At Cooleaf, we believe that meaningful recognition should feel equally valuable—no matter where your team members live and work. That’s why we’ve introduced the Cooleaf Parity Service, a built-in feature designed to ensure fairness in recognition across international teams.

What Is the Parity Service?

Also known as Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), the Cooleaf Parity Service automatically adjusts award point values and budgets based on a recipient’s geographic location. This adjustment helps account for economic differences around the world so that awards maintain equal perceived value for everyone.

In short: a 100-point award in the U.S. shouldn’t feel more or less valuable than a 100-point award received elsewhere. Our parity feature helps level the playing field.

How Does It Work?

Cooleaf integrates with ITA Group’s Parity API, which provides a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Multiplier for each country. When a recognition is sent, the system uses this multiplier to scale the award based on the recipient's country.

The formula looks like this:

Award value × COLA Multiplier = Parity-adjusted award value

✅ Example: A U.S. manager sends a 100-point Excellence Award to a teammate in Mexico. The current COLA Multiplier for Mexico is 0.47541, so:

100 × 0.47541 = 47.541 → 47 points (rounded down)

This means the employee in Mexico would receive 47 points, ensuring the recognition holds a similar real-world value in their local economy.

What’s Adjusted?

Award values: The number of points a recipient receives is scaled based on their location.

Budgets: Managers' recognition budgets are also parity-adjusted to align with regional cost-of-living standards.

This way, the system supports both fair recognition and budget equity—no matter where your employees are located.

Rounding Settings

To maintain consistency, the final award value is rounded based on system configuration. In the example above, the system is set to round down, but this can be customized to meet your organization’s preferences.

👏 Why It Matters

The Parity Service helps ensure that employees around the world feel equally valued when they’re recognized. By adjusting for economic differences, Cooleaf makes sure that every thank-you, celebration, and shoutout is just as meaningful—no matter the map.

If you have additional questions about configuring or using the Parity Service, our Client Success team is always happy to help!