Managers are the cornerstone of your employee experience—full stop. Don’t just take our word for it; research finds time and time again how managers, more than any other factor, influence team engagement and performance.
A manager’s approach to recognition, feedback, goal-setting, and performance management doesn’t just influence individual employees—it defines a company’s culture and drives its success. In today’s new workplace, dominated by AI, flexibility, and generational shifts, empowering managers with the right tools is non-negotiable.
If you’re an HR professional, executive leader, or people manager yourself, you probably already know this. The question therein lies: what product can you turn to?
That’s where Bonusly’s suite of manager tools comes in. From streamlined 1:1s and performance recaps to goal alignment and incentive programs, Bonusly equips managers with everything they need to transform from good leaders into truly great ones. These tools enable managers to foster meaningful connections, drive performance, and amplify the impact of their teams—all while ensuring that their employees feel valued and supported.
In this article, we’ll explore how Bonusly can be the partner for your managers to build a workplace where employees thrive.
Bonusly manager tools that build winning teams
Bonusly helps managers unlock their team’s full potential with an array of solutions that strengthen relationships, jumpstart growth conversations, and incentivize winning behaviors. Let’s break it down.
1:1s
The Bonusly 1:1 agenda builds strong connections between managers and their reports, encouraging productive conversations rooted in relationship, continuous feedback, meaningful recognition, and skill development.
Employee recognition and feedback are seamlessly integrated into the 1:1 agenda, providing the opportunity to regularly and thoughtfully discuss areas of improvement and ensure not a single piece of good work is left unacknowledged. Managers can also set and track goals inside the 1:1, presenting recurring opportunities to discuss progress toward objectives while creating alignment and accountability.
Now, managers have full visibility into the work their employees are doing, which is especially useful for distributed or remote teams. Said differently, with the Bonusly 1:1, managers can foster more effective (and rewarding!) discussions and create a clear path toward achieving team-wide objectives.
Feedback
It’s a manager’s responsibility to give regular feedback. That’s why Bonusly prompts managers to give feedback in key places within the product, including the recognition feed and 1:1 agenda, to help build that habit. Since the manager and their direct reports have been building a strong relationship in their 1:1s, and cultures of recognition and shared sense of purpose help build psychological safety and trust, receiving and discussing feedback is easier and more fruitful.
And, even though employees say they want more feedback, that doesn’t remove the anxiety associated with asking for it. One of the best ways to reduce anxiety is if the feedback is solicited. In Bonusly, employees can ask for feedback at any time, from anyone. That feedback, as noted above, is integrated into the Bonusly 1:1 to prompt deeper discussions between managers and employees.
Performance recaps
A measly 2% of CHROs think their performance management process works. Let that sink in for a moment.
Bonusly has paved a better path toward performance management with performance recaps—which give managers a holistic view of their teams’ performance and impact while removing the burdensome task of writing performance reviews.
Performance recaps organize and synthesize real-time recognition and feedback into digestible insights on employee contributions, skills, and progress toward goals. Having holistic and unbiased feedback at the tips of a manager’s fingers jumpstarts meaningful growth conversations and fosters a habit of ongoing dialogue and development.
A unique component is a “Future focus” module, which sets forward-focused conversations into motion. Both managers and direct reports can select a skill, project, or goal they want to tackle that prominently lives in the recap. Now, the report and manager have a visible goal they can continuously work towards.
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Recognition and rewards
Bonusly’s core recognition solution helps managers shape team culture and drive high performance. The best part? Bonusly's manager tools are built on top of the recognition offering, which is designed to help organizations motivate their teams through recognition, rewards, incentives, and more.
The recognition feed acts as a real-time pulse check on team activities and achievements. By seeing who’s being recognized and for what, managers can easily spot the positive behaviors and habits driving success. This visibility allows managers to reinforce what’s working, publicly celebrate wins, and amplify specific actions that align with team goals.
It’s a simple yet effective way to set and raise the bar through ongoing, positive reinforcement.
As a bonus, employees get redeemable points when they receive recognition and can use those points in the Bonusly reward catalog, which offers thousands of options—guaranteeing there is something meaningful for everyone, and motivating entire teams.
Bonusly also equips managers with a recognition analytics dashboard that offers deeper insights into team dynamics. With visibility into connections across teams, participation trends, and recognition frequency, managers can identify engagement gaps, understand how team members are collaborating, and ensure everyone feels supported.
By leveraging Bonusly’s recognition and analytics tools, managers can build stronger, more connected teams while driving the behaviors that build successful organizations.
Incentives
Managers who use Bonusly also have a unique ability to inspire their teams by rewarding behaviors that align with goals. Bonusly’s customizable incentives make it easy to encourage and recognize actions that truly matter—whether it’s fostering collaboration, hitting performance targets, or contributing innovative ideas.
By leveraging predefined recognition point allocations, managers can drive participation in key initiatives without added administrative work. Think: incentives for reaching a weekly customer satisfaction score, closing a deal, renewing a client, or submitting thoughtful product feedback. The flexibility of Bonusly’s incentives allows managers to get creative and target the behaviors that will make the biggest impact on their team.
When managers incentivize productivity and performance, their teams will rise to the occasion. Over time, these efforts create a virtuous cycle: employees develop habits and muscle memory around the actions they want to scale.
Takeaway
We said it before and we’ll say it again: Managers are the foundation of your company’s success. Their ability to recognize, inspire, and guide employees can make or break the employee experience—and, ultimately, your organization’s success.
Bonusly gives managers the tools they need to not only meet expectations but exceed them, fostering a workplace where employees feel seen, supported, and empowered to do their best work. The result? Engaged employees, stronger relationships, and a thriving company culture that scales.
Empowering your managers isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have. With Bonusly, you can equip your leaders with everything they need to unlock their full potential—and in doing so, unlock the full potential of your teams. Transform your managers, and your workplace transformation will follow.
Ready to see the impact for yourself? Get started with a demo.
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