How Tribute uses Bonusly to achieve timely employee recognition at scale

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Staying connected during company growth

Tribute CEO Andrew Horn had always worked in small startups with fewer than 10 people, companies where it was "easy to feel connected, see what others are doing, and acknowledge their successes in a casual, ongoing basis," he says.

So when Tribute grew from five employees to 50 in a matter of months, Horn realized that Tribute's existing recognition programs, which included work anniversary celebrations and shoutouts in Slack, were "only accomplishing one side of the gratitude equation. We were doing a great job with tenure recognition by celebrating major milestones and events, but our approach to in-the-moment recognition needed some help."

Reinforcing company values with recognition

Horn explains that what set Bonusly apart from other employee recognition and rewards platforms in the market "was the product's ability to tie recognition back to Tribute's core values: gratitude, resourcefulness, openness, meaningful communication, and support. Bonusly allowed us to attach recognition to these values and reinforce positive behavior."

Horn also notes that Bonusly's egalitarian approach to recognition, which grants all users the same monthly allowance to use at their discretion, makes it a more effective program:

"Leveling the playing field is key as it allows us to express gratitude and recognition from every perspective: horizontally, from the top down, and from the bottom up. The more that employees share gratitude with their bosses, leaders, and each other, the more comfortable other employees become in doing the same. Pretty soon, gratitude begins to flow into all departments and across levels of hierarchy."

Building company culture with gratitude

"Building culture and showing gratitude might seem like a massive initiative when you’re just starting out, but tools like Bonusly make it easy to do this at scale," Horn says.

"Everyone has a part to play, and Bonusly empowers our employees to call out when they see something worth acknowledging. It reminds us all that our work is vital to the company."

"The consistent touchpoints and rituals we've built up around Bonusly help our team double down on our habit of gratitude and build stronger relationships. One of my favorite examples was on Employee Appreciation Day 2022. We shared a solid objective in Slack: if 80% of our team actively engaged with Bonusly on the scheduled date, we'd give everyone an additional 100 Bonusly points. Suddenly, everyone was simultaneously engaged in the practice of gratitude."

"Bonusly empowers our employees to call out when they see something worth acknowledging. It reminds us all that our work is vital to the company."

Andrew Horn, CEO, Tribute