The Guide to 

Modern Employee 
Recognition 
 

 
 

Learn more about employee recognition at bonus.ly 

 
 

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Introduction 5 
1. What Is Employee Recognition? 6 
2. Why is Employee Recognition Important? 10 
3. Types of Employee Recognition and Rewards 14 
4. How Do I Build a Successful Employee Recognition Program? 18 
5. Employee Recognition Tools and Resources 27 
6. 12 Unique Examples of Employee Recognition in Action 33 
 

   

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Introduction 

What can I expect from this guide? 

The Guide to Modern Employee Recognition covers the knowledge you'll 
need to successfully understand, cultivate, and support a culture of 
recognition in your organization. 
 
We'll start by laying a solid foundation for you to build on. Then we'll walk 
through the basic steps required to successfully prioritize recognition at your 
own organization, implement a successful recognition program, and 
maintain an atmosphere of appreciation and recognition in any organization. 

How should I use this guide? 

You can start with any section you find interesting or useful, but we 
recommend beginning with the fundamentals and building up from there. 
 
If you're already familiar with the fundamentals, this is a great opportunity to 
brush up on current best practices and gain new insight. 
 

Let's get started!   

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1. What Is Employee Recognition? 

What does recognition look like? 

 
At its core, employee recognition is the open acknowledgment and 
expressed appreciation for employees’ contributions to their organization. 
🎉 
 
It could be a high-five for a job well done, a special shout-out during an 
all-hands meeting, or even a bonus for meeting a monthly goal.  
 

 
 
Recognition can take many forms, but whatever your approach, it's one of 
the most valuable areas a team can focus on. Implementing the right kind of 
recognition program is a critical factor in giving your business the 
competitive edge. With that in mind, o ​ rganizations are increasingly adopting 
and rethinking recognition programs​. They’re powerful, and they can 
improve employee engagement, r​ educe turnover​, ​increase productivity​, 
boost morale, and build purpose when used correctly. 

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Who gives recognition? 

Ideally, everyone in an organization should be able to give each other 
recognition. That said, the most effective source of a particular piece of 
recognition is based on the situation and circumstance. 
 

Top-down recognition 
 
Recognition is traditionally given in a top-down system, where an employee’s 
supervisor, manager, or leadership team witnesses and appreciates their 
contributions.  
 
This is a great model for many reasons: since these leaders are typically in 
decision-making roles, their recognition often has monetary results, like a 
raise or promotion. These people are also in the best position to assist 
employees with their chosen career path or growth plans. 
 
However, giving frequent, real-time, and specific recognition isn't a simple 
proposition for management. It requires managers to witness, catalog, 
recognize, and reward countless contributions. 
 
In most cases, there are too many valuable contributions made on a daily 
basis for a solely top-down recognition approach to be effective. Most 

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leaders just don’t have the bandwidth to keep track of everyone’s hard work. 
That’s why the most common form of top-down recognition is an employee’s 
annual review.  
 
Unfortunately, annual reviews can be a significant ​source of stress​ and 
typically only highlight an employee’s largest, most visible contributions. 
Annual reviews also include suggestions for employees’ areas of 
improvement, which can distract from praise.  
 
That’s not to say that managers shouldn’t give recognition at all. On the 
contrary, they definitely should! When it comes to completing big-picture 
objectives, recognition from higher-ranking leaders can emphasize the 
magnitude of an employees accomplishment. However, for the day-to-day, 
it’s a good idea to ask for help from the rest of the team. 

Peer recognition 
In a ​peer recognition system​, managers as well as other co-workers are all 
empowered to recognize and reward the contributions of everyone else. It’s 
easy for managers to congratulate an employee on their general job 
performance, but their peers are working right beside them, day by day. 
They're in a much better position to recognize an employee's specific 
contributions and understand the immediate impact those contributions 
have. 
 
It's simple. You see a teammate do something valuable, then praise them for 
it.  
 
We also can’t ignore the benefits of bottom-up recognition. Managers need 
appreciation, too! Recognition is motivating and insightful for everyone, even 
those in senior positions. With 360-degree style recognition, everybody in the 
company has a voice in how they want to express their feedback. 
Recognizing direct supervisors and leaders for the work they do isn’t 
brown-nosing––it’s a method of interpersonal communication that benefits 
everyone involved.  

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Will recognition work for my team? 

 
Yes! 😁 
 
Every team can benefit from a recognition program.  

 
When you implement one, you give employees a way to celebrate each 
other's achievements. These interactions build stronger teams, cultivate 
richer company culture, and motivate employees to do their best work. 
When executed successfully, recognition provides positive peer influence and 
communicates the notion that good work is valued by everyone in the 
company.  
 
Looking at the bottom line, companies that score highest for building a 
"recognition-rich culture" have 3​ 1% lower turnover rates​ than their peers. 
What’s more, employees who don’t feel recognized are t​ wice as likely to quit 
within a year.  
 
After all, being appreciated just feels good. Why? It ​releases the flow of 
oxytocin​, the chemical our bodies create when we bond with others and feel 
loved. The T ​ INYpulse Employee Engagement and Organizational Culture 

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Report​ found that 58% of the happiest employees will recognize and 
encourage their peers' success when given tools to make it easy. 
 
A recognition-rich culture is a worthy and achievable goal for any 
organization, in any industry. It benefits the whole team, from the newest 
hire to the CEO. 
 
The key to success is understanding how employee appreciation works, and 
how to implement it effectively in your unique environment. 

What will it cost? 

 
Most organizations without a formal recognition program are already 
spending money on recognition. From organizing celebratory lunches to 
bulk-buying gift cards, the labor and costs associated with “manual” 
recognition can add up quickly. This method of recognition tends to be 
sporadic and can be time-consuming for leaders or HR employees to 
manage.  
 
The budget is usually accounted for—just allocated less effectively under a 
different name. Also consider who else benefits from recognition. Chances 
are, the decision-makers for other departments also see the need for 
recognition and would be willing to join in. 
 
An effective program normally pays for itself and more in the form of 
increased motivation, productivity, engagement, and retention. In our next 
section, you’ll learn exactly how recognition has a positive impact on each of 
these factors.  

But why? 
 
Understanding employee recognition is the first step, and in the next 
chapter, we'll share why employee recognition is important. Read more to 

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learn about the many benefits of employee recognition and how using a 
recognition program like ​Bonusly​ can be an extremely effective way for 
teams to feel valued, perform better, stay engaged, and more. We invite you 
to ​tour the platform​ and ​join us for a demo​ to learn more about how you can 
start building a recognition-rich organizational culture. 
 
   

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2. Why is Employee Recognition Important? 

 
A well-implemented employee recognition program h ​ as the power to impact 
many aspects of a business​ including engagement, turnover, productivity, 
morale, and purpose. A non-existent, unintuitive, or poorly-implemented 
employee recognition program can have the opposite effect, decreasing 
motivation and even pushing good employees away.  
 
Meanwhile, engaged employees are ​beneficial for workplaces in every way​: 
they’re higher performers, they’re connected and committed to their 
company, and they’re willing to go above and beyond their role. In 
organizations that put a heavy emphasis on praising and recognizing 
employee achievements, engagement levels increase by n ​ early 60%​.  
 
When asked what leaders could do to improve engagement, ​58% of 
professionals​ endorsed giving recognition. It’s no wonder that successful 
organizations across the world prioritize engagement through recognition.  
 
But the needle hasn’t moved much: 4 ​ 0% of employees​ still think that 
employee recognition isn't a priority in their organization. Here’s what those 
organizations stand to lose when they don’t prioritize employee recognition: 

Retention 
Do you know how much employee turnover costs you each year?  
 
You and your team no doubt monitor spending on advertising, hardware, 
and workspaces, but you might not have a grasp on just how much employee 
turnover is costing you—which is why it’s probably ​costing more than you 
think​. 💸 
 
Between writing and posting a job description, screening and interviewing 
candidates, negotiating relocation packages, paying referral or signing 

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bonuses…just the cost of finding a new employee adds up. You can use ​our 
cost of employee turnover calculator​ to establish a cost baseline, but it's 
important to remember that like an iceberg, much of the cost associated with 
turnover is hidden.  
 

 
 
Indirect costs of employee turnover include decreased productivity, lost 
institutional knowledge, and lower morale. When an employee leaves, their 
team absorbs additional work, which hurts company culture in the form of 
unhappy team members who are less productive. Even once an organization 
has hired someone to fill an open position, that new employee needs to be 
oriented and trained. While w ​ elcoming a new team member​ is typically an 
exciting time, it’s important to note that productivity might drop with the 
addition of a new team member before it goes up.  
Fortunately, recognition is something all employees appreciate and respond 
to. It’s a ​critical step in reducing turnover​.   
 
In a study by Bersin & Associates, organizations with recognition programs 
that were highly effective at improving employee engagement had ​31% lower 
voluntary turnover​ than those with ineffective recognition programs. As it 
stands, 6 ​ 6% of workers are likely to leave their job if they feel unappreciated​.  

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Productivity 
Productive employees benefit companies in every way, from increasing 
profitability to optimising resources. Productivity is very closely tied to 
companies’ profitability, and is a top driver of success at modern companies. 
According to B ​ ain & Company​, the best companies are 40% more productive 
than the rest, and have operating margins 30%-50% higher than their 
industry peers.  
 
What this means is that taking the time to appreciate employees pays huge 
dividends on your bottom line. Recognition boosts employee engagement, 
which then increases productivity. When you add inspiring employees to do 
their best into the mix, productivity skyrockets:  
 
If satisfied employees are productive at an index level of 100, then engaged 
employees produce at 144, nearly half again as much. But then comes the 
real kicker: inspired employees score 225 on this scale. From a purely 
quantitative perspective, in other words, it would take two and a quarter 
satisfied employees to generate the same output as one inspired employee. 
–Eric Garton and Michael Mankins, H ​ arvard Business Review 
 
Giving employees the right feedback to know which of their efforts are most 
appreciated helps everyone better understand the impact of their work and 
what to prioritize. This doesn't mean you need to give a standing ovation to 
every employee who made it to work on time, but it's crucial to let everyone 
know exactly how (and how much) each of their contributions move the 
organization forward. 

Morale 
Employee morale is the glue that holds your company together. It’s a crucial 
part of any organization, and should be a top concern on your priorities list. 
With low morale, nearly every aspect of an employee's contributions will 

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suffer. ​High morale, on the other hand, tends to inspire greater productivity, 
creativity, and overall satisfaction​. 
 
What’s the difference between employee morale and e ​ mployee engagement​? 
Although they’re related, they’re not the same thing. Employee morale is 
typically associated with feelings of well-being and job satisfaction. 
Meanwhile, here’s how Bonusly co-founder and CEO Raphael 
Crawford-Marks describes employee engagement: 
 
“Engaged employees are typically described as passionate, committed, and 
enthusiastic—not just about their job, but the company they work for and its 
overall mission and goals. An engaged employee is aware of both immediate, 
tactical goals, as well as long-term, strategic ones, and proactively works to 
advance both.” 
 
It’s a subtle difference, but it’s there. Engaged employees may be satisfied 
with their jobs, but contented employees are ​not necessarily engaged​ with 
their work. These workers risk losing any emotional connection to their work 
that they may have had, and their organizations suffer from poor 
productivity. These are the clock-watchers and the hangers-on. They can 
become dead weight for the company. Thus, having high employee morale is 
the foundation upon which employee engagement can grow and thrive. 
 
So how do you build that foundation? A recent SHRM survey found that 65% 
of employees say ​respectful treatment of employees at all levels​ is a very 
important contributor to their job satisfaction. Because respect can be 
shown in many ways, personalized approaches make a considerable 
difference. For example, frequent and visible praise promotes inclusion and 
a sense of belonging at work that increases job satisfaction.  
 
Along those same lines, R ​ eward Gateway study​ revealed that, “[a]lthough 
more than 22% of senior decision-makers don’t think that regular recognition 
and thanking employees at work has a big influence on staff retention, 70% 
of employees say that motivation and morale would improve 'massively' with 
managers saying thank you more.”  

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That’s why you feel great after a high-five. 👋 

Purpose 
 
Recognizing employees’ work and their impact on the team encourages a 
sense of purpose​. This type of transparency helps employees understand 
how their work ties into the bigger picture of the company and how their 
contributions matter. Purpose is important, and 5 ​ 7% of younger Americans 
said that they wanted to be part of something that was enjoyable or made a 
difference in society.  
 
As humans, we’re motivated by knowing how our work helps others, and 
recognition is a key part of that. This idea applies anywhere from working 
toward a company’s broader mission to promoting cross-team collaboration.  
 
It’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day work. Frequent and visible recognition 
reminds everyone that they’re all working toward a shared goal.  
 
Communicating clear company missions and values through public 
recognition also ​fosters a sense of community​, which helps keep employees 
engaged and alleviates some uncertainty about roles and responsibilities. By 
recognizing someone for embodying company values, you develop your 
organizational culture and reinforce objectives in an intentional way. 

Next steps 
 
Building a culture and environment based on employee recognition 
improves each of these important areas, but it's crucial to understand how 
the foundation fits together before starting to build the rest. In our next 
section, you’ll learn about how recognition can take shape at your 
organization.  
 

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We also invite you to learn more about ​Bonusly’s employee recognition and 
rewards platform​ and j​ oin us for a demo​ to learn more about how you can 
start building a recognition-rich organizational culture. 
   

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3. Types of Employee Recognition and 

Rewards 
 
Recognition and rewards will vary from organization to organization, and 
how you appreciate employees will depend on your unique company needs. 
Your team could be motivated by a company-sponsored outing, a thoughtful 
email, or a gift card to their favorite store. It’s up to you to understand how to 
most meaningfully appreciate your team members and with what rewards.  

Types of Recognition 

Bonuses 
 
There are many types of bonuses, ranging from small to large.  
 
Small bonuses, sometimes called spot bonuses because they’re given “on the 
spot,” are small monetary rewards given frequently by one colleague to 
another in recognition of a valuable contribution. Although small bonuses 
can be given by managers to their direct reports, they can also be given by 
other colleagues, and even from a direct report to a manager. 

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Small bonuses provide several unique benefits. Like spot bonuses, staff 
recognition in the form of bonuses can be given in the very moment that a 
valuable contribution is made by an employee. Employee recognition given in 
the moment has the greatest potential for impact, because the action is 
rewarded almost immediately, when it’s top-of-mind. 
 
Because these bonuses are small by nature, everyone can give them out 
often, providing multiple positive instances of employee recognition without 
dramatically altering an employee's compensation. 
 
Their on-the-spot nature dictates that spot bonuses are given at an irregular 
cadence, in contrast to annual and quarterly bonuses. 

Written praise 
Writing thank-you notes can not only show appreciation, but is tangible proof 
of an employee’s contributions. Written praise is a flexible method of 
recognition and notes of praise are almost universally appreciated, whether 
written or sent as electronic communication. 

Verbal praise 
Verbal praise is perhaps the oldest, and longest-standing form of 
peer-to-peer recognition in the workplace. Verbal praise is given by 
colleagues, generally in an ad-hoc fashion, in recognition of a staff member's 
valuable contribution. 
 
Although nearly always informal in nature, verbal praise is occasionally 
solicited as part of a formal staff recognition program.  
 

When should recognition be given? 

 
We’ll cover the characteristics of effective recognition in a later section, but 
here’s a sneak peek of one of the main components—timeliness. It’s 

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important to recognize employees at key moments, whether that’s right after 
a project has been completed, on their work anniversary, or even their 
birthday.  

Events  

Employee’s first day 

Should you recognize employees before they even start working? We think 
yes. Besides, we think the stressful process of interviewing, negotiating, and 
making it through first days or weeks definitely deserves some kudos! The 
benefits here are twofold: new employees feel welcomed into the fold right 
away, and existing employees are able to break the ice immediately. 

Birthdays 
Birthdays​ are a special occasion for a majority of people. If you’re in a 9-5 job, 
chances are employees will be spending a good amount of that special day in 
the office. While everyone has different preferences around the level of 
attention they’d like to receive, it’s not a bad idea to show them that they are 
recognized and valued.  
 

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Employee Appreciation Day 

Employee Appreciation Day​ is a semi-formal holiday founded by Bob Nelson, 
a founding board member of Recognition Professional International. Over 
the past 20 years, other companies have embraced the unofficial holiday, 
paying homage to their employees on the first Friday of March. 
 
As a low-key “holiday,” Employee Appreciation Day is a great opportunity to 
recognize employees without the pressure of annual or quarterly reviews. 
Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day with small company-funded events like 
barbecues, office parties, or with fun decorations! 

Milestones 

Work anniversaries 
Work anniversaries​ are one of the most common uses of modern employee 
recognition, but they're often poorly executed. We consider work 
anniversaries an e​ piphany moment​, and they should be treated as such. 
Reaching a work anniversary is a key milestone when employees often reflect 
on their past, contemplate their future, and assess their well-being at their 
workplace. So receiving a simple gift card or plaque can feel impersonal, 
leaving an employee disillusioned about the work they put into the company. 
 
A work anniversary should represent another year of a job well done, and 
should be meaningfully recognized. It’s a great opportunity to thank the 
employee for the specific impact they've made over the past 12 months and 
over the course of their career. But don't just say, "You've made a big impact 
this year." Explain exactly what the impact was, why it matters, and how 
crucial their work is to the team, the organization, and the people it serves. 

Project completion  
It’s always a weight off the shoulders when a project is completed, launched, 
or published, so this is also a great time to recognize all the work that went 
into the process. Be sure to recognize team members in a timely 

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manner––recognition has much more impact in the moment than when it’s 
delayed.  

Year end  
A year end or annual bonus is financial compensation given to employees in 
addition to their base pay. Annual bonuses are given once per year, usually 
at the end of the fourth business quarter. They can be given for a multitude 
of reasons, but are usually based on goals, either the performance of the 
organization, the individual, or both. Depending on the organization or 
industry, annual bonuses are sometimes expected as part of an employee’s 
total compensation package.  

Quarterly review 
Quarterly bonuses are similar to annual bonuses, but are metered out more 
frequently, on a per business quarter basis. Quarterly bonuses are most 
commonly given as part of a heavily performance-based compensation 
model. Sales organizations or teams are common users of the quarterly 
bonus structure. 

Building a successful recognition program  

 
Now that you’ve got a solid understanding of what recognition is, why it’s 
important, and how it looks, you’re probably curious about how to build your 
own successful employee recognition program! In the next chapter, we'll 
teach you how to do just that. 
 
We also invite you to learn more about ​Bonusly’s employee recognition and 
rewards platform​ and j​ oin us for a demo​ to learn more about how you can 
start building a recognition-rich organizational culture.   

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4. How Do I Build a Successful Employee 

Recognition Program? 
 
It’s no coincidence that many of the world’s most successful organizations 
use e ​ mployee recognition programs​. As we covered in ​Section 2​, when 
recognition programs are used correctly, they can enrich company culture, 
increase employee engagement, reduce turnover, and provide a fulfilling 
employee experience. 
 
Sound good? Good. Now, where do you start?  
 
Well, you’re in the right place! 🎉 
 
We’re experts at helping organizations introduce recognition programs to 
their employees, and here are our tips for a seamless implementation 
process.  
 
● Develop a case for recognition 
● Build a team of champions 
● Understand the characteristics of effective recognition 
● Follow recognition program best practices 
 

Develop a case for recognition 

 
Start by establishing a business case for an employee recognition program, 
tying your expected project outcomes to desired business outcomes. Ask 
yourself what problems an employee recognition program might solve and 
how solving those problems contributes to business objectives. S​ how your 
leadership team​ that the benefits outweigh the costs. 
http://blog.bonus.ly/sell-recognition-to-leadership 

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Be sure to familiarize yourself with the research-based ​benefits of employee 
recognition ​and its effects on improved employee engagement, reduced 
turnover, increased productivity, boosted morale, and purpose. Then crunch 
some numbers! For example, you can use an e ​ mployee turnover calculator 
to determine how much your business will save using an effective 
recognition program.  
 
How much does a good recognition program cost to administer? It might 
surprise you to learn that recognition programs don’t have to be expensive 
to be effective. 81% of companies that include a recognition program in their 
budgets spend ​less than 1%​ of their payroll budgets on these programs. You 
should also account for the costs of any rewards. 
 
You’ll also want to understand the hidden costs and logistics of homegrown 
programs. Running to the store every now and then to buy gift cards for your 
team of five and handwriting notes for each person might be relatively 
simple to start, but when your team grows to 50 or more, these manual 
programs can become unwieldy, requiring a whole new level of planning, 
oversight, and consistency.  
 
Fortunately, ​rewards and recognition software​ can integrate with existing 
tools, automate rewards fulfillment, and even ​manage work anniversary 
bonuses​. 
 
 

Build a team of champions 

 
Once you receive buy-in from leadership, your next step is to find your team 
of champions to help you implement the program. Seek out leaders who will 
help conceptualize, promote, communicate, implement, and reinforce your 
organization’s new recognition program.  
 
When building your team, look for folks with the following characteristics: 

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● Interest in the program 
● Positioned as a team leader 
● Knowledge of program benefits 
● Ability to prioritize the program 
● Positive track records 
 
Program champions with these characteristics will be closest to the 
heartbeat of the organization and will provide the most helpful insights. 
They’ll also be in the best position to ensure program success. 
 
 

Understand the characteristics of effective 

recognition 
 
Before implementing any employee recognition program, it’s necessary for 
everyone involved to understand the characteristics of effective recognition: 
 
● Timely 
● Frequent 
● Specific 
● Visible 
● Inclusive 
● Values-based 

Timely 
Recognition is most effective when given in a timely manner. Unfortunately, 
the association between contribution and recognition weakens over time. 
Aim to give recognition as soon as possible to produce a clear connection to 
positive behavior.  
 

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Waiting to recognize a valuable contribution can result in faded impact of 
that recognition and lost opportunities to encourage the same kind of 
positive behavior. Too many employees only hear recognition at their annual 
review. 

Frequent 
Frequent recognition translates into ​more engaged employees, stronger 
business results, and lower turnover​. Employees make contributions every 
week, and failing to provide regular feedback about those contributions 
increases the likelihood of individuals feeling undervalued in their role. 
 
You don’t need to wait for a huge milestone or achievement to give 
recognition. It’s important to celebrate the small victories, and research 
backs that up. Take this stat into account: ​71%​ of highly engaged employees 
work in organizations that recognize employees at least once per month. 

Specific 
Why is it important to call out and recognize specific contributions? 
 
Specific recognition helps employees understand exactly which of their 
actions contributed to their team’s goal. Being specific means acknowledging 
the details and context of a task or project, not just a “Thanks, great job!”. 
When feedback isn’t specific, it risks coming across as insincere or unclear. 
 
Naturally, this type of praise should occur soon after any contribution. 
Remember: a quick “great job last month” isn’t useless, but it denies the 
recipient some crucial feedback. 
 

Visible 
Private recognition can be effective, but public recognition offers several 
additional advantages. For one, being recognized publicly magnifies its 
impact. Sharing praise with a wider audience helps everyone learn about the 
work being done across the organization, facilitating collaboration and 

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highlighting solutions that might otherwise go unnoticed. It also gives other 
colleagues the opportunity to join in the recognition, reinforcing positive 
behavior. 
 
Visible recognition​ provides examples of commendable behavior, actions, 
and contributions that others can repeat. Additionally, that visible 
recognition can bring to light innovations or challenges that spur valuable 
discussions within teams. 
 

Inclusive 
Inclusive recognition helps foster a sense of equity, belonging, and 
psychological safety for all employees. Showing employees they belong 
should be a top priority for leaders, and understanding the actions and 
people who are recognized means understanding what is really valued in 
your culture. Who is recognized most frequently and for what? 
 
A powerful way to ensure more people are recognized is to diversify the 
parties responsible for giving recognition. Recognition from all levels 
provides more opportunities for contributions to be appreciated. 
 
When employees are empowered to recognize peers, praise occurs more 
frequently while also carrying more context and nuance. A 360-degree 
recognition program with a foundation of peer recognition provides a better 
understanding of what a whole team and organization considers valuable 
while removing the bottlenecks imposed by top-down recognition and 
breaking down team siloes. 
 

Values-based 
Values-based recognition encourages teams to work toward the same vision. 
When sharing positive feedback, think about how a contribution lines up with 
your values. If your company culture is really based on a shared set of values, 
reinforcing those values through praise should be a deep-rooted habit.  

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Recognition based on values ties tangible actions to the foundation of an 
organization. It becomes more meaningful and helps a team work toward the 
same goal, reinforcing positive activity. Can you recall your own 
organizational values? 
 

 
 

Follow recognition program best practices  

 

Define clear recognition program objectives and criteria 

Employers should be clear about what behaviors or actions they’d like to see 
from recognition programs and how they impact business objectives. 
Whether you’re starting a new employee recognition program or updating an 
existing one, challenge your team to answer important questions. 
 
What types of behaviors will be rewarded? Reference your business 
objectives and decide which behaviors to incentivize, and remember that 

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effective recognition is tied to organizational values! Reward deliverables 
completed on time if lateness is a challenge, and applaud 
cross-departmental collaboration if your organization is stuck working in 
silos. 
 
How should desired behaviors be rewarded? It’s important to know your 
team and reward behavior accordingly. In general, praise should be public 
and can be a great learning opportunity to the whole team. Tying that praise 
to a tangible reward or experience can remind employees of their 
achievements long after praise is given. 
 
How often should recognition occur? Effective praise is frequent, so it’s 
important to regularly recognize your team. Giving recognition on the spot is 
a good habit, and reiterating that praise during t​ eam meetings​, especially for 
special achievements, can amplify the effects of recognition. Don’t forget 
about milestone events, like birthdays, work anniversaries, and Employee 
Appreciation Day. 
 
Who should recognition come from? Recognition has traditionally been given 
top-down by managers. However, 360-degree recognition, coming from all 
levels, is the most effective. In fact, peers are the top influence in driving 
colleagues to g ​ o the extra mile​. 
 

Use a multifaceted rewards and recognition program 

Many employers assume that employees always want money instead of 
non-tangible rewards, but research suggests that’s not necessarily true. 
Research by Deloitte​, for example, identified two different types of 
recognition:  
● Praise and emblematic recognition  
● Token and monetary rewards  
 

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They found that both types of recognition are important to employees, as 
“this varied approach helps to constantly and frequently reinforce desired 
employee behaviors.” 
 
It might not seem intuitive at first, but imagine receiving a bonus without any 
note or explanation. How would you know how to replicate the behaviors 
that led to the bonus? You’d have no idea what you did correctly to earn 
it—and how to avoid doing something incorrectly. Remember to be specific! 
 
Similarly, it’s beneficial to understand the difference between e​ xtrinsic and 
intrinsic motivation in the workplace​. Whether the praise or the monetary 
reward is the primary form of recognition, both approaches complement 
each other. 
 

Give employees voice and choice 

Make it fun! Don’t start with the assumption that you already know what 
everyone wants. Engage your employees to better understand the types of 
rewards they’re most interested in. 
 
Once you’ve drafted i​ deas for creative rewards​, it’s easy to get employee 
preferences by sending a survey and asking everyone to rank the options. 
Giving employees a say in rewards redemption can increase their personal 
investment in the program and make recognition even more enjoyable. 
Brainstorming unique rewards can also be a ​fun team activity​!  

 
 

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Think about how rewards will be distributed, as well. If you offer gift cards as 
rewards, make sure employees will use and enjoy products or services from 
those businesses. C​ onsider these custom reward best practices​ before 
committing items to your catalog. 
 
Do your employees want to share their rewards with the world? Offering the 
right rewards can help you win employee advocates. It’s the transitive 
property of rewards: employees get something they want something they 
can leave the office with and share with their family and friends. The public 
recognition they received at work leaves the office with them in its own 
unique form. 

Ensure an effective launch and implementation 

When introducing a new system or approach, it’s important that 
communication around the l​ aunch​ is clear and the implementation is as 
painless as possible. Any team participating in a new program should be 
clued in on that program’s purpose, how to use it, and when it will take 
effect. Think about the following factors when rolling out your program: 

Align your organization on recognition 

Leadership should be aligned on the program’s purpose, especially when 
rolling out the program. Teams and employees may start to feel jaded if no 
one is taking it seriously. Imagine being on a team where the manager 
withholds recognition and doesn’t think it’s important, while watching the 
team next door receive reward after reward—it would be demoralizing. 
 
Recognition should also be aligned with organizational objectives and goals; 
creating recognition programs around behaviors that the business doesn’t 
value leads to confusion and may have the negative impact of directing 
energy away from company goals. Consider it a reinforcement of existing 
priorities. 
 

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Make recognition programs visible 

Recognition programs should be highly visible within organizations that truly 
value recognition, right? Employees should see when their peers are 
recognized, and data from that recognition should be visible for teams to 
help improve communication. 
 
Note that different types of workforces may prefer different methods of 
communication. For example, front line employees at a manufacturing plant 
may prefer to get important updates via s​ pecialized kiosks​, administrative 
staff at an accounting firm might prefer email, and employees at a tech 
startup might prefer a collaboration tool like S
​ lack​. 
 

 
 

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Plan for a seamless, multi-pronged, and consistent delivery of your 

program 
With current technology, how recognition is delivered is another critical 
element. How will recognition or rewards be delivered in your organization? 
 
Embed it in your processes. If you regularly communicate through a 
collaboration tool like Slack, find a program that integrates with it. Use 
existing team meetings to reiterate recognition where appropriate, and 
consider using an automated system to fulfill rewards. 
 
More than one method of communication should always be used to 
introduce the program. Thinking about announcing the program at an 
all-hands meeting to share a strategic overview followed by followed by an 
organized team training session with practical guidance.  
 
Managers should also communicate with their teams in smaller team 
meetings about the program and discuss the initiative. Since not all teams or 
individuals work in the same location, managers should include ​remote 
workers​ via video conferencing to share program information. 
 
 

Measure your recognition program’s effectiveness 

Recognition programs impact many different areas of an organization. Using 
a measurement system like ​employee net promoter score​ can provide a 
useful framework to measure the effect of recognition on factors like 
employee engagement and morale. 
 
Successful recognition programs should positively impact other factors like 
performance, productivity, and turnover. You can use a number of ways to 
analyze changes in those areas, like s​ urvey tools​, ​brief interviews or feedback 
sessions​, and p
​ erformance management software​. Gather feedback on a 
regular basis, and use it to adjust your program where necessary. 

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To take it one step further, use data from your recognition program to 
inform other business decisions. Research ​social connections​ to determine if 
any team or individual is isolated, review how teams are connected, and 
facilitate collaboration where needed. Are there teams with outstanding 
behavior? Study them to understand how to take those learnings to other 
departments. 
 

Revisit and revise regularly 

No program is perfect, and even excellent programs should be 
well-maintained to remain effective. Soliciting program feedback quarterly 
can help you determine whether or not employees still value the types of 
rewards they’re receiving. Leadership feedback will provide further insight 
into whether or not the program is impacting job performance and business 
outcomes in a positive way. 
 
In addition to evaluating the program, you should understand which 
outcomes are needed most. An annual engagement survey will help you 
identify the company’s primary opportunities for improvement based on 
your company’s ever changing employee population. 
 
Once you’ve collected actionable data, make improvements where possible. 
For any desired improvements that you are unable to make, be sure to 
explain why (e.g. timing, cost, redundant to other initiatives, etc.). All 
organizations aren't the same, and recognition programs should be tailored 
to your team. As you develop your program, consider how much admin time 
is available to administer it and how your employees work. 
 
Read more about employee recognition best practices in our article ​The Art 
and Science of Recognition: 5 Best Practices for Employee Recognition 
Programs​.   

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Implementation 
Implementing a successful employee recognition program might seem 
imposing, but by following the above advice, you can simplify and streamline 
your efforts. In the next chapter, we'll discuss aspects of tools that can make 
implementation even better for your team. 
 
Employee recognition is a powerful way for any organization to succeed, and 
using a specially-designed recognition program like B ​ onusly​ can be an 
extremely effective way for teams to feel valued, perform better, stay 
engaged, and more. We invite you to t​ our the platform​ and ​join us for a 
demo​ to learn more about how you can start building a recognition-rich 
organizational culture. 
   

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5. Employee Recognition Tools and 

Resources 
 
Successfully introducing the right kind of recognition tool can be the critical 
factor in differentiating your organization. Because of the s​ trategic benefits 
of recognition​, teams around the globe are increasingly using technology to 
power their recognition programs, integrating recognition into their culture. 
 
What makes for a good employee recognition tool? It should: 
● Meet your team where they’re at 
● Provide rewards 
● Share people analytics 
● Scale easily 
 

Meet your team where they’re at 

 
An effective recognition tool should be able to easily slip into your team’s 
workflow. Start by thinking about where your team works, the devices 
available for work, and the software used for collaboration. In the ​modern 
workplace​, teams are frequently located in different places, keep different 
office schedules, and often see each other intermittently. 
 
If your team is centrally located in an office, a highly visible ​dashboard​ could 
be a great tool. On the other hand, a distributed team that travels frequently 
might prefer a m​ obile app​ with push notifications. 
 

   

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Integrations 
 
Easy ways to bring recognition tools into your existing workflows are through 
integrations. Pay special attention to tools that offer integrations with your 
collaboration tools HRIS systems, SSO solutions, and other areas. 

Collaboration Tools 
 
Slack​ is a useful tool for both real-time and asynchronous team 
communication. It also includes file sharing, contextual search (to help find 
important conversations and files anytime), and a huge list of app 
integrations. S​ lack's Bonusly integration​ makes it an excellent tool for 
employee recognition by allowing users to broadcast recognition activity to 
their team, and even give small bonuses without breaking their workflow.  
 
We love Slack. It's our go-to communication and collaboration tool for nearly 
everything, and we frequently use it to give recognition. 
 
Every time someone receives a small bonus, the entire company sees it pop 
up in our #recognition channel. Since we all practically live in Slack, it's a 
highly-visible way for everyone to see all the great work that happens on a 
daily basis, no matter which location they're working from. 
 
Other great collaboration tools include M ​ icrosoft Teams​ and ​Google 
Hangouts Chat​, which also have ​Bonusly integrations​. 
 

HRIS integrations 
 
Your HRIS system includes valuable data about your employees, from their 
birthdays to organization connections to contact information. Many 
employee recognition tools can sync data between systems to reduce the 
administrative effort required to implement and maintain programs. 

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When looking for a solution to help manage your team accounts 
automatically, consider systems like BambooHR, Namely, Workday, Zenefits, 
or ADP. Bonusly has i​ ntegrations​ for these and more. 
 

Other integrations 
 
Zapier​ is a powerful platform that allows you to easily connect the different 
apps you use to automate tedious tasks. ​Zapier's Bonusly integration​ allows 
teams to integrate recognition into Zapier’s catalog of over 1,500 different 
apps, including Hubspot, Small Improvements, and Asana. ​Here are some 
templates​ for inspiration. 

Screens 
 
From big to small, think about the screens your team works on. 
 
We have offices in New York City, Seattle, and Boulder, CO. To make sure 
we're always aware of the great work everyone is doing despite the distance 
that separates us, we project a ​dashboard​ displaying all the recognition going 
on throughout the day. It's impossible to miss, and there's something special 
about seeing your achievements posted in a larger-than-life format. 
 
For our smallest screens, we use i​ OS​ and ​Android​ mobile apps to make sure 
we don’t miss recognition in action. 

Usability 
 
When you think you’ve found a tool that seems to fit the bill, test its usability. 
Is the experience intuitive across platforms? Think about the different people 
who will ultimately use the tool on a regular basis. 

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Provide rewards 
 
Modern employee recognition is powerful, but if your recognition tools don’t 
offer rewards, your field of dreams could be nothing more than a cornfield. 
 
Effective employee recognition tools allow users to recognize each other with 
praise backed up by real-world rewards. ​Our research has shown​ that even 
small rewards with real-world value encourage users to give recognition 
more frequently and by more people than. 
 
According to D​ eloitte’s 2018 Global Human Capital Trends report​, 
“employees respond favorably to agile compensation programs that provide 
raises, bonuses, or other incentives more often than the traditional 
once-a-year rewards system.” One study even “found that employees who 
receive regular small rewards, in the form of money, points, or thanks, are a 
staggering eight times more engaged than those who receive compensation 
and bonus increases once a year.” 
 
In order to enjoy all the benefits of frequent recognition (i.e., increased 
employee engagement and retention), you’ll need to encourage your 
employees to engage with your recognition program and make recognition a 
habit. The promise of rewards can be enough to get your employees over the 
hump that ​adopting new tech tools​ so often presents. By linking recognition 
to rewards, you can actually facilitate more meaningful exchanges. 
 
Learn more about the link between recognition and rewards here: ​Accelerate 
Your Employee Recognition Program with Meaningful Rewards​. 
 

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Share people analytics 

How do you gauge the success of your staff appreciation program? By 
measuring it! 📐 
 
There are a number of great tools available to help you determine the 
effectiveness of any recognition program you implement. They can provide 
insights into recognition trends in your organization and help you learn 
where team members excel with detailed analytics and reporting. 
 
Look for tools that allow you to easily see team engagement in aggregate as 
well as which employees stand out as recognition and engagement. Use data 
to understand team dynamics, who’s recognized most frequently, and what 
they're being recognized for.  

Bonusly Analytics 
 
Bonusly Analytics uses the rich social data produced by the giving of small 
bonuses and transforms it into useful data, predictive metrics, and timelines. 

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It includes ​organization graphs​, participation charts, and word clouds, as well 
as information on recognition by team, location, and company values. 
 
Bonusly Analytics can help you to see which employees are standing out as 
excellent contributors, and which employees might need extra support to 
help them succeed. You can also measure the effectiveness and overall 
engagement of your staff recognition program. 
 

Officevibe 
 
Officevibe​ is another great tool for measuring employee sentiments. You can 
send weekly surveys to measure employee satisfaction and engagement, 
while offering useful and actionable advice on ways to improve it. 
 
Officevibe's Slack bot, ​Leo​ is a great way to keep that communication channel 
open and present without disrupting your team's workflow. 

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Scale easily 
 
Running a recognition program requires time and effort from your team. It 
includes plenty of planning, oversight, and consistency for everyone involved. 
Fortunately, tools can help your team easily scale recognition programs. 
 
Look for tools that can help you onboard new team members quickly, 
require little maintenance, automate rewards redemption, and provide 
strong integrations. Finding the right tool will help you minimize the 
administration time needed to build a recognition-rich culture. 
 
To make things even easier, look for tools that can manage ​work anniversary 
bonuses​, b​ irthday bonuses​, and other a
​ utomated or manual awards​. 

Employee Recognition Resources 

 
There are many excellent information resources available to help you 
improve all aspects of organizational culture, from employee recognition to 
employee engagement. Here are a few great reads: 

Bonusly Blog 
 
The Bonusly blog​ covers a range of useful topics from creative employee 
reward ideas, to employee engagement and inspiring employee loyalty. You'll 
find engaging infographics and regular interviews with industry experts and 
culture leaders who share their insights on a range of important topics. 

Officevibe Blog 
 
The Officevibe blog​ is a great resource. It includes entertaining, yet 
educational articles and infographics about employee engagement, company 
culture, and how to improve both. Officevibe's blog also features 'culture 

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talks,' where industry thought leaders share valuable information over video 
interviews. 

When I Work Blog 

 
When I Work is a useful tool for scheduling and communicating with hourly 
employees, but the W
​ hen I Work blog​ covers a huge range of topics. You can 
learn new ways to develop better people management skills, recruit and 
onboard new employees, and manage millennials. The WhenIWork also 
provide some excellent guides for small business HR. 
 

TLNT 
 
TLNT​ is a publication focused on HR news and insights. There are articles 
ranging from HR basics, to more complicated subjects like onboarding 
techniques, narrowing workforce skills gaps, and improving employee 
retention. 

Next Steps 
 
Now that you know what to look for in employee recognition tools and have 
a few resources to bookmark, we invite you to take a tour of ​Bonusly​ and 
schedule a demo​ if you’re interested in learning more. 
 
When you’re ready to learn about unique examples of employee recognition 
in action, take a look at o
​ ur guide’s next section​. 
   

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6. 12 Unique Examples of Employee 

Recognition in Action 
 
Now that you have the tools you need to build a culture of appreciation, it's 
time to get started. 
 
It's not always easy to come up with creative ways to recognize and reward 
your teammates for their great work, so we put together a list of unique 
examples from some of our favorite companies across the globe. 
 
Just like the people and contributions they're celebrating, these recognition 
techniques are unique. Most of these examples are not complete strategies 
in themselves—they're part of a larger strategy incorporating the k ​ ey 
characteristics of effective employee recognition​:  
 
● Timely 
● Frequent 
● Specific 
● Visible 
● Inclusive 
● Values-based 

Andrew Schrader | ​Chobani 

Employee recognition program Bonusly 

 
Everyone gets caught up in their day-to-day work, which is why it’s great to 
have B
​ onusly​: feedback and instant gratification never get old. 
 
When I receive a bonus and I wasn’t expecting one, I get all cheesy about it. 
There’s this thought that runs through my head: “Oh, wow, I implemented 

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this project and I bug everyone to participate, so of course I know it’s 
important, but it still feels good to receive a bonus!” 

Monthly emails to highlight praise 

 
We send a “​This Month on Bonusly​!” email to managers to promote an 
ongoing culture of recognition and encourage them to continue recognizing 
their direct reports. Everyone’s participation is meaningful. 
 
 

Emil Shour | ​SnackNation 

 

Make it personal 
 
I've always valued how our CEO recognizes our team on work anniversaries 
and birthdays. He'll write a hand-written note thanking us for the hard work 
we put in each day and highlighting some of our recent achievements. Hand 
written notes are an extremely underutilized form of appreciation, but they'll 
never go out of style. 
 

Crush it call 
 
Each Friday afternoon, our entire team comes together to recognize another 
team member's hard work during that week. We go around the room stating 
who we want to "Crush," and also one thing we're grateful for. 
 
I think this tradition has been especially important as our team has grown. 
When your company is only about 30 people, you usually know what 
everyone else in the company is working on. But once you start approaching 
100 people, the overall interdepartmental interaction goes down a lot. 

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So the "Crush It Call" has been an important way for people to learn about all 
the amazing work people from other departments are up to. If you want to 
see a quick video of one of our Crush It Calls, ​check out this post​ (under #15). 

Sançar Sahin | T
​ ypeform 
 
At Typeform, we have a kind of internal play book with a list of values and 
guiding attributes we try and follow. It helps us maintain a humble, friendly, 
and ultimately more human environment. 

Spontaneous applause 
 
One of the things on the list is to "celebrate with spontaneous applause". It 
sounds a little cheesy and sales-y but it's actually a nice Typeform tradition. 
Whenever someone does something noteworthy—however big or 
small—anyone can start a round of applause. The whole office joins in. The 
beauty is that most people have no idea why they're applauding, but the 
person receiving the applause does. It's a nice, momentary break for 
celebration. 

Stephen Milbank | B
​ utton 

Personalizing appreciation 
 
Everyone wants recognition for their contributions to the company, but not 
everyone feels recognized in the same way. At Button, we have each new 
employee fill out an orientation survey on their first day. 
 
One of the questions we ask is, tell us about a time you felt appreciated for 
your work. This provides the management team with insight into how to 
make sure all Buttonians are able to be recognized in ways that they feel 
appreciated. 

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Based on this information we have implemented different manners of 
recognizing our team, some very public and others more private. 

Nemonations 
 
“Nemonations” is our large format, company-wide recognition for going 
above and beyond expectations. 
 
Each Friday at demos, team members can “nemonate” their deserving 
colleagues who went the extra mile that week and we pass around a stuffed 
Nemo (of Disney’s Finding Nemo fame) to the recipients. 

Giving props 
 
For smaller, everyday props, we have a kudos system focused on our 
company values. Team members are encouraged to recognize their 
colleagues who exemplify the values in practice. Kudos are distributed in 
Slack and are also announced at Demos at the end of each week. 

Ultimate hiring challenge 

 
Button is a collection of people who thoroughly enjoy a challenge. 
Competition is often our most successful motivator for voluntary tasks, like 
recruiting. 
 
To recognize Buttonians for helping to build our team, we have a quarterly 
competition known as The Ultimate Hiring Challenge. 
 
We have one winner each quarter and the prize is individually tailored to 
their passions—be it a month’s supply of unlimited burritos or 
Hamilton-themed SoulCycle sessions, we make sure the winner feels 
appreciated for her contributions. 

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Alexis Croswell | ​Culture Amp 

Props bot 
 
At Culture Amp, People Scientist Chris Barrell came up with the idea of 
creating a S​ lack “props bot”​ from scratch for peer-to-peer recognition. He 
says, “The idea for the Props Bot arose from wanting to publicly thank and 
recognize some of my colleagues. We already had a public slack channel for 
kudos but it was more customer orientated. When you wanted to give thanks 
and recognition to a fellow employee, where did you do it?” He realized that 
there was an opportunity to create a system for documenting and sharing 
employee recognition and praise. Chris and a small group of Campers 
created the Culture Amp Props Bot, which has given over 3,000 props since 
its inception in 2015.  
 

Analiese Brown | ​CampMinder 

 
Each person on our team believes in and cares about why we do what we’re 
doing – and, just as importantly, how we go about doing it. We’re making it 
easier for camps to make positive impact, and we do it in a way that’s aligned 
with a set of core values rooted in the camp experience: Put Team First, Find 
a Better Way, Be Admirable, Own It, Give Joy, and Wonder. All of the 
company’s people-related processes – how we hire, promote, reward, and 
recognize team members – are based on these values, creating a culture 
where “performance” is synonymous with living our values.  

Love Leafs 
 
Because these values are so central to our culture, we reinforce their 
meaning by encouraging a culture of recognition. During our monthly Last 
Thursday meeting (our version of an All Hands meeting) each team member 

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has the opportunity to recognize another team members for embodying 
CampMinder’s core values by presenting a “Love Leaf.” Love Leafs are then 
added to a customized tree decal to create a visual repository of team 
members’ commitment to CampMinder’s core values. At the end of a 
calendar year, Love Leafs are collected and entered into a drawing, with the 
winner eligible for a prize, customized to that particular person's interests 
and goals. We sent last year's winner on a bucket list trip to Peru! On top of 
the Love Leaf program, we encourage employees to recognize each other 
spontaneously and organically, either face-to-face or via Slack. 
 

Chloe Oddleifson | D
​ ribbble 

Celebrity shout-outs 
 
As a fully-remote team, we've had fun getting creative with how we recognize 
achievements, accomplishments, and when someone goes the extra mile to 
help someone out. We integrated Bonusly with Slack, which makes it super 
easy for us to give bonuses and keep recognition visible, but it's really the 
personal touches that make recognition all the more meaningful and 
effective. We love creating extra-special rewards that are specific to our 
team's unique culture. For instance, we use Cameo to get celebrity 
shout-outs for our teammates that are funny, unexpected, and 
memorable—Rebecca Black, Sean Astin, and Flavor Flav have all made 
appearances at team meetings in the past year! 

Start building a recognition-rich culture 

 
With those points in mind, you can implement your own unique and creative 
employee recognition ideas, and start building a recognition-rich 
organizational culture. 

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Try employee recognition with Bonusly 

 
At Bonusly, we use peer bonuses to celebrate success and show appreciation 
for our teammates' contributions all throughout the day. 
 
Every month, users get a Bonusly allowance. 
 
With that allowance, users can give small bonuses to their peers, direct 
reports, and managers to recognize their contributions in real time. The 
dollar value is usually small, but the recognition is invaluable. 
 
Employees can redeem the points they've earned in our extensive digital 
reward catalog. 
 
The catalog is full of rewards options like gift cards and charitable donations, 
but it's completely customizable. You can add custom rewards like extra PTO, 
company-​branded gear, or lunch with the CEO. 
 
Each time someone is recognized by a colleague for doing something 
valuable, the whole team is notified and is given a chance to join in on the 
celebration. 
 
We invite you to ​tour the platform​ and j​ oin us for a demo​ to learn more 
about how you can start building a recognition-rich organizational culture. 
   

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Bonusly is a fun, personal recognition and rewards program 

that enriches your company culture and improves employee 
engagement. 

With Bonusly, everyone in your organization can publicly 

recognize everyone else by giving small bonuses that add up 
to meaningful rewards. 

 
Learn more about employee recognition at ​bonus.ly 

 
 
 

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