A holiday coverage program thanks employees who work the shifts nobody wants, like Thanksgiving Day or Christmas. Managers reward each person who covers a holiday shift, and those employees earn points they can spend on rewards. You decide who can give the thank-you, how much it’s worth, and how big the budget is.
This guide walks you through a Thanksgiving Holiday Hero award from start to finish. Once you’ve run one, you can reuse the same setup for weekend shifts, on-call rotations, and every holiday on your calendar.
At a glance
Goal | Make covering an unpopular holiday shift worth volunteering for. |
Who can join | Managers or ops leads give; anyone who covers a holiday shift receives. |
What you’ll set up | A pool of points to thank holiday volunteers, a public thank-you everyone can see, and a call for volunteers before the holiday |
Who runs it | You, with managers or ops leads giving the thank-yous |
How often | Every holiday. Budgets can refresh weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly, or be one-time. If you also reward weekend coverage, a monthly budget keeps the program going all year. |
How to measure | How many people volunteer, and how often the same people cover |
Example: Run a Thanksgiving Holiday Hero Award
In this example, managers thank every employee who covers a Thanksgiving shift with a fixed point award. Once it’s live, managers give the award on their own and you can reuse it for every holiday that follows.
Step 1: Set aside points to thank holiday volunteers
Volunteers are easier to find when everyone knows covering Thanksgiving comes with a real thank-you. Bonusly makes it easy to set aside a company-funded pool of points that only the managers can give from. Points come from the company, not from managers’ own giving balances. In Bonusly, this is called an Award.
Here’s how to set it up:
Go to Admin > Recognition > Awards and click Create new.
Describe the award: name it Holiday Hero, and in Description and instructions, explain who earns it, like “Give this to anyone who works a Thanksgiving Day shift or covers for a teammate over the holiday.”
Choose who can give it: in Eligibility settings, click the Email dropdown to pick givers by department, location, or team, like the store managers at each location.
Set the budget: under Maximum budget per period, enter the total points you want to spend and choose per year. The budget resets on January 1, so it’s ready for next Thanksgiving. Choose Does not refresh instead if this is a one-time thank-you.
Set the amount: enter the Points per award, like 1000, and choose Give the same amount every time so every volunteer gets the same thank-you. To reward longer or overnight shifts with more, choose Amount can vary per recipient and add suggested amounts.
Step 2: Make every thank-you visible
Bonusly, allows adding an image and a ready-made message so managers can thank volunteers in seconds. Admin can also have someone approve each award before points go out. In Bonusly, this is part of the award’s recognition post settings.
Here’s how to set it up:
In Recognition posts, upload a Thanksgiving image and add a title, like Thanksgiving Holiday Hero.
Choose Edit provided message and write a starting point managers can personalize, like “Thank you for covering Thanksgiving so your teammates could be home with family.”
Choose Public so everyone can see and add on to the thank-you.
Click Preview to see what employees will see.
Under Approval process, keep automatic approval so thank-yous go out right away, or choose Specific people must provide approvals if an ops lead should confirm the shift first. Approvers don’t need to be admins.
Save the award.
If you added approvers, see Reviewing Pending Recognition Programs.
Step 3: Ask for volunteers before the holiday
Holiday shifts fill faster when people know about the thank-you before the schedule is set. Bonusly lets you post a message at the top of everyone’s homepage, aim it at the locations or teams that need coverage, and send it by email or to Slack. In Bonusly, this is called an Announcements.
Here’s how to set it up:
Two to three weeks before Thanksgiving, click Announce from the givebox on your homepage.
Share which shifts need coverage, how to sign up, and what volunteers earn, like “Cover a Thanksgiving Day shift and earn 500 points as a thank-you.”
Add a team handle in Who should see the announcement post to reach only the locations or teams that need coverage. To reach people by email too, check Email from Bonusly, or choose to send it to Slack.
Click Post.
Send managers a separate note so they know the award is ready to give.
Step 4: Thank volunteers after the shift
The thank-you lands best right after the shift, while the effort is still fresh. Managers can thank one volunteer at a time or a whole shift at once, and their remaining budget shows as they give.
Here’s how:
Click Award below the give box on your homepage and choose Holiday Hero.
Under Recipient, pick the volunteers. To thank a whole shift at once, choose Add multiple recipients from CSV and upload a file with one email per row.
Personalize the message if you like, then click Give award.
Share How to give an Award on the homepage with managers.
More ways to run it
The same setup works for other coverage and holiday programs. Change the name, who gives it, and how often the budget refreshes.
Idea | What changes from the example | Learn how |
Weekend Warrior | Thank people who cover weekend shifts, with a monthly budget so it runs all year | |
Shift pick-up award | Let supervisors thank anyone who picks up a last-minute shift, with a monthly budget | |
On-call or production support | Let engineering or support managers thank whoever covers on-call that week, with a weekly budget | |
Winter holiday coverage | Reuse Holiday Hero for Christmas and New Year’s shifts; the yearly budget covers the whole season | |
Holiday gift instead of points | Attach an item from your rewards catalog so volunteers get a gift | |
Happy Thanksgiving thank-you for everyone | Make yourself the only giver, set the budget to Does not refresh, and give the award to the whole company at once | |
Gratitude week | Give everyone extra points the week of Thanksgiving to thank each other | |
Holiday contest | Run an ugly sweater or holiday trivia contest, let employees nominate entries, then give the winner an award |
Measure it
A healthy coverage program fills holiday shifts with volunteers and spreads the load, so the same few people aren’t covering every holiday.
What to check | Where to find it | When |
How many people covered and how much budget you used | Admin > Recognition > Awards, Budget used column | After each holiday |
Whether the same people cover every holiday | Click the ellipsis icon on the award’s row, then Recognition Activity, and compare recipients across holidays | After each holiday |
Whether volunteers come from every team | Quarterly |
If volunteers drop or the same people keep covering, raise the points, announce earlier, or rotate who gets asked first.
Note: You’ll need to be a global admin or have awards admin permissions, and holiday coverage programs can be run on the Organization plan.
FAQ
Can managers thank a whole shift at once?
Yes, managers can thank a whole shift at once. In the give award form, choose Add multiple recipients from CSV and upload a file with one email per row. This isn’t available in the mobile app or on awards with a gift attached.
Can I reuse the award for other holidays?
Yes, you can reuse the award for other holidays. Name it Holiday Hero instead of after one holiday, and the yearly budget covers every holiday until it resets on January 1.
Do the points come out of managers’ own giving balances?
No, the points don’t come out of managers’ own giving balances. They come from the company, so managers can keep recognizing peers as usual.
Can managers give more for longer or overnight shifts?
Yes, managers can give more for longer or overnight shifts. In the budget settings, choose Amount can vary per recipient and add suggested amounts, like 500 for a day shift and 750 for an overnight.