Laura Saracho

Bonusly maintained its #1 overall ranking in the Employee Recognition category and earned 'Leader' and 'Momentum Leader' badges for both Employee Recognition and Employee Engagement categories.

Summer came and went and the Fall G2 report is here. (Though for our summer fans out there, don’t fret. We still have 11 more days until the solstice! 😎) 

We’re proud to report that Bonusly has earned 69 awards as we head toward the end of the year. 🍂

The G2 Fall Report—what it is and why it matters 

Every quarter, G2, the leading business product review and ranking platform, releases a comprehensive report rating companies in the recognition and engagement industry. The report is based on reviews from verified users that showcase an unbiased view of the world’s best software companies. 

G2 uses a complex algorithm to evaluate platforms and tools, taking into account in-depth, authentic reviews and data collected from various online sources. In fact, G2 recently updated its algorithm to double-down on its efforts to rank software that business can truly trust.

‍→ Ready to see for yourself? Request a free and fast demo of Bonusly.

Bonusly #1 in employee recognition…again :) 

G2 has recognized Bonusly as the leader in the Employee Recognition category for the 7th consecutive season! This means the world to us. 

‍We’ve been working hard since 2013—yes, we were the first recognition and rewards solution to enter the market—to help companies amplify daily wins and foster authentic connections.

Why do we care so much? Because companies that prioritize effective recognition are more successful and their employees are more fulfilled. Meaningful employee recognition enables high-performance, drives collaboration, increases retention, while saving time for everyone across the organization. We call that a huge win.

But don’t take it from us. Hear from some of our amazing customers:

 “Employee recognition is something every company talks about; but doing it in a way that makes it easy and available to all employees can be really hard. Bonusly has allowed every employee at Headspace to feel empowered and energized to recognize their peers and allow others to share that recognition. During these times of remote work and the global pandemic, the Bonusly platform has shown to be an invaluable asset."
- Rick Jensen, Chief People and Places Officer, Headspace

"I wish I invented Bonusly. Seriously. This is the best way to give peer recognition and immediate positive reinforcement across an organization and within a team. It's so much more effective than yearly/quarterly 360 reviews.” - Tim Myer, VP of Engineering, Discuss.io

Bonusly continues to lead in employee engagement

We’re also honored to be named a leader in G2’s Employee Engagement category. Why does this matter? Companies with highly engaged teams outperform their competitors by 147%; meanwhile, low-engagement teams experience turnover rates that are 18% to 43% higher than highly engaged teams.

Effective recognition directly impacts employee engagement, and nearly 80% of our customers recently shared that using Bonusly improved employee engagement on their teams.

‍Said another way: investing in your employees is an investment in business success. 

"In the six months since adopting Bonusly, our eNPS score jumped from 72.2 to 82.1." - Daniel McAdams, President, Andiamo

Bonusly remains strong in implementation and usability

Best-in-class employee engagement solutions are intuitive and easy to use, and automate time-intensive processes—reducing admin overhead and saving significant hours each week. 

Bonusly is easy to use and accessible to all users. This matters. Our goal is to make recognition a habit on teams, and this can’t be possible if Bonusly is not an intuitive and inclusive solution for everyone. 

Our recent customer survey revealed that the average company using Bonusly is up and running within one month, and the average Bonusly admins spends less than 1.5 per month administering Bonusly! Best yet, users who switched to Bonusly from a manual recognition solution decreased time spent administering recognition and rewards by 36%.  

"I used to spend up to five hours a week managing points and rewards manually. Today, I spend next to no time on the process, apart from the time I spend recognizing others myself. Bonusly has lifted an enormous burden from my shoulders." - Daniel McAdams, president at Andiamo

A note of gratitude to our customers 

We are grateful for every Bonusly customer who’s taken the time to share their experience on G2. Writing a review takes time and effort and we appreciate each and every person who writes one. Check out our 2,400 + reviews! 

We’re continuously releasing new and exciting updates, and would love for you to discover how Bonusly can help your team. Request a free and fast demo of Bonusly with a Bonusly specialist today. 

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For the 4th year in a row, Bonusly ranks among the fastest growing private companies in America.

Boulder, Colo. - August 15, 2023 - Bonusly, the leading recognition and rewards solution, today announced its inclusion on the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies annual list for the 4th consecutive year. The prestigious ranking takes a data-driven look at the most successful companies within independent, entrepreneurial businesses—the economy’s most dynamic segment. Bonusly’s placement on this list also improves its ranking from 2022. 

The ranking showcases that despite an ever-changing economy, Bonusly continues to be adopted by leading companies across technology, healthcare, hospitality, and other industries that aim to attract and retain top talent while creating connected, motivated, and high-performing teams.

“We’re proud to enable our customers to recognize, develop, and retain high-performing, highly-engaged employees,” said Raphael Crawford-Marks, founder and CEO. "Making this list for the 4th consecutive time signals that Bonusly’s recognition solution is absolutely essential in a great workplace. We believe that people and teams are the drivers of business success, and investing in recognition is one of the smartest actions any company can take,” concluded Crawford-Marks.

This announcement is on the heels of a substantial year for Bonusly. In early 2023, Bonusly announced its $19.5 million Series B raise, a brand and product redesign, and a coveted placement on Inc. Magazine’s annual Best Workplaces list for the second year. These announcements and accolades illustrate the need for recognition solutions and the business return companies experience when they invest in their employees. 

The Inc. 5000 class of 2023 represents companies that drive fast revenue growth while navigating inflationary pressure, rising capital costs, and hiring challenges. Among this year’s top 500 companies, the average median three-year revenue growth rate grew to 2,238%. This year’s Inc. 5000 companies have added 1,187,266 jobs to the economy over the past three years. For complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database, visit www.inc.com/inc5000.

‍Contact: Laura Saracho, Sr. Manager of Communications
laura.saracho@bonus.ly

‍About Bonusly

Bonusly is the fun and smart employee engagement solution that combines 360-degree recognition and rewards that employees love to keep them engaged and satisfied. Bonusly helps you celebrate everyday contributions and key milestones, automate time-consuming HR admin processes, run and incentivize participation in company initiatives, and offer digital rewards your employees will love. For more information visit Bonusly and to see our open jobs, check out our career page: https://bonusly.com/company/working-at-bonusly

‍More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000

‍Methodology

Companies on the 2023 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2019 to 2022. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2019. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2022. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2019 is $100,000; the minimum for 2022 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to four decimal places.

‍About Inc.

Inc. Business Media is the leading multimedia brand for entrepreneurs. Through its journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of our community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating our future. Inc.’s award-winning work reaches more than 50 million people across a variety of channels, including events, print, digital, video, podcasts, newsletters, and social media. Its proprietary Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to rank the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The recognition that comes with inclusion on this and other prestigious Inc. lists, such as Female Founders and Power Partners, gives the founders of top businesses the opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. 

For more information, visit www.inc.com. For more information on the Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala, slated for October 31-November 2 in San Antonio, visit http://conference.inc.com/.

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In today’s economy, HR professionals are being tasked with doing more with less. But employee motivation and morale are more important than ever before. When HR budgets are tight, how can organizations still drive productivity and engagement with employee rewards?

With over 20 years of financial and operational experience, Bonusly CFO advisor Radhika Samant offers hard-won expertise in creating high-performance workplace cultures during challenging times. In our on-demand webinar, Maximizing Your Employee Rewards Budget, Radhika covers the best ways to keep budgets in check without sacrificing employee experience.

10 things you need to know about optimizing your rewards spend

Our webinar discusses how to:

1. Look at employee benefits strategically. Which benefits can organizations double down on to drive business outcomes like greater connection and increased engagement? What HR initiatives truly bring people together?

2. Effectively request funds for HR programs and tools. Hint: Start by getting clear on the specific problems your organization needs to solve around retention, motivation, and productivity.

3. Keep budgets in line by choosing rewards that matter. The right recognition can go a long way in making employees feel appreciated and engaged at work.

4. Boost transparency through consolidation. Choosing a single platform for your rewards and recognition efforts will allow you to see exactly where and how you’re spending.

5. Spend wisely. When you’ve broken down silos across your organization by consolidating rewards and recognition, you can choose to invest in the most effective efforts.

6. Convince skeptical team members to get on board. Presenting a rewards and recognition program through a slightly different lens can help convince leadership its value.

Watch our on-demand webinar to find out how you can maximize your HR budget for employee rewards

7. Drive performance. Find out how establishing a centralized rewards and recognition platform can boost employee performance in unexpected ways.

8. Share the responsibility for rewards and recognition. Instead of relying solely on organizational leadership to award rewards and recognition, the right solution empowers employees to thank and celebrate each other.

9. Avoid the wrong words in a pitch to leadership. Learn what not to say when you’re trying to gain executive buy-in for a rewards and recognition initiative.

10. Build strong partnerships with vendors. Get the inside scoop on collaborating effectively with the vendors you choose for your rewards and recognition projects.‍

Watch our on-demand webinar to find out how you can maximize your HR budget for employee rewards

Another solstice, another G2 report—and we’re proud to share the results! After earning 66 awards across the Employee Recognition and Employee Engagement categories this spring, we’re happy to report that Bonusly received 70 awards to kick off the summer season. 🌞

What is the G2 Summer Report—and why does it matter? 

Let's back up a bit. G2 is the peer review software site, with more than 80 million people researching and buying software on G2 annually. The G2 Reports are determined by an aggregate of customer ratings across different categories. The goal of these reports is to help consumers pick the best software solutions for their unique needs. 

We take these seriously because so many consumers rely on G2 to make smart software purchasing decisions. 

Plus, as an employee recognition and engagement platform, we appreciate feedback of all kinds and are grateful for every Bonusly customer who’s taken the time to share their experience on G2 (we’ve got nearly 2,000 reviews!). 

‍--> Searching for new software? Get this [FREE] HR vendor evaluation scorecard to help you compare providers.

Bonusly is #1 in employee recognition

G2 has recognized Bonusly as the leader in the Employee Recognition category for the 6th season in a row! This, of course, is incredibly important to us: our goal is to help organizations build cultures of appreciation through meaningful recognition. 

Just as critical: companies with recognition-rich cultures have higher retention rates and, as a result, save a significant amount of money in lost productivity and recruiting costs.

To date, we’ve helped over 3,250 customers across 75 countries turn recognition into a strategic advantage, helping boost productivity, increase retention, and transforming the employee experience. 

“Bonusly's employee recognition platform has made an impact on retention and has helped ensure our employees feel seen and recognized by not only their team but the entire company.” — Luis Jiminez, People Experience Associate, Headspace

Bonusly moves up in employee engagement

We’re honored to be named a leader in G2’s Employee Engagement category and to move to the #2 spot. Recognition is highly correlated with improving employee engagement; regular recognition increases employee engagement by up to 60%. Plus, engaged employees are more productive and less likely to leave voluntarily.

TL;DR? Investing in employee engagement through employee recognition is the best way to help you gain a competitive edge and achieve your business goals. 💚

"In the six months since adopting Bonusly, our eNPS score jumped from 72.2 to 82.1." — Daniel McAdams, President, Andiamo

“In 2022, Pender Veterinary Centre experienced its highest-ever retention rate. While we can’t attribute it all to Bonusly, I believe that overall engagement is connected to our retention. High engagement and connection to one another are probably the biggest reasons people stick around.” — Kaitlin Kaplan, Human Resources Manager, Pender Veterinary

Bonusly continues to reign supreme in implementation and usability

A significant reason people love Bonusly is because it’s intuitive and easy to use—with an esteemed success team here for you every step of the way. G2 confirms this, recognizing Bonusly for our product’s exceptional implementation and usability. 

The average company using Bonusly is up and running within 3-4 weeks and the average Bonusly admin spends less than 1.5 per month administering Bonusly! If that’s not a reflection of our value #work-smarter, we don’t know what is!

"I used to spend up to five hours a week managing points and rewards manually. Today, I spend next to no time on the process, apart from the time I spend recognizing others myself. Bonusly has lifted an enormous burden from my shoulders." — Daniel McAdams, President, Andiamo 

--> Searching for new software? Get this [FREE] HR vendor evaluation scorecard to help you compare providers.

The takeaway

We’re continuously releasing new and exciting updates, and recently unveiled an entirely new user interface. Interested in seeing our award-winning software for yourself? Schedule a free demo today!

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We host a lot of awesome conversations with HR leaders and other experts in the employee engagement space. Check out these webinar recordings below—and make sure to see what's on tap and register for upcoming events! 🍻

Upcoming webinars

Maximizing Potential: A Guide to Supporting High Performers

In today's fiercely competitive business landscape, having high performers on your team can be a game-changer. These individuals are typically very productive, motivated, and committed, driving a significant proportion of an organization's success. However, it can be a challenge to understand how to best support and retain these top talents to maximize their contributions.

In this webinar with our colleagues at Bravely, we'll talk about how to understand the needs and motivations of your top performers, so they stay engaged and continue performing at their peak.

• July 19th at 2pm ET / 121pm PT
• Reserve your seat

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Webinar recordings

The Role of the employee experience in an uncertain economy

• Watch the recording
• With the current state of the economy and seemingly endless organizational changes across some of the largest names in tech, employees are on edge. What is our best tool against low morale, burnout, and disengagement? An exceptional employee experience. Building an employee experience and culture that gives your employees something to believe in is non-negotiable today. 

Managing Stress & Maximizing Resilience in Teams

• Watch the recording
• The turbulent changes of the past few years have not subsided. Employees are continuing to face uncertainty, company reorgs, and shifting expectations, leading many to feel stress and, ultimately, burnout. Yet managing stress and instilling resilience in the team begins with good leadership. Leaders and managers can make an impact by modeling a healthy work-life balance, promoting a culture of well-being, and fostering open communication to increase resilience.

Understanding How Managers and Leaders Build Resilience on Teams

• Watch the recording
• Resilience is often considered an individual virtue—and it’s certainly something people can develop themselves, but cultures and organizations also contribute significantly to the ability of the people within them to be resilient. Teams themselves can build resilience as well, ensuring that the department or group as a whole can adapt to any challenge. In this on-demand webinar, we talk about the key characteristics of a resilient team and the vital role that psychological safety plays in building resilient teams. During this conversation we talk about how building a culture of recognition contributes to psychological safety by fostering a workplace where employees feel safe, supported, and ready for any challenge or crisis.

How Individuals Build Resilience in the Workplace

• Watch the recording
• Organizations need resilient employees, but how can employees build resilience in times of uncertainty and discomfort? During this webinar, Bonusly will team up with customer Lamar Nava of Betts Recruiting, to explore the ways organizations can help empower their employees to be more resilient, by providing a sense of purpose, progress and belonging at work. The discussion will include real-life examples and tangible solutions for organizations and people leaders who want to help their teams become more resilient.

Building Resilience in Uncertainty: Top Tips for HR Leaders

• Watch the recording
• As we plan for another unpredictable year, a focus on employee resilience can offer HR teams a controllable variable in an uncontrollable world. This webinar in partnership with Bennie explores the ways that HR and People Ops leaders can build more resilient teams in 2023.

Understanding the Business Case of Resilience at Work

• Watch the recording
• We discuss the business case of building resiliency at work: why do resilient teams matter? What are the impacts of not having a resilient team, especially in our current economic landscape?

Management Training 101: The Key to Building Stronger, More Engaged Teams in 2023

• Watch the recording
• In this webinar, leaders from Pilot and Bonusly will discuss why manager training should be a key 2023 strategy for HR professionals and how strong leaders build strong, resilient teams. Attendees will also leave with resources and ideas for how to get started with management training in their own organizations.

What to Expect in 2023: Data-Driven HR Predictions

• Watch the recording
• Leaders from Checkr, Lever, and Bonusly reflect on 2022, share our predictions for 2023, and offer tips to prepare now for the future of work.

People Managers: HR’s Most Important Partner in the Fight Against Turnover

• Watch the recording
• Bonusly leaders discuss the importance of cooperation between HR leaders and people managers in order to identify and combat unnecessary employee turnover, and how that partnership can improve your employees’ overall experience.

Answering the Most-Asked HR Questions for 2023

• Watch the recording
• HR leaders from Bonusly, Oyster, and Knoetic answer questions that human resources and people operations professionals are asking the most going into 2023.

Build a Purpose-Led Employee Engagement Strategy for 2023

• Watch the recording
• In this webinar recording, speakers from Bonusly and Goodera discuss how to put purpose at the forefront of their 2023 plans so you can start the year off with an engaged team.

The Cost of Disengagement: Useful Insights for HR Leaders

• Watch the recording
• Today’s human resources professionals are tasked with reversing disengagement in their workplaces through initiatives like improved workplace transparency, learning and development opportunities, and meaningful appreciation and recognition programs. In this recording, Bonusly HR experts discuss why employee engagement programs are not only worth your investment but essential for connecting to and retaining top talent.

How to Show Gratitude that will Make your Employees Feel Truly Valued

• Watch the recording
• This Q&A style webinar discusses the benefits of expressing gratitude in the workplace, including increased motivation, performance, and retention. We’ll share useful insights and unique ideas for expressing gratitude in a meaningful, intentional way that will ensure your team feels valued and appreciated all year long.

Top Tips for Building and Maintaining Connections in a Virtual World

• Watch the recording
• In the conversation, we’ll touch on the signs and symptoms of decreasing employee engagement and how the trend toward hybrid and fully remote work environments might contribute to employee disengagement. We’ll address the new challenge companies face in balancing the flexibility that employees have grown accustomed to while working from home, and the personal connection they’re missing from IRL relationships with managers and peers.

Quiet Quitting: How to Reengage Your Employees

• Watch the recording
• Join us to hear from experts in employee experience and retention from Guru, Bravely, and Bonusly about how to recognize quiet quitting, respond to it, and reverse the trend at your company.

Worry less about quiet quitting and more about actual quitting: Strategies to engage your team

• Watch the recording
• This interactive webinar covers what we think quiet quitting really is, and its impact both on employees and employers. We’ll also share useful strategies for managers and people ops teams who are looking for ways to re-engage their teams.

The Impact of DEI - Practical Tips for People Ops Professionals

• Watch the recording
• This webinar discusses how Bonusly’s People Ops team prioritizes diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of the organizational structure, from leadership structure to hiring, to compensation philosophy and beyond.

Bridging the Communication Gap for Hybrid Teams

• Watch the recording
• Discover how your organization can better its communication processes to boost employee engagement and enhance workplace connections to retain the best talent from around the world.

Beyond the Birthday Shoutout: The Importance of Fostering a Culture of Recognition

• Watch the recording
• This webinar discusses the importance of frequent, meaningful feedback and simple ways that HR leaders can begin building a culture of recognition in their organization right away.

DEI at Work: Where to begin and what to avoid

• Watch the recording
• Building diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at work is about more than simply adding training or a committee to your existing structure, it is a priority for businesses today. It’s not just the right thing to do—it drives profits. A recent study indicated that highly inclusive organizations are more likely to hit their financial target goals by up to 120%.

How to build strong work relationships that fuel growth in a downturn

• Watch the recording
• Now more than ever, it’s essential to develop strong relationships in the workplace. We’ve all had to learn so much in the last few years about building relationships with distributed teams. This webinar includes insights on how to grow, build resilience, and thrive in our changing work environment.

Deep dive: How to scale human-centric onboarding practices

• Watch the recording
• Onboarding just a few hires per week is manageable, but how do you keep the human connection intact and communication personalized once you start onboarding bigger new hire classes? There's an art to maintaining personalized onboarding elements while enjoying efficiencies as your organization grows. Our panelists will discuss the tricks, tools, and strategies to creating an onboarding program that is loved by employees and HR teams alike.

Organizational Culture and What It Means for Your Business

• Watch the recording
• There are many tools for developing and sustaining a high-performance organizational culture, including hiring practices, onboarding efforts, recognition programs, performance management programs, and more. Getting the right mix for these tools is important, and the pursuit of that perfect mix can be overwhelming.

Expert Advice for Building a More Transparent Workplace

• Watch the recording
• A study by Slack found that 80% of today’s workers want insights into how decisions are made at their organization, and 87% of today’s job seekers want transparency in their future workplace. Still, many company leaders find themselves asking themselves how and what to share when it comes to important topics like budget changes, job performance, and compensation.
  
  In this webinar, Pave and Bonusly discuss how defaulting to transparency can significantly improve your employees’ experience. These experts will share compelling data in favor of transparency as well as tangible and realistic ideas for implementing a more transparent culture.

Expert Advice for Prioritizing Employee Benefits on a Tight Budget

• Watch the recording
• Studies show that 92% of employees consider benefits a vital part of their overall job satisfaction. It’s clear that decisions about whether or not to continue offering certain benefits, even during times of economic instability, cannot be taken lightly. This webinar discusses the best approaches to prioritizing the benefits you offer as your budget might be tightening.

Finding Purpose at Work: Our Take On Why Intrinsic Value Matters

• Watch the recording
• In this conversation, we’ll discuss the importance of nurturing a sense of purpose in the workplace and provide actionable, research-backed tactics for creating a culture that feels (and truly is!) meaningful to employees.

Managing Employee Morale During Times of Economic Instability

• Watch the recording
• This webinar discusses the impact that economic instability has on employees’ mental health and sense of job security–and how we as HR professionals can help manage our team’s concerns in the face of so much uncertainty.

Retention Starts at Day Zero: How to Craft Employee Experiences That Make Them Stay

• Watch the recording
• From special moments with candidates in the hiring process to setting new employees up for success and hosting impactful career planning conversations, we are demystifying what makes employees want to stay at a company long term. The earlier you introduce these in the employee journey, the better–but you can use many of these as part of your overall retention strategy. 

Managing Employee Morale During Times of Economic Instability–Advice by HR Experts for HR Experts

• Watch the recording
• It’s clear that the current hiring landscape heavily favors job seekers—the U.S. now has a record-high of 2 job openings for every unemployed person. But rising inflation and slower economic growth for companies across all industries could signal a shift in this trend–and employees are feeling the impact. In fact, a recent ADP survey found that only 20% of employees feel secure in their current roles. This webinar discusses the impact that economic instability has on employees’ mental health and sense of job security–and how we as HR professionals can help manage our team’s concerns in the face of so much uncertainty.

Employee Development: The Critical Missing Piece From Your Retention Strategy

• Watch the recording 
• Employees who don’t feel supported in their professional development are three times more likely to search for a new job. 😱 It’s clear that offering growth opportunities should be a priority for all companies. PILOT CEO & Founder Ben Brooks and Bonusly Vice President of People Operations Vicki Yang answer critical questions to help you set up an employee development plan that will be sure to ignite your retention strategy. 

Loom x Bonusly Workshop: How to build a culture of connection and engagement for distributed teams

• Watch the recording
• It’s no secret that hybrid and remote work environments have changed the way companies and employees think about engagement and collaboration, particularly amongst distributed teams. 
• From reassessing sync and async activities to diversifying communications, leaders are in a unique position to redesign what connection and cohesion can look like in this new work era. How can companies build and prioritize creating a rich company culture with a distributed or hybrid team?

It’s Not Just Up to HR Anymore: Practical Ways to Empower Your Teams to Reduce Turnover

• Watch the recording
• Description: We recently surveyed HR leaders to uncover the top challenges they are facing. And guess what was right at the top? Managing retention.
• You’re not alone! It’s no secret keeping top talent is a struggle for most organizations. Resignations have been at a record high (ever hear of The Great Resignation?!) and, replacing an employee is nearly twice as expensive as keeping one.
•  
• So—what do we do? Where do we start?
•  
• In this recording, Bonusly’s Director of Talent Acquisition, Kai Robinson, and VP of Engineering, Brian Noyle, discuss practical ways HR professionals can lean on and improve company culture to influence retention.

Ask Me Anything: Tangible Expert Tips to Prevent Burnout

• Watch the recording
• Description: The temperature is rising outside, and many of us can feel the heat of our work and life responsibilities ramping up too. Knowing that burnout can put even the most dedicated workers on the path toward turnover, HR and people leaders are looking for ways to contain it.
  
  Watch the recording of this discussion featuring the VP of People Ops at Bonusly, Vicki Yang, Head of Recruiting Operations at Brex, Brittany Daunno, and CEO of Welcome, Roberto Ortiz. This recording covers ways to avoid burnout and maintain a healthy work/life balance without impacting your team’s productivity.

Lunch and Learn: Insider Tips Into How Bonusly Hires Top Talent

• Watch the recording
• Description: Have you ever “known” that a candidate you were interviewing was (or wasn’t) a fit within the first few seconds of speaking with them?What brought you to this conclusion so quickly? If your answer is a “gut feeling,” there was most likely unconscious bias involved.
• Bonusly recognizes how easy it is for unconscious bias to slip into our everyday lives, which is why we’ve built an objective and evidence-based interview process that helps us mitigate bias and ensure we’re hiring the right people. This approach has helped us build a highly qualified and high-achieving team of Bonuslians.

Virtual Safaris: Creative Ways to Engage Remote Teams

• Watch the recording
• Description: How has your organization adapted team-building activities to accommodate remote workers?In this webinar, we discuss the importance of team-building and how to create meaningful interactions in our virtual world. Afterwards, you'll experience a virtual safari to get you thinking creatively about your next team-building event.

Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day the Right Way

• Watch the recording
• Description: Employee Appreciation Day is around the corner and this year, more than ever, your employees are looking to leadership for that sense of appreciation. Are your leadership and HR teams set up for success? This webinar includes several solid ideas for recognizing your employees and exclusive insights into building a year-round culture of appreciation. We discuss the importance of including employee recognition efforts as a part of your overall year-round retention strategy and some key do’s (and don’ts) when it comes to thanking your employees for their hard work.
  

5 Smart Ways to Use People Analytics Data in 2022

• Watch the recording
• Description: There's still plenty of time to dig into your people analytics to plan for a successful 2022. In this webinar, Raphael Crawford-Marks, CEO of Bonusly, will sit down with Bonusly's VP of People Ops, Vicki Yang, and Michael Powers, Director of Employee Experience & Engagement at Toast, to discuss how they’re using people analytics to support strategic planning and execution.
  

2021 Reflections: A Roundtable with HR Experts

• Watch the recording
• Description: In January, we set predictions for what would be most important for HR and People Ops leaders to address in the coming year. Fast forward 12 months to...December! As we prepare for 2022, we want to hold space to reflect—sharing insights with HR experts from the previous year while discussing what should be top of mind as we turn our calendars yet again. HR experts from Bonusly, Headspace Health, Donut, and 1Password share their stories—the good, the bad, and maybe even the ugly. They also made predictions for what’s in store for HR leaders and company-wide culture in the year ahead—you won’t want to miss it.

How These HR Leaders are Reimagining Employee Engagement in a Remote Work World

• Watch the recording
• Description: The pandemic changed not only how we work, but how we connect at work. With teams shifting to remote or hybrid environments, HR leaders have faced a unique challenge: how do we reimagine employee engagement when we’re no longer connecting in person? Join Bonusly for an interactive session with a panel of experts from Headspace Health, Guru, and Toast, who have gone through this unique transition from in-person to remote and hybrid work. After attending, you’ll feel equipped to apply these learnings to your teams to ensure engagement improves, even as we continue to collaborate in a digital world.

Beat WFH Burnout: 6 Ways to Keep Teams Engaged

• Watch the recording
• Description: Many U.S. companies were scheduled to return-to-office in fall of 2021, but the rise of the COVID-19 Delta Variant halted those plans. Regardless of whether your team prefers remote work, this period of uncertainty about the future can be mentally exhausting. In fact, according to CNBC, 69% of employees are experiencing burnout while working from home.
  Bonusly and Polly leaders share what’s worked (and what hasn’t!) for our hybrid teams, and how you can use these strategies to build virtual, company-wide connections and camaraderie.

Going Beyond the Annual Review: Creating a Feedback-Friendly Company Culture

• Watch the recording
• Description: As an HR leader, you have the power to shape your company's culture, and making sure your team is empowered to give and receive feedback is a key aspect of a healthy workplace environment. But giving feedback, both to peers and managers, is hard! And creating a culture of feedback? Even harder, but not impossible. In this webinar, Bonusly and Hypercontext cover the crucial aspects of transforming your company culture into a feedback-friendly environment.

Strategizing for the Future of Hybrid Work 

• Watch the recording
• Description: The hybrid work model is here to stay. Many companies are navigating how to bring folks back to the office—or not! So, how do employers stay flexible with individual employee preferences, while keeping lines of communication open and meeting business goals? In this webinar, Bonusly and Guru present the guiding principles that inform their own workplace strategies, and the tactical action items you can take to form an effective hybrid work model for your organization.

Foundations of Anti-Black Bias in the Workplace

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• Description: 2020’s racial injustice protests shone a light on the Black-American experience at home—and in the workplace. As companies undergo major changes to attract and retain Black talent, their leaders also need to understand the foundations of bias that can drive talent away. In this webinar, Kalyn Wilson, founder and CEO of Dream Forward Consulting, provides a history of the Black experience and its associated workplace stereotypes, then shares how HR leaders and practitioners can reframe their own biases to support Black talent.

Harnessing Positive Leadership to Thrive in Uncertain Times

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• Description: 2020 was one of the most challenging years in recent history for organizational leaders, and leveraging Positive Leadership made all the difference. Learn about this growing leadership style that empowers teams and enables vital success. In this event, leadership experts Linda Rad, Jahnavi Brenner, and Josh Vaisman discuss Positive Leadership—from what it really means to common missteps and excellent examples.

Reimagining Rituals of the Age of Digital Work

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• Description: Rituals play a major role in building (and reinforcing) strong cultures at any scale, especially for remote, distributed, and digital teams. Josh Levine, author of Great Mondays, and Dennis Field, Manager, Employer Brand & Internal Marketing, at InVision, discuss the different ways that rituals and recognition function to build culture, and how they’ve built & reinforced a strong culture throughout different stages of the company’s journey.

How Employee Engagement Changed in 2020 and What That Means for the Future

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• Description: 2020 has changed just about everything, especially employee engagement. How has your team responded? In this event, we took a look at the most important ways employee engagement has changed this year. We reviewed recent research to take stock of the current state of employee engagement, including the effects of COVID-19, remote work, inclusivity, and mental wellness. Then, we discuss practical ways to successfully engage your own teams in 2021 and beyond.

How to Build Inclusive Work Environments on Remote Teams

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• Description: A Glassdoor survey revealed that 67% of job seekers consider workplace diversity and inclusion an important factor when considering employment opportunities. So where do HR and people leaders start? What does an inclusive workplace look like—and what does it look like on remote and distributed teams? In this event, Latesha Byrd, founder and CEO of the talent development agency Perfeqta, leads an energetic discussion around building inclusive work environments on remote teams, joined by panelists Marquis White, Bernita Dillard, and Kalyn Wilson.

Employee Rewards in 2021: How to Prepare

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• Description: Employee rewards are an important and powerful factor in any employee experience, and the space has evolved rapidly in the past year, adapting to global events and shifting preferences. In this webinar, we unveil the latest employee rewards research (from the Incentive Research Foundation and Bonusly) and review the current state of employee rewards. Then, we discuss how to successfully prepare for the future by sharing insights on using employee rewards to engage teams in 2021 and beyond.

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No matter what time of year it is, it’s always a good idea to check in with how things are going on your team and to reassess goals where applicable. Are people burned out? Is morale high? What's your turnover rate like? 

Unfortunately for many people managers, turnover is typically top of mind. As we’ve shared before, employee turnover historically spikes in January—but it doesn't necessarily end then. And considering we’re still in the midst of a little thing called The Great Resignation (maybe you’ve heard of it? 😜), this year’s numbers are unlikely to relent.

Of course, there’s an element of cyclicity at play here. Many people quit their jobs in January after waiting for their year-end bonus to arrive, because they’ve been recruited by another company that’s ramped up hiring for the year, or just because it’s time for a change.

But here’s a hard truth to face, too: for many, the decision to leave their job is more personal than a simple matter of timing. In fact, a recent study revealed that about 50% of over 7,000 employees surveyed left their job “to get away from their manager.”

Yikes—we’ll give you a minute to recover from that one. 😅

Here’s the good news: if there’s room for improvement in your management style, you, too, can harness the power of the new year and resolve to make some changes that could positively impact employee retention.

Ready, set, retention!

You have more influence than you think

The same study that cited not-great managers as the number one reason why people left their job provided a number of other reasons as well: too much workload, a lack of recognition, a lack of career advancement opportunities, and broken commitments.

A closer look shows that while these reasons don’t specifically call out people managers, they’re all greatly influenced by management style. Managers can make a huge difference in controlling workload, properly recognizing employees, setting up development opportunities, and, of course, following through on those opportunities.

According to Gallup, most employees’ day-to-day experiences fall under three categories: engagement, performance, and development. Once again, these areas fall within the realm of responsibility for managers. Making strides in engaging your team, coaching for high performance, and shaping personalized, long-term growth will all contribute to a better experience for employees, and will likely impact retention in a positive way. ✨

Understand—and improve—engagement

If employee engagement is flagging, there are a few steps you can take to improve it. But first, you’ll need to get a read on just how engaged your employees actually are. You can use something like employee net promoter score (eNPS), which asks how likely your employees would be to recommend working at your company to friends and family.

Once you’ve identified that there’s room for improvement, you can start collecting more specific employee feedback to find out why employees are feeling less-than-inspired. You can also introduce an employee recognition program to make it more intentional and truly reap the benefits (start with The Complete Manager's Guide to Employee Recognition). 

One thing about employee engagement is undeniable: it cannot coexist with burnout. Additionally, in our recent survey, 49% of managers reported dealing with employee burnout. If your employees are already feeling burnt out, you have bigger problems to solve than upping engagement. You can prevent burnout, however, by focusing on cultural initiatives that are people-first. Prioritize your employees as your most important asset. You can also build a burnout prevention plan that’s proactive about taking concrete measures to encourage work-life balance.

Remove bias from performance management

Performance reviews are often a fraught time for both managers and employees. The stakes can feel very high, and if an employee feels blindsided by their review, engagement can really suffer. Too often, employer bias also gets in the way of providing fair and relevant performance evaluation and coaching.

Make sure you have a system in place that allows you to avoid this! Getting your employees involved in goal-setting and determining the purpose behind their goals can go a long way here. If your employees clearly understand what they’re trying to achieve, and why, performance management is more likely to feel collaborative rather than prescriptive.

Another key piece of managing performance is providing regular, relevant feedback. That means not waiting until the company-mandated review periods to tell someone how they’re doing. Setting aside time during 1:1s to check in on performance can help ensure you’re both on the same page and prevent anyone from feeling surprised—and potentially blindsided—when it’s time for a formal review.

Foster a growth environment

New beginnings for your employees don’t have to mean finding a new job. You can use the new year as an opportunity to start building development plans with your employees.

As Margaret Rogers outlines in Harvard Business Review, you can start this process by asking questions. Before you build a plan to help your employees grow, you need to know how they want to grow. Set up one-on-ones and use the opportunity to get as much information as you can. What parts of the job do your employees find interesting? What parts are challenging? Does your employee have any career goals that their current role isn’t helping them work towards?

Once you understand the ways your employees want to grow, you can create more opportunities for them to learn and build the skills they’ve expressed interest in developing. Rogers recommends providing employees with “learning moments”—that is, situations that specifically address that employee’s goals.

Finally, understand that guiding your employees in their career development is an iterative process that requires regular feedback. Be specific about what your employee is doing well and where you’d like to see them improve, and allow them to give you feedback on how they feel about the learning moments they’ve been given. Seeing career growth as an ongoing conversation can help both you and your employee stay on track.

The takeaway

There are incremental yet meaningful changes you can make as a people manager to prioritize your employees’ job satisfaction. Focusing on engagement, performance, and development can help bring your team—and your management style—out of a rut and reset your employer-employee relationship for the better.

Want to keep those creative wheels spinning? Here is a handy checklist to plan and accomplish a successful 2023 with retention in mind! ⬇️

How is your team retaining top talent at your organization? If you answer office snacks, Zoom happy hours, or annual superlatives…you’ll want to continue reading. 😬

Recruiting top talent and employee retention is no longer just a threat for understaffed industries—it’s something we are seeing across the board.

This is what your people ops team might feel at this exact moment: They fear losing crucial employees and being ghosted for interviews left and right. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 4 million people chose to leave their jobs in November of 2022. Whether we’re tired of the term or not, The Great Resignation continues to reveal new perspectives when it comes to work and personal fulfillment.

Why is keeping top talent so difficult?

Resignation records continue to be broken during the pandemic. Many economists and human resource experts are scratching their heads on the exact reasons why. A report from the Work Institute estimates that by 2023, up to 35% of employees may leave their jobs each year.

Individuals are wired differently, and it’s important to recognize the needs and wants of each employee. Those who decide to leave may not feel recognized enough for their efforts, are dealing with burnout, or could be seeking higher pay or more responsibility. The scary thing is you may not even know it unless you ask.

Robert Half, a national talent solutions organization, presented some of the most common reasons why individuals decide to leave their jobs.

Exit Interview Responses for Why Employees Leave

1. Inadequate salary and benefits
2. Feeling overworked and/or unsupported
3. Limited career advancement
4. A need for better work-life balance
5. Lack of recognition
6. Boredom
7. Unhappiness with management
8. Concerns about the company’s direction or financial health
9. Dissatisfaction with the company culture
10. The desire to make a change
11. More desirable opportunities at other companies

The costs associated with employee turnover present a continual challenge in addition to the damaging effects on company culture. While retention woes are currently the norm, they don’t have to define your outlook or results at your organization. Looking on the bright side can yield great rewards for companies who are ditching bad workplace habits.

Periodic manager check-ins centered around honest conversations will build trust and deliver empathy for your team. In this new era of work expectations, those who embrace and anticipate better ways to keep coworkers will certainly stand out.

If you check these boxes off the list, it’s a good sign you’re taking care of your people, which will also reduce turnover, boost productivity, and lead to stronger business outcomes as a result.

Strategies for Employee Retention 

1. Make onboarding and training a priority 👋

You only get one shot at making a lasting impact with each new employee. Make an extra effort for coworkers to feel welcome, be aware of expectations, and not feel too overwhelmed. Create an onboarding plan that explains your company culture, recurring events, and opportunities to get involved throughout the organization.

Increased remote work has presented opportunities and challenges in the employee onboarding process. With up to 65% of remote workers who prefer not to return to an office anytime soon, operational teams and managers must get creative to keep up with new standards.

Consider adding digital ways of learning like an LMS or video training module. These can help you engage and understand each employee while keeping consistency across teams and the organization. Look for opportunities to incorporate your company values and culture in training sessions to add authenticity and purpose to each lesson.

Employee training will look different for various organization types and industries. Some positions or promotions require quite a bit of self-education. However, creating a framework for the tools, accountabilities, and objectives for each employee is critical for them to know how to achieve their goals.

It helps to have a buddy system for new employees to understand how teams operate, the ways in which they stay connected, and any norms to look out for on a daily basis. Without proper training, workers can feel lost, overwhelmed, or undervalued if they feel like they have to figure out most everything for themselves in the beginning stages.

Create a safe space in the onboarding process for employees to ask questions within a group or with their manager. That way, they’ll feel more confident and supported. The best-case scenario is a mutual commitment between the company and employees, helping you retain your top talent.

​​2. Build a culture of transparency and inclusion 🤝

Change is something we all expect in life and the workplace, no matter how uncomfortable it might feel. Change inspires growth, flexibility, and new challenges. However, some companies have some major issues in this department. If a boss is always changing your role or pivoting a huge strategy before seeing it through, it can damage trust and transparency, thus affecting employee retention.

There must be a healthy balance in your company culture where each person feels included. Everyone’s voice should matter and communication from the top down should occur frequently. Consistent and straightforward communication from every level of leadership promotes transparency and an inclusive understanding between individuals.

Millennials and Gen Z workers are very passionate about the authenticity and transparency displayed at their jobs. If younger individuals are not confident in the company’s values or ways they go about earning profit, it can be easy for them to drift away and look for something else.

How can companies be more transparent and inclusive? Try to have clear goals for each department and provide collaborative ways for employees to discuss how they can contribute. Feedback loops are important as well to assess morale and if anything is out of balance culture-wise.

Inclusive companies recognize the different learning and communication styles of each team member. Many organizations now take the time to invest in personality and compatibility tests or lunch-and-learns for their staff to uncover more about themselves and how they relate to each other. More conversations and acknowledgment of diversity, equity, and inclusion are crucial to growth and a healthy work environment that celebrates each employee's unique qualities.

 3. Encourage personal development 🤜

Career paths and personal development should be top of mind for managers and HR leaders. If employees feel like this is a “nice to have” at their job, they might resent time spent without seeing any rewards. Or worse: they are not offered the opportunity to try something new, be promoted, or acquire a new skill.

As many work situations are now being altered, automated, or outsourced, it is crucial for employees to feel like they are becoming a better version of themselves and contributing. A study found that one-third of employer turnover was attributed to unsupportive management and a lack of development opportunities.

A good way to start encouraging personal development and retaining your top talent is to have recurring events to ask workers what they enjoy, what needs improvement, and how they can achieve their desires. Mentor programs are a great way to let interests and curiosities be explored with an expert. If you have some leaders willing to participate in these activities, it can dramatically improve morale and retention.

Wellness programs are also something that remains at the top of the list for what employees are craving. Whether individuals are looking to improve their physical wellbeing, learn about mental health, or find helpful ways to manage stress, these activities and opportunities provided by the employer can go a long way. Incorporate a holistic view of employee health so they know you are invested in them for more than what they can produce.

4. Offer competitive perks and benefits 👌

How long is the benefits section of your job postings? Well…you should probably consider growing it. Some of the key advantages of full-time employment in a traditional work setting are the security and benefits that come with the job—and they have to be fair and balanced.

Find ways to offer creative ways to address big challenges many employees face. These could include childcare options, workplace flexibility (remote, hybrid, non 9-5), financial literacy, and more. Try your best not to copy and paste your benefits and perks but consider your core values once again and how they relate to being a true employee partner.

5. Commit to an employee recognition program 👍

A recent survey by SHRM and Globoforce estimated that 80 percent of organizations reported having an employee recognition program. Are you actively giving your employees the tools to recognize good work? If not, you’re missing out in ways that may be leading to retention concerns.

Do you have a company-wide meeting every so often? Are there ways you are acknowledging exceptional work and performance from employees? Or, do you have ways to give recognition when it’s due for a project or achievement, big or small?

Boosting your employee engagement and recognition can go a long way in keeping your top talent. When peers have the ability to reward their coworkers with more than words, it gives appreciation a greater purpose.

Employee recognition will continue to be a high priority going forward, and we'd love for you to take a tour of Bonusly to see how we can support your team. 👀

Takeaway

Retention and turnover will continue to be on our minds as we tackle 2023. Take the time to invest in your employees, help them feel included, and provide ways for them to celebrate wins. In that way, they will be more apt to stick around and share their joy with other top talent in your industry. 💖

Looking for actionable tips to improve culture and engagement, recruitment and hiring, growth and development, performance and feedback, wellness, and recognition. Head here!👇