Last week, this was the top thread on r/managers.
Take my upvote.
Nothing says “we value you” like jumping through hoops for three weeks to hand someone a $30 Starbucks gift card. Imagine working nights to save a multi-million-dollar client relationship and being rewarded three weeks later with just enough money to cover a pumpkin spice latte with a side of cake pop.
Listen, nobody’s actually mad at the Starbucks card. People are frustrated by what it represents: a system that thinks recognition is a line item to nickel-and-dime, not a strategic tool to build great teams.
Why this is a problem
By the time a reward from a manager to their employee trickles down, the moment’s gone, and the win is old news.
Managers are stuck in lose-lose territory. Want to recognize your team in the moment? Sorry, that requires a five-step approval chain with sign-off from the finance department. Want to do it anyway? Congrats, that's coming out of your own pocket.
The logic here is, well, illogical. Companies expect managers to hit goals, keep people from quitting, and build morale, but don’t trust them with a budget for recognition. It's like being given the keys to a massive project and getting told, "Go build something great, but don't even think about buying lunch without permission."
Survey says..?
There’s a predictable result here: managers are giving up. Not because they don’t care about recognition, but because the whole process can be demoralizing. You try to do something genuinely nice for your team and ending up being the anonymous subject of a trending Reddit post.
Yesterday’s Reddit thread is full of people dunking on pizza parties and Starbucks cards, and yeah, those are pretty cringey. But the bigger problem is the system itself. Recognition only works when it’s timely, meaningful, and authentic. And when managers have meaningful budgets to turn those big wins into rewards employees actually want.
So here’s a thought: let’s stop treating recognition like expense management. Trust managers to actually manage. Let them recognize their people without needing approval from three departments.
Until that happens, employee recognition will keep killing manager motivation—exactly like the Reddit thread said.
Recognition doesn’t need a five-step approval chain. It needs trust. That’s why Bonusly gives managers real-time tools and budgets to recognize great work as it happens. No gimmicks or credit cards required, just recognition that actually means something (plus a totally new way to bring out the best in your people).
