. At Camunda, we believe this emotional connection to our work and our team is just as important as financial compensation.
By actively participating in recognition, whether giving or receiving, we all contribute to creating a more engaged, connected, and high-performing workplace. It's a win-win that elevates both individual experiences and our collective success.
Detailed Award Guidelines:
Note: If a spot recognition/exceptional achievement award is submitted, but approvers request the award category or justification be updated or expanded, only a single re-submission will be permitted.
A] Shoutouts:
Description:
Shoutouts are designed for real-time, peer-to-peer or manager-to-direct recognition, or recently following the action of a Camundi to acknowledge and reinforce positive behaviours, actions, or accomplishments that demonstrate Camunda's F.A.I.T.H. values in day-to-day work.
Purpose:
Recognize and reinforce behaviors and achievements that exemplify our F.A.I.T.H. values and create meaningful impact for the team, department, or company
Frequency:
Ongoing, as deserving actions or behaviours are observed
Eligibility:
All Camundi are eligible to give and receive Shoutouts. We encourage all managers to regularly celebrate their directs
Nomination Criteria:
Scope:Contributions within the employee's regular job scope that go above and beyond expectations
Impact: Positive impact on the individual, team, or department's productivity, morale, or collaboration
Examples:
Consistently delivering high-quality work under tight deadlines(Focus)
Proactively offering to help a colleague or sharing knowledge (Talent, Integrity)
Bringing a positive, humorous attitude to team interactions (Humor)
Award Mechanism:
Shoutouts are shared in the dedicated #shoutouts Slack channel
Process:
Have a look here for guidance on giving shoutouts!
Consider using a template to make your shoutout even more personalized!
Here are some templates to inspire you!
"I want to give a huge shoutout to @[Name] for demonstrating incredible [F.A.I.T.H. value] in [specific situation/project]. Your [specific action/behavior] made a big impact on [result/outcome]. Thank you for your amazing contribution!
"@[Name], your [specific skill/talent] shone through in [project/task]. The way you [specific action/achievement] showcased your [F.A.I.T.H. value] and directly contributed to [team/company goal]. Kudos on a job well done!"
B] Spot Recognition Awards:
Description:
Spot Recognition Awards are ad-hoc manager nominations that acknowledge significant contributions or achievements that align with Camunda's values and goals, and have a notable impact on team or department objectives.
Purpose:
Acknowledge significant contributions or achievements that demonstrates behaviours aligned to Lean Camunda and F.A.I.T.H values
This award is not for:
Results of a project or goal with general expected outcome
Form of retention reward/counteroffer
Additional compensation to increase overall pay
Recognition for recurring projects/work
Frequency:
Monthly, as deserving contributions or achievements are completed.
Nominations will be reviewed in bulk during the last week of each month, assessed against equality metrics, and then approved by L-group.
Camundi are not eligible to receive more than 2 Spot Recognition Award per calendar year
Value (gross):EUR/USD/GBP
200
Eligibility:
All Camundi are eligible to receive Spot Recognition Awards, as nominated by their manager
Nomination Criteria:
Scope: Consistent demonstration of F.A.I.T.H. values through actions and achievements that positively impact team or department objectives
Impact: Significant, measurable impact on team or department performance, efficiency, or goal achievement
Examples:
Taking full ownership of customer escalations through to resolution
Consistently delivering high-quality customer demos that convert prospects
Proactively improving team processes without being asked
Running effective knowledge sharing sessions that upskill the team
Taking initiative to learn new skills and applying them to benefit the team
Providing transparent project updates including early risk identification
Maintaining documentation that noticeably improves team efficiency
Successfully juggling multiple priorities while maintaining quality
Keeping the team motivated and positive during challenging projects
Creating an environment where teammates feel comfortable contributing
Taking ownership of mistakes and implementing preventive solutions
Stepping up to effectively mentor new team members
Consistently delivering on commitments to customers and teammates
Finding constructive solutions to issues while maintaining team spirit
Award Mechanism:
Announcement in team meeting and payout via payroll in the next available cycle post approval
Process:
Manager request:
Navigate to the Bob profile of your direct report > Actions > Update profile > CamundiKudos Request (Spot Recognition)
Note: Requests will be processed once a month, in the last week of the month
Select "Spot Recognition Award" from the dropdown under Award Program
Add an effective date:
should be added as the 1st of the following month
i.e., A manager who makes a request on June 3rd, should put July 1st as the effective date
Cutoff: All awards submitted from 1-23rd of the month will be processed by Total Rewards between 24-month end. Awards submitted after this date will only be processed along with the subsequent batch
Add a detailed justification
Provide a detailed explanation of why you believe the nominee deserves this award. Focus on the scope of their contributions and the impact they have made. These are behaviours we want to encourage more of in our teams and across Camunda.
Add the local award value
refer to this table to correctly add the award value in the Camundis local currency;
inc = USD 200
Ltd = GBP 200
GmbH = EUR 200
Remote.com = EUR 200 but must be in the currency of the country, refer to the table below for the exact value
PTE= refer to table below for local award values (currently SGD 262)
Approval Flow:
1-23 of each month:
Manager enters nomination
PBP reviews award for justification against criteria
24-27 of each month (3 days):
Total Rewards and PBP review in bulk during the last week of the month and approve
Total Rewards checks that the Camundi has not already received 2 awards in the calendar year
Total Rewards checks that the amount added is correct and aligned with nominee country
Total Rewards conducts an equality check, and shares with PBPs for review/flags
Total Rewards will determine budget availability and flag for FP&A + Divisional leader as needed
Total Rewards will then approve/reject awards in Bob
27 to month end of each month (±3-4 days)
Second-level managers are responsible for reviewing and providing final approval for CamundiKudos nominations that have been vetted by PBP and Total Rewards. Timely approvals are essential to ensure a smooth process and prompt award distribution. When reviewing nominations, consider alignment with program criteria, impact and scope of contributions, and consistency across nominations.
Expect to spend 30-60 min per month on this task- a recurring calendar block on a specific day at the end of the month could be helpful.
The manager will then be notified by a Bob task of the approval, and be requested to inform the Camundi
Payroll will receive an email notification of the award to ensure this is added to the relevant payroll (to note, this is present in the payroll table).
Management:
Total Rewards will monitor program utilization as well as conduct equality checks.
FP&A will receive a report which details monthly program utilisation
C] Exceptional Achievement Awards:
Description:
Organizational Excellence
Recognize significant achievements that transform how Camunda operates, competes, or delivers value to customers or our teammates. These awards celebrate work that creates lasting impact across multiple teams and directly advances our goal of category leadership
Strategic Excellence
Major achievements that significantly advance Camunda's strategic goals, such as expanding our market presence, driving operational excellence, or enhancing our global remote team's
Collaborative Excellence
Notable achievements that drive meaningful improvements or results across multiple teams or departments, contributing to Camunda's continuous growth and success.
Purpose:
Recognize extraordinary achievements that have a substantial, cross-functional impact and significantly advance Camunda's strategic objectives as a business
This award is not for:
Recognition of overall good performance
Form of retention reward/counteroffer
Additional compensation to increase overall pay
General teamwork recognition
Recognition for recurring projects
Frequency:
Rare, as deserving, high-impact achievements are completed
Camundi are not eligible to receive more than 1 one Award per calendar year and significant justification will be needed if more than one nomination is received within 12 months of the last award.
Value: (gross)EUR/USD/GBP
Organizational Excellence
4000
Strategic Excellence
2000
Collaborative Excellence
750
Eligibility:
All Camundi are eligible to receive Exceptional Achievement Awards, as nominated by their manager
Nomination Criteria:
Organizational Excellence
Scope: Achievements that fundamentally change Camunda's market position or how we operate as a company. These contributions create substantial, measurable impact that enhances our category leadership and will benefit Camunda for years to come.
Impact: Creates lasting company-wide transformation with clear metrics of success.
Strategic Excellence
Scope: Strategic projects or innovations that involve multiple departments and deliver substantial, measurable results aligned with Camunda's key objectives.
Impact: Significant, quantifiable impact on Camunda's performance, efficiency, or competitive position, such as entering new markets, optimizing critical processes, or implementing impactful employee engagement initiatives.
Collaborative Excellence
Scope: Cross-functional initiatives or projects that involve several teams and deliver tangible, measurable benefits for the involved areas.
Impact: Considerable, demonstrable impact on the performance, collaboration, or goal achievement of the involved teams or departments, such as improving key metrics, streamlining workflows, or fostering innovation.
Examples (not exhaustive and all levels are available across all departments):
Organizational Excellence
Leading our company's category creation initiative, resulting in formal recognition from major analyst firms and positioning us as a category leader
Developing and launching a comprehensive go-to-market framework that unifies multiple divisions and creates measurable improvement in enterprise sales effectiveness
Creating a new technical framework that becomes foundational to our product strategy and thought leadership, leading to significant enterprise customer adoption
Implementing a company-wide operational transformation that fundamentally changes how we scale, reducing costs while improving effectiveness
Strategic Excellence
Driving the successful launch of our product on a new cloud platform, managing both technical implementation and vendor relationships
Leading a services team to exceed annual booking targets by 30%, while implementing new service offerings that improve scalability
Redesigning audit processes that cut completion time by 50% while implementing sustainable improvements for future audits
Creating comprehensive performance benchmarks that directly influence product improvements and sales success
Developing new enablement programs that measurably improve sales team effectiveness
Collaborative Excellence
Leading the implementation of a new procurement system, collaborating across Finance, Legal, and IT to improve efficiency
Creating and implementing a new learning program that enhances manager skills and effectiveness across multiple departments
Redesigning onboarding processes that improve new hire effectiveness while reducing administrative overhead
Taking ownership of cross-team initiatives that significantly improve operational efficiency while maintaining regular responsibilities
Creating a new bug reporting process that cuts resolution time in half
Developing a new demo approach that increases technical win rates by 20%
Award Mechanism:
Awards are personal, and we do not expect managers to announce these or share broadly. Payout will take place via payroll in the next available cycle
Process:
Manager request:
Navigate to the Bob profile of your direct report> Actions > Update profile > CamundiKudos Request (Exceptional Achievement)
Select the award level from the dropdown under Award Program
EAA- Organizational Excellence
EAA- Strategic Excellence
EAA- Collaborative Excellence
Add an effective date:
should be added as the 1st of the following month (dates selected that are not aligned with this date will be rejected for re-submission). Please allow 2 weeks for all approvals to flow through the system, so select an effective date which makes sense here
e.g.,
i.e., A manager who makes a request on June 3rd, should put July 1st as the effective date
i.e., A manager who makes a request on June 15th, should put July 1st as the effective date
i.e., A manager who makes a request on June 23rd, should put August 1st as the effective date
All awards will be processed on a rolling basis and not in bulk as with the spot recognition award
Add a detailed justification
Provide a detailed explanation of why you believe the nominee deserves this award. Focus on the scope of their contributions and the impact they have made
EAA- Organizational Excellence
Scope: Transformative initiatives that span the entire organization and fundamentally elevate Camunda's competitive advantage or industry standing.
Impact: Game-changing, measurable impact on Camunda's long-term success, such as establishing clear category leadership, achieving unprecedented revenue growth, or revolutionizing our product offerings.
EAA- Strategic Excellence
Scope: Strategic projects or innovations that involve multiple departments and deliver substantial, measurable results aligned with Camunda's key objectives.
Impact: Significant, quantifiable impact on Camunda's performance, efficiency, or competitive position, such as entering new markets, optimizing critical processes, or implementing impactful employee engagement initiatives.
EAA- Collaborative Excellence
Scope: Cross-functional initiatives or projects that involve several teams and deliver tangible, measurable benefits for the involved areas.
Impact: Considerable, demonstrable impact on the performance, collaboration, or goal achievement of the involved teams or departments, such as improving key metrics, streamlining workflows, or fostering innovation.
Add the local award value
refer to this table to correctly add the award value in the Camundis local currency;
Approval Flow:
Manager enters nomination
Total Rewards and PBP review and approve (determine if an award has been received in the past 12 months)
Second-Level manager approves
SLT Member approves
Award is added to next available payroll following final approvals
Management:
Total Rewards will monitor program utilization, and add each award to a budget tracker
Quarterly reporting to FP&A
D] One Goal Awards: Launching in January 2025 for our inaugural kickoff week!
Nominations are still blind and reviewed by department batches
Finalist selection
Week of January 22:
SLT review of nominations and selection of finalists
Organising committee equity review
Kickoff Week (January 27-31):
Winner announcements
Award ceremony
Success story sharing
Selection Process
The selection process follows a two-tier approach to ensure fair representation and recognition across Camunda while maintaining high standards for impact and achievement.
Selection Committee Structure and tasks
Initial Review: L-Group Members (Blind review)
Review and shortlist nominations from their departments
Ensure nominations meet quality and impact criteria
Provide departmental context and validation
Final Approval: SLT (non-blind)
Review L-Group recommendations
Make final selection decisions
Ensure alignment with company strategy and goals
Organizing Committee: Company Productivity (Operationalisation + Communication) & Total Rewards (equity + framework) teams
Manage award process end-to-end
Conduct equality checks
Ensure fair distribution across departments
Validate eligibility requirements
Coordinate communication and execution
Description:
Individual One Goal Award
One Goal Awards celebrate Camundi who demonstrate exceptional commitment to advancing our category leadership journey through clear focus, 'do what it takes' mindset, ethical excellence, and measurable business impact. These awards recognize individuals who exemplify Lean Camunda principles while driving substantive contributions to our success. Ten awards are presented annually across departments to honor outstanding individual achievements.
Team One Goal Award
The prestigious team award recognizes a cross-functional team that made exceptional progress toward our category leadership goal through collaborative excellence. This award celebrates teams who exemplify how effective cross-functional collaboration, clear focus on our one goal, and pragmatic execution can drive significant business impact. Through their collective efforts, these teams demonstrate how Lean Camunda principles in action can transform our market position or significantly propel us forwards.
Purpose:
At Camunda, we share one clear goal: to lead the business orchestration and automation technology ("BOAT") category. The One Goal Awards celebrate teams and individuals who exemplify excellence in driving us toward this objective while embodying our Lean Camunda principles and F.A.I.T.H values.
These awards are distinct from other programs within our CamundiKudos framework - while Spot Recognition and Exceptional Achievement recognizes ongoing excellence throughout the year, One Goal Awards specifically celebrate substantial contributions to our category leadership journey.
Frequency:
These awards take place annually, aligned with our Camunda Kickoff week.
Value:
(gross)EUR
Individual One Goal Awards
2000
Team One Goal Award
5000 (split equally among members)
Eligibility:
Who Can Nominate?
Nominations are open to all Camundi to nominate peers, direct reports, managers, or colleagues from other departments.
Any Camundi can nominate a cross-functional team
Self-nominations are not accepted for individual awards
Teams must include members from at least two departments
Cross-departmental nominations are encouraged (e.g., someone in finance nominating someone in products)
Role Eligibility
Primary Focus: Individual Contributors and First-Line Managers
Senior Managers: 10% maximum (exceptional cases only)
The organizing team will conduct an equality check to ensure fair distribution
What makes a winning individual/team?
Individual One Goal Awards
What Makes a Winning Individual?
Focus Champion Behaviors
Maintains unwavering focus on category leadership
Eliminates or optimizes non-essential activities
Makes decisions that prioritize company success
Engineering: An engineer championing architectural decisions that significantly improve our competitive position
Finance: A finance manager redesigning reporting processes to provide better insights for category leadership decisions
Marketing: A content strategist overhauling our messaging to clearly differentiate our category leadership
Sales: A solutions engineer creating a new proof-of-concept approach that highlights our category advantages
Legal: A legal counsel streamlining contract terms to accelerate enterprise deals while managing risk
"Do What It Takes" Mindset
Demonstrates pragmatic problem-solving
Makes quick, informed decisions
Takes smart risks with positive outcomes
Optimizes resource usage
Sales: A sales engineer creating an innovative demo approach that dramatically improves win rates
Operations: An IT manager implementing automation that significantly reduces internal process friction
Customer Success: A CSM developing a new onboarding approach that accelerates time-to-value
People: An L&D specialist creating training programs that rapidly upskill teams in critical areas
Product: A product manager pivoting feature priorities based on enterprise customer feedback
Finance: A financial analyst developing new metrics that better track category leadership progress
Ethical Excellence
Maintains transparency in communication
Shows integrity in decision-making
Adheres to ethical guardrails and applies these consistently, calling out when specific processes or behaviours are misaligned
Positively influences team behaviors
People: A people partner identifying and addressing inequities in development opportunities
Engineering: A tech lead or engineer highlighting technical debt implications and leading remediation efforts
Finance: A controller surfacing and addressing compliance risks in new business models
Marketing: A marketing Camundi ensuring campaign messaging aligns with actual product capabilities
Operations: An operations Camundi restructuring processes to improve transparency and efficiency
Sales: A sales Camundi implementing more rigorous deal qualification to improve forecast accuracy
Performance Impact
Achieves measurable results
Influences across functions
Shares knowledge effectively
A people manager who has done an outstanding job in hiring or driving candor at Camunda in their teams
Product: A product manager driving a feature from concept to launch with demonstrable market impact
People: A People Ops specialist implementing a new benefits program that markedly improves employee satisfaction scores, drives retention and enhances employee wellbeing.
Finance: A revenue manager creating new forecasting models that improve business predictability
Marketing: A field marketing manager exceeding pipeline targets while reducing event spend
Sales: An account executive consistently exceeding quota while maintaining premium pricing
Operations: A procurement specialist reducing vendor costs while improving service levels
Humor in Action
Serves as a stabilizing force during challenging times, maintaining genuine optimism without minimizing difficulties
Acts as a calm anchor, especially during high-pressure situations
Radiates genuine positivity towards peers and teams, creating an environment in which people want to be in
Channels pressure and complaints constructively
Creates authentic, enjoyable work relationships that strengthen team resilience
Shows that building a market leader can be both demanding, rewarding and that one can enjoy doing it at the same time.
Engineering: A tech lead who maintains composure during production incidents, helping the team stay focused while keeping the atmosphere constructive
Sales: An account executive who helps the team reframe pipeline challenges as opportunities, maintaining genuine optimism even during tough quarters
Customer Success: A CSM who stays genuinely positive during escalations, helping both customers and internal teams navigate solutions calmly
People: A manager who creates psychological safety by modeling calm, authentic leadership during organizational changes
Operations: A team member who transforms process friction points into opportunities for positive team collaboration
Marketing: A campaign manager who helps maintain team enthusiasm during high-pressure launches while ensuring quality execution
Team One Goal Award
For the purposes of this recognition program, a team is defined as:
A cross-functional group of individuals (regardless of department or reporting structure) who collaborate directly on achieving a specific goal, project, or customer outcome.
The team should be clearly tied to delivering measurable impact through their collective effort.
Examples include:
Account teams (Sales, CSM, Productivity working together on customer success)
Project teams assembled for specific initiatives.
What Makes a Winning Team?
Cross-Functional Excellence
Brings together multiple departments in meaningful collaboration
Shows clear role definition and effective coordination
Achieves outcomes that no single department could accomplish alone
Product/Engineering: A team combining Product, Engineering, and Customer Success to deliver a groundbreaking feature that significantly impacts customer adoption
Sales/Marketing: A cross-functional team redesigning our enterprise sales motion, combining Sales, Marketing, and Product Marketing to significantly increase our win rates against competitors
Finance/Operations: A team from Finance, Legal, and Sales Operations streamlining our enterprise contract process, reducing time-to-close by 50% while maintaining compliance
People: A collaboration between People, Internal Communications, and Department Leaders implementing a new performance management framework that measurably improves talent retention and development
Results and Metrics (Quantitative impact defined, Definition of tangible business value)
Alignment with lean Camunda principlesAny appropriate supporting materials (i.e., that speak to the impact)
Award Mechanism:
Nominations are open to all Camundi, will be short listed by L-group, and then final decisions are made by SLT. The announcement of the winners will take place on the last night of the annual Kickoff
