Chapter 2: Awards & Rewards
Recognition is most powerful when it’s consistent, meaningful, and scales the behaviors that matter most. The best recognition programs provide a way to highlight exceptional contributions, reinforce priorities, and motivate continued excellence across your organization.
That’s where awards, nominations, incentives, and meaningful rewards come in.
These elements provide formal moments of appreciation that reinforce your values, spotlight key contributions, and help your company scale the right behaviors. When designed thoughtfully, awards and rewards become a dynamic, visible, and energizing part of your culture.
This chapter will guide you through building a best-in-class program that recognizes standout work and drives alignment, participation, and performance across your organization.
Why awards & rewards matter
While day-to-day recognition is essential for building strong relationships and habits, various award and reward options offer additional depth. They mark milestones, honor excellence, and build motivation through tangible moments of acknowledgment.
When implemented effectively, awards and rewards provide visibility, alignment, and momentum:
- Reinforcing values in action
- Setting aspirational goals and benchmarks
- Creating opportunities for leadership to highlight impact
- Offering moments of shared celebration across the company
Meeting employee expectations
Today’s employees want recognition that is meaningful, fair, and tied to what matters. Awards and rewards shouldn’t feel reserved for the loudest voices or most visible teams. They should be accessible and inclusive, anchored in behaviors everyone can strive for, and tied to company core values.
Engagement soars when employees have clarity on what success looks like and a consistent, transparent path to recognition for that success. And when employees can select their own rewards, they're even more motivating.
In other words, awards and rewards help your employees feel seen and valued in a lasting, high-impact way.
The case for richer data
Award and reward programs provide a goldmine of insight. Every nomination submitted, incentive earned, and reward redeemed reveals patterns in how people work, collaborate, and contribute. These insights are crucial for understanding where your culture is thriving and where you have room for improvement.
With the right tools, award data can tell leaders and managers:
- Which company values are being lived out most often
- Who is having an outsized impact, and which teammates may need coaching
- Where recognition is equitable
- Which programs drive business outcomes (and which don’t)
The more intentional and integrated your program, the more valuable the data becomes.
What’s in it for the business?
Various, structured awards create clear business value across three core areas: experience, performance, and retention. When your program is integrated and well-communicated, the return compounds.
Employee Experience
When employees are motivated, they bring more energy and connection to work. Modern programs offer visibility and validation, particularly for those who thrive behind the scenes.
- Success looks like: nomination participation rates, program NPS
- Success sounds like: “I enjoy working here and know I am part of something bigger.”
Employee Impact
Awards and incentives reinforce the right behaviors. When employees are rewarded for behaviors that drive results, those behaviors spread.
- Success looks like: goal alignment, performance trends
- Success sounds like: “I know what it takes to be successful here, and I know I’m on that path.”
Employee Retention
Tangible recognition builds trust and loyalty. Employees stay where they feel seen and where growth is acknowledged with more than lip service.
- Success looks like: tenure among award recipients, turnover reduction
- Success sounds like: “This is a company that invests in people who show up and deliver."
Building a best-in-class program
Before discussing tactics, let’s define what "best-in-class" truly means for awards and rewards:
Good
Awards are top-down and infrequent, often limited to one-size-fits-all programs. Nominations are manual or nonexistent. Incentives are ad hoc and not tracked. Rewards are limited or inconsistently distributed.
Better
Awards are aligned with values and offered in multiple categories. Nominations are open to employees, with clearer criteria and review processes. Incentives are tied to specific initiatives but may require manual tracking. Rewards are standardized but accessible.
Best
Awards are integrated with company-wide recognition and aligned with strategic goals. Nominations are seamless, inclusive, and tracked in real-time. Incentives are automated, flexible, and reinforce high-impact behaviors. Rewards are personalized, global, and delivered instantly.
Implementation guide: launching and sustaining your program
Excellent awards and rewards programs are intentional and inclusive. Here’s how to launch and maintain yours:
- Define your goals. Are you trying to boost morale? Reinforce company values? Recognize high performers or unsung heroes? Start with the outcomes you want to drive.
- Design award categories and criteria. Keep it aligned with your mission. Think beyond “Employee of the Month”—use awards like Mentorship Champion, Culture Carrier, or Innovation Driver to reflect real impact.
- Make nominations accessible. Employees should feel encouraged to nominate their peers. Keep nomination forms short, and use clear prompts tied to values.
- Incentivize participation in strategic initiatives. Want more peer feedback? Higher CSAT scores? More DEIB engagement? Offer bonus points for behaviors you want to scale.
- Personalize rewards. What feels meaningful to one employee might not land with another. Give people options, from digital gift cards and charitable donations to custom swag.
- Measure and evolve. Track participation, redemption trends, and employee feedback. Adjust categories, improve communication, and share success stories to build momentum.
Launching a program is just the beginning. The real challenge is sustaining momentum and building habits that last. With these key elements in mind, here's a structured approach you can follow from implementation to steady-state use:
Phase 1: Planning (4-6 Weeks Before Launch)
- Define program goals and success metrics
- Select your recognition platform and tools
- Develop your program guidelines and policies
- Create communication and training materials
- Configure platform settings and integrations
Phase 2: Launch (1-2 Weeks)
- Announce the program through multiple channels
- Conduct training sessions for all employees
- Provide quick-start guides and FAQs
- Establish "recognition champions" in each department
- Set up a help desk for questions and troubleshooting
Phase 3: Adoption (First 90 Days)
- Run weekly participation challenges
- Highlight early adopters and success stories
- Share recognition trends in company communications
- Use analytics to uncover engagement or performance concerns
- Make adjustments based on initial feedback
Phase 4: Sustainability/Growth (Ongoing)
- Integrate recognition into regular meetings and workflows
- Refresh training materials quarterly
- Run periodic campaigns to boost engagement
- Review program data and share insights
- Iterate on program design based on data and feedback
Deep dive: awards & nominations
Awards and nominations provide structured, memorable recognition moments. They help organizations celebrate excellence while making values visible and aspirational. Nominations, in particular, help employees articulate why their colleagues deserve recognition and invite everyone into culture-building moments.
Example Awards:
- Innovation Award: For the person who brought a fresh approach that improved a product or process.
- Customer Champion Award: For going beyond expectations to create a fantastic customer experience.
- Mentorship Award: For investing in others' growth.
- Professional Growth Award: For employees who invest in skill development
- Hiring Hero Award: For referring qualified candidates to open positions
Example Nominations:
Here are some examples:
- Spotlight Leader: Nomination prompt: "Describe how this person showed exceptional leadership that went beyond their role. What specific situation did they step up in, and what was the impact of their leadership?"
- Collaboration Champion: Nomination prompt: "Share a story about how this person brought teams together to solve a problem or create something new. What made their collaborative approach stand out?"
- Culture Carrier: Nomination prompt: "How has this person consistently demonstrated our company values? Give specific examples of them bringing our culture to life through their actions."
Deep dive: incentives that drive behavior
Incentives turn recognition into action by rewarding progress toward specific goals. They work best when tied to clear, measurable outcomes, such as:
- Awarding points to sales reps who exceed their targets by 10%
- Recognizing team members who contribute to the knowledge base
- Rewarding completion of important training
- Incentivizing wellness initiatives like step counts and flu shots
The key is consistency. When people know exactly what they're working toward, they're more likely to take action.
Deep dive: rewards that employees actually want
Recognition means more when it comes with something employees value. Bonusly’s reward system offers meaningful, personalized options beyond generic swag.
Reward options include:
- Digital gift cards for popular retailers, restaurants, airlines, and apps
- Prepaid Visa/Mastercard options and PayPal cash-outs
- Donations to more than 50 charities (or add your own)
- Swag, apparel, and accessories through AXOMO integration
- Custom rewards, like lunch with the CEO or extra PTO
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Other considerations for top programs
Even the best awards and rewards programs can fall short if you don’t have the right support and tools. As you evaluate or optimize your program, here are a few essential, but often overlooked, factors that make a big difference.
- A strategic partner and support team you can count on
Your recognition platform should be a true partner in your culture-building efforts. Bonusly’s Customer Success team is known for being invested in customer outcomes, with dedicated teams that help you launch and scale with confidence. The best support teams proactively guide you through setup and help you unlock more value over time. - Seamless integrations with the tools your team already uses
Recognition should meet your team where they are, whether that’s Slack, Microsoft Teams, or your HRIS. Bonusly offers best-in-class integrations with all major communication and HR systems, making it easy to recognize teammates in real-time. Integrations boost participation and make recognition feel like a natural part of the workday. - High adoption and visibility across the organization
Recognition only works if people actually use it. High adoption ensures a steady flow of recognition and provides rich data for understanding how teams work together. Bonusly’s intuitive, mobile-friendly platform drives the highest adoption rate in the industry, giving leaders full visibility into what’s working and who’s making it happen. When recognition is visible and consistent, it shapes culture and drives behavior.
The bigger picture: awards and rewards as part of an integrated strategy
Effective recognition isn’t one-size-fits-all. That’s why structured programs like awards, nominations, incentives, and rewards must be part of a larger, connected recognition ecosystem.
When paired with peer-to-peer recognition, top-down shoutouts, and manager tools for coaching and feedback, awards and rewards become even more impactful. They reinforce the right behaviors, add visibility and value to performance, and help employees understand how their work connects to the bigger picture.
With Bonusly, you can manage every part of that ecosystem in one platform, turning recognition into action, and action into long-term engagement and performance.
Implementing recognition done right
Awards and rewards help you scale recognition and create unforgettable moments that employees carry with them. With the right approach, they also clarify how to grow and showcase why it all matters.
Ready for more? Check out the other playbooks in the series.
Up next:
- Feedback & Growth Playbook
- Recognition Playbook
Recognition is most powerful when it’s consistent, meaningful, and scales the behaviors that matter most. The best recognition programs provide a way to highlight exceptional contributions, reinforce priorities, and motivate continued excellence across your organization.
That’s where awards, nominations, incentives, and meaningful rewards come in.
These elements provide formal moments of appreciation that reinforce your values, spotlight key contributions, and help your company scale the right behaviors. When designed thoughtfully, awards and rewards become a dynamic, visible, and energizing part of your culture.
This chapter will guide you through building a best-in-class program that recognizes standout work and drives alignment, participation, and performance across your organization.
Why awards & rewards matter
While day-to-day recognition is essential for building strong relationships and habits, various award and reward options offer additional depth. They mark milestones, honor excellence, and build motivation through tangible moments of acknowledgment.
When implemented effectively, awards and rewards provide visibility, alignment, and momentum:
- Reinforcing values in action
- Setting aspirational goals and benchmarks
- Creating opportunities for leadership to highlight impact
- Offering moments of shared celebration across the company
Meeting employee expectations
Today’s employees want recognition that is meaningful, fair, and tied to what matters. Awards and rewards shouldn’t feel reserved for the loudest voices or most visible teams. They should be accessible and inclusive, anchored in behaviors everyone can strive for, and tied to company core values.
Engagement soars when employees have clarity on what success looks like and a consistent, transparent path to recognition for that success. And when employees can select their own rewards, they're even more motivating.
In other words, awards and rewards help your employees feel seen and valued in a lasting, high-impact way.
The case for richer data
Award and reward programs provide a goldmine of insight. Every nomination submitted, incentive earned, and reward redeemed reveals patterns in how people work, collaborate, and contribute. These insights are crucial for understanding where your culture is thriving and where you have room for improvement.
With the right tools, award data can tell leaders and managers:
- Which company values are being lived out most often
- Who is having an outsized impact, and which teammates may need coaching
- Where recognition is equitable
- Which programs drive business outcomes (and which don’t)
The more intentional and integrated your program, the more valuable the data becomes.
What’s in it for the business?
Various, structured awards create clear business value across three core areas: experience, performance, and retention. When your program is integrated and well-communicated, the return compounds.
Employee Experience
When employees are motivated, they bring more energy and connection to work. Modern programs offer visibility and validation, particularly for those who thrive behind the scenes.
- Success looks like: nomination participation rates, program NPS
- Success sounds like: “I enjoy working here and know I am part of something bigger.”
Employee Impact
Awards and incentives reinforce the right behaviors. When employees are rewarded for behaviors that drive results, those behaviors spread.
- Success looks like: goal alignment, performance trends
- Success sounds like: “I know what it takes to be successful here, and I know I’m on that path.”
Employee Retention
Tangible recognition builds trust and loyalty. Employees stay where they feel seen and where growth is acknowledged with more than lip service.
- Success looks like: tenure among award recipients, turnover reduction
- Success sounds like: “This is a company that invests in people who show up and deliver."
Building a best-in-class program
Before discussing tactics, let’s define what "best-in-class" truly means for awards and rewards:
Good
Awards are top-down and infrequent, often limited to one-size-fits-all programs. Nominations are manual or nonexistent. Incentives are ad hoc and not tracked. Rewards are limited or inconsistently distributed.
Better
Awards are aligned with values and offered in multiple categories. Nominations are open to employees, with clearer criteria and review processes. Incentives are tied to specific initiatives but may require manual tracking. Rewards are standardized but accessible.
Best
Awards are integrated with company-wide recognition and aligned with strategic goals. Nominations are seamless, inclusive, and tracked in real-time. Incentives are automated, flexible, and reinforce high-impact behaviors. Rewards are personalized, global, and delivered instantly.
Implementation guide: launching and sustaining your program
Excellent awards and rewards programs are intentional and inclusive. Here’s how to launch and maintain yours:
- Define your goals. Are you trying to boost morale? Reinforce company values? Recognize high performers or unsung heroes? Start with the outcomes you want to drive.
- Design award categories and criteria. Keep it aligned with your mission. Think beyond “Employee of the Month”—use awards like Mentorship Champion, Culture Carrier, or Innovation Driver to reflect real impact.
- Make nominations accessible. Employees should feel encouraged to nominate their peers. Keep nomination forms short, and use clear prompts tied to values.
- Incentivize participation in strategic initiatives. Want more peer feedback? Higher CSAT scores? More DEIB engagement? Offer bonus points for behaviors you want to scale.
- Personalize rewards. What feels meaningful to one employee might not land with another. Give people options, from digital gift cards and charitable donations to custom swag.
- Measure and evolve. Track participation, redemption trends, and employee feedback. Adjust categories, improve communication, and share success stories to build momentum.
Launching a program is just the beginning. The real challenge is sustaining momentum and building habits that last. With these key elements in mind, here's a structured approach you can follow from implementation to steady-state use:
Phase 1: Planning (4-6 Weeks Before Launch)
- Define program goals and success metrics
- Select your recognition platform and tools
- Develop your program guidelines and policies
- Create communication and training materials
- Configure platform settings and integrations
Phase 2: Launch (1-2 Weeks)
- Announce the program through multiple channels
- Conduct training sessions for all employees
- Provide quick-start guides and FAQs
- Establish "recognition champions" in each department
- Set up a help desk for questions and troubleshooting
Phase 3: Adoption (First 90 Days)
- Run weekly participation challenges
- Highlight early adopters and success stories
- Share recognition trends in company communications
- Use analytics to uncover engagement or performance concerns
- Make adjustments based on initial feedback
Phase 4: Sustainability/Growth (Ongoing)
- Integrate recognition into regular meetings and workflows
- Refresh training materials quarterly
- Run periodic campaigns to boost engagement
- Review program data and share insights
- Iterate on program design based on data and feedback
Deep dive: awards & nominations
Awards and nominations provide structured, memorable recognition moments. They help organizations celebrate excellence while making values visible and aspirational. Nominations, in particular, help employees articulate why their colleagues deserve recognition and invite everyone into culture-building moments.
Example Awards:
- Innovation Award: For the person who brought a fresh approach that improved a product or process.
- Customer Champion Award: For going beyond expectations to create a fantastic customer experience.
- Mentorship Award: For investing in others' growth.
- Professional Growth Award: For employees who invest in skill development
- Hiring Hero Award: For referring qualified candidates to open positions
Example Nominations:
Here are some examples:
- Spotlight Leader: Nomination prompt: "Describe how this person showed exceptional leadership that went beyond their role. What specific situation did they step up in, and what was the impact of their leadership?"
- Collaboration Champion: Nomination prompt: "Share a story about how this person brought teams together to solve a problem or create something new. What made their collaborative approach stand out?"
- Culture Carrier: Nomination prompt: "How has this person consistently demonstrated our company values? Give specific examples of them bringing our culture to life through their actions."
Deep dive: incentives that drive behavior
Incentives turn recognition into action by rewarding progress toward specific goals. They work best when tied to clear, measurable outcomes, such as:
- Awarding points to sales reps who exceed their targets by 10%
- Recognizing team members who contribute to the knowledge base
- Rewarding completion of important training
- Incentivizing wellness initiatives like step counts and flu shots
The key is consistency. When people know exactly what they're working toward, they're more likely to take action.
Deep dive: rewards that employees actually want
Recognition means more when it comes with something employees value. Bonusly’s reward system offers meaningful, personalized options beyond generic swag.
Reward options include:
- Digital gift cards for popular retailers, restaurants, airlines, and apps
- Prepaid Visa/Mastercard options and PayPal cash-outs
- Donations to more than 50 charities (or add your own)
- Swag, apparel, and accessories through AXOMO integration
- Custom rewards, like lunch with the CEO or extra PTO
Other considerations for top programs
Even the best awards and rewards programs can fall short if you don’t have the right support and tools. As you evaluate or optimize your program, here are a few essential, but often overlooked, factors that make a big difference.
- A strategic partner and support team you can count on
Your recognition platform should be a true partner in your culture-building efforts. Bonusly’s Customer Success team is known for being invested in customer outcomes, with dedicated teams that help you launch and scale with confidence. The best support teams proactively guide you through setup and help you unlock more value over time. - Seamless integrations with the tools your team already uses
Recognition should meet your team where they are, whether that’s Slack, Microsoft Teams, or your HRIS. Bonusly offers best-in-class integrations with all major communication and HR systems, making it easy to recognize teammates in real-time. Integrations boost participation and make recognition feel like a natural part of the workday. - High adoption and visibility across the organization
Recognition only works if people actually use it. High adoption ensures a steady flow of recognition and provides rich data for understanding how teams work together. Bonusly’s intuitive, mobile-friendly platform drives the highest adoption rate in the industry, giving leaders full visibility into what’s working and who’s making it happen. When recognition is visible and consistent, it shapes culture and drives behavior.
The bigger picture: awards and rewards as part of an integrated strategy
Effective recognition isn’t one-size-fits-all. That’s why structured programs like awards, nominations, incentives, and rewards must be part of a larger, connected recognition ecosystem.
When paired with peer-to-peer recognition, top-down shoutouts, and manager tools for coaching and feedback, awards and rewards become even more impactful. They reinforce the right behaviors, add visibility and value to performance, and help employees understand how their work connects to the bigger picture.
With Bonusly, you can manage every part of that ecosystem in one platform, turning recognition into action, and action into long-term engagement and performance.
Implementing recognition done right
Awards and rewards help you scale recognition and create unforgettable moments that employees carry with them. With the right approach, they also clarify how to grow and showcase why it all matters.
Ready for more? Check out the other playbooks in the series.
Up next:
