2026 Compensation Awards Regulations

The Compensation Awards is an initiative organised by Coverflex, created to recognise companies and individuals who stand out for their excellence and innovation in compensation practices, and to inspire other organisations. This is an opportunity to celebrate those who are redefining the future of work and driving strategies that create a positive impact within their organisations.

The Awards are governed by principles of independence, methodological rigour, transparency, fairness, and the promotion of responsible people management practices.

The evaluation of applications will be conducted with rigour and transparency, ensuring that all submissions are assessed fairly and according to clear criteria.

Purpose of the Awards

The Compensation Awards recognise organisations and professionals who significantly influence the future of compensation in Portugal.

The awards highlight initiatives that promote:
- fair and transparent compensation practices
- employee wellbeing and financial literacy
- innovative approaches to benefits and rewards
- people-centred workplace strategies.

By giving visibility to these initiatives, the awards aim to inspire organisations to recognise the role of compensation in employee wellbeing and business success.

Additionally, the Compensation Awards have the following strategic objectives:
- promote benchmarking of compensation practices
- encourage pay transparency and equity
- foster a community dedicated to advancing good practices in Portugal.

Structure and Timeline

The awards process is divided into five main phases:

1. Applications open: 14 April 2026
2. Application submission deadline: 23 June 2026, at 23:59 (the deadline has been extended)
3. Evaluation of applications: until 11 September 2026
4. Announcement of finalists: 18 September 2026
5. Awards ceremony: 1 October 2026

The awards ceremony will take place in Lisbon, at a venue and time to be communicated in due course.

Dates may be subject to change for operational, logistical, or other reasons beyond Coverflex's control. Any changes will be communicated publicly with adequate and reasonable notice.

Award Categories

The awards are divided into a Company Category and a People Category.

Company Category

To ensure a fair evaluation within the business context, awards in this category are organised into three subcategories according to company size:

- Small (1-50 employees)
- Medium (51-250 employees)
- Large (more than 250 employees)

This segmentation ensures that practices are assessed within comparable organisational contexts.

Eligibility criteria:
- The company associated with the application must have been operating in Portugal for at least 12 months.
- Unless otherwise stated on the award page, only initiatives that have already been implemented and/or are currently underway will be eligible, with at least 6 months of execution and observable activity or results within the 24 months prior to the application date.
- Applicants must be willing to provide documentary evidence to support their application.

This model aims to ensure consistent and relevant applications, promoting recognition with real-world impact.

People Category

In the People Category awards, participants may nominate a person they consider deserving of recognition, including self-nominations, provided these are validated by a third party (e.g. a colleague, manager, or client).

In the case of a self-nomination, the name, professional email address, job title of the person responsible for validation and the professional relationship between the two individuals must be provided. Upon submission, a confirmation request will be sent to that person, and the nomination will only be considered valid upon their confirmation.

This format allows individuals who have made a significant contribution to advancing compensation practices, people innovation, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace to be recognised.

Applications

Applications are submitted through the official website, premiosdacompensacao.pt.

Application Procedure:

1. Go to the award category page
2. Click "Apply"
3. Complete the application form for the relevant award
4. Submit responses and supporting evidence corresponding to the award being applied for
5. Each application is valid for one specific category only and must be submitted through the respective form. Applicants may submit applications to multiple categories, provided that an independent submission is made for each award.
6. Some awards may have additional specific requirements, which will be expressly identified on the respective application page. Where such requirements exist, they must be accompanied by the proof requested on the relevant application page.
7. Coverflex, its group entities, jury members, and any individuals or entities directly involved in the operational organisation of the awards may not submit applications or be eligible for recognition.

Only applications submitted within the stated deadline and through the official channels designated for this purpose will be considered valid. Incomplete, late, illegible, or non-compliant applications may be disqualified without prior notice.

Language and Format of Applications:

Applications may be submitted in Portuguese or English, and the chosen language must be used consistently throughout the submission.

Supporting documents must comply with the formats and limits indicated in the application form. The organisation is not responsible for files that are illegible, corrupted, or cannot be opened.

Where applicable, attachments should be presented clearly and concisely, prioritising information relevant to the evaluation of the application.

Application Requirements

Applications must be submitted through the official form provided for each award and must include all requested information, duly completed and in full.

Where applicable, applicants must attach the supporting documentation or validation evidence indicated on the respective award page. Where such documentation includes information relating to employees, it must be presented in anonymised form wherever necessary.

Applications must reflect truthful, complete, and accurate information about the initiative, practice, policy, or journey presented. Omission of relevant information, or the provision of incorrect, misleading, or deceptive details may result in disqualification of the application at any stage of the process.

The organisation reserves the right to request additional clarifications, supplementary documentation, or to conduct a validation interview with applicants or nominees, whenever deemed necessary for the purposes of verification, eligibility assessment, or evaluation.

Submitting an application implies full acceptance of these regulations, as well as confirmation by the applicant or applying entity that they have the authority to submit the information and documentation shared as part of the application.

By applying, the applicant or applying entity also authorises the use of aggregated and anonymised information for communication purposes, dissemination of good practices, trend analysis, and the production of content related to the initiative, unless expressly indicated otherwise

Evaluation Process

Each award is evaluated based on evaluation criteria and percentage weightings assigned to each criterion, according to its relevance in the overall assessment.

Applications are evaluated by an independent jury panel, composed of professionals from different fields, including human resources, compensation strategy, financial literacy, organisational leadership, and academia.

Jury members are selected by the organisation based on their experience, integrity, and professional relevance to the categories under evaluation.

The jury panel will assign a score from 1 to 10 to each criterion, based on the responses provided in the application. The final score will be calculated taking into account the weighting of each criterion, as defined for each award.

This process ensures a structured, fair evaluation that is aligned with the objectives of the awards.

Scoring System

Each application is assessed on a 10-point scale.

Each criterion has a percentage (%) weighting that contributes to the final score.

Evaluation process:

Phase 1: Blind individual evaluation
Each jury member independently evaluates the applications on an anonymised basis, assigning a score to each criterion (1–10), without knowledge of the other evaluations.

Phase 2: Automatic ranking
Scores are weighted according to each criterion's weighting, generating an automatic ranking based on the highest averages.

Phase 3: Final jury deliberation
Following the establishment of the ranking based on the weighted scores, the jury may convene for final validation of the results and determination of the winners.

This deliberation may take into account:
- the overall consistency of applications against the evaluation criteria,
- the evidence presented,
- and the qualitative observations recorded during the evaluation process.

The final decision may confirm the ranking obtained or, on duly justified grounds, adjust it in exceptional situations, particularly in cases of a tie, where additional clarification is needed, or when the relative merit of applications must be validated.

The jury and the organisation also reserve the right not to award one or more prizes, should they determine that the applications do not meet the required level of quality or evidence.

The jury's decision is final and not subject to appeal.

Guarantee of Anonymity and Impartiality in Evaluation

With the aim of ensuring fairness in the evaluation process:
- The organisation will anonymise, to the greatest extent possible, all elements that could identify applicants, without compromising the understanding and evaluation of the application content.
- Each submission will receive an application code.
- Company names and other identifying information will be removed.
- The jury will evaluate exclusively the anonymised content.

Conflicts of Interest

Jury members must declare any situation that could give rise to a conflict of interest in relation to an application, particularly where a professional, contractual, corporate, family, or other relationship exists or has existed that could compromise their impartiality.

In such cases, the jury member must recuse themselves from evaluating the application in question and must not participate in its assessment or deliberation.

Verification Process

To ensure credibility and fairness, applications may be subject to an additional verification phase.

Possible actions include:
- requests for additional documentation
- verification of the metrics provided
- validation interviews
- confirmation of the implementation of the initiative.

Where, in the course of the verification process, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the information submitted is false, inaccurate, materially incomplete, or likely to mislead, the application may be disqualified.

Recognition of Winners

Winners will receive:
- A physical trophy, representative of the title achieved.
- Digital materials, including an official badge that can be used in communications and to promote the recognition achieved.

Finalists will be notified in advance and invited to attend the awards ceremony, where the winners will be revealed.

Integrity and Revocation of Awards

The organisation reserves the right to, at any time, revoke the award or recognition, should it be established that:
- False or misleading information was provided during the application process;
- Practices occurred that violate principles of fairness, non-discrimination, or professional ethics;
- Situations of fraud or conduct that could compromise the reputation of the initiative are identified.

In such cases, the decision will be communicated with justification to those involved.

Limitation of Liability

Coverflex shall not be held liable for technical failures, temporary website unavailability, submission errors, loss of information attributable to applicants, or any other external circumstances that prevent or hinder participation in the awards.

It is the responsibility of applicants to ensure that their application has been correctly submitted and that all information provided is complete and accurate.

Data Protection

Data collected in the context of applications will be processed by the organisation exclusively for the purposes of managing, evaluating, verifying, communicating, and promoting the initiative, in accordance with applicable legislation.

Wherever possible, applications will be shared with the jury in an anonymised format. Data will be processed only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes associated with the awards, without prejudice to applicable legal obligations.

For more information on the processing of personal data, participants should consult the Privacy Policy.

Communication and Disclosure

By submitting an application, the applicant authorises the organisation to refer to the name of the applying entity, the nominee, the finalists, and the winners, as well as the category in which they are competing, for the purposes of communicating the initiative, institutional disclosure, and promotion of the awards.

The use of specific application content, quotes, images, testimonials, or additional materials for communication purposes will, where applicable, require prior validation with the applicants, except where such elements have been expressly submitted for that purpose.

Amendment, Suspension or Cancellation of the Initiative

The organisation reserves the right to amend, suspend, or cancel the initiative, in whole or in part, for operational, technical, legal, logistical, or other reasons that compromise the proper execution of the awards. Wherever possible, any relevant changes will be communicated in a timely manner through the official channels of the initiative.

Matters Not Covered

Any matters not covered by these regulations, as well as any questions of interpretation, will be resolved by Coverflex in accordance with the principles of good faith, proportionality, transparency, and the purpose of the initiative.

Further information

For questions or additional information, you can contact us at: contacto@premiosdacompensacao.pt.

Participation in the awards implies full acceptance of these regulations. All applications will be assessed impartially by the jury panel and data will be processed in accordance with applicable confidentiality principles.

Frequently Asked Questions