Great 1:1s don't happen by accident. They happen when you show up prepared, stay present, and follow through. Bonusly gives you a shared space to do all three—so every conversation moves your relationship forward.
A 1:1 in Bonusly is a meeting between any two people at your organization. It's not just for managers and direct reports. Use it with your skip-level, your cross-functional partner, or anyone you meet with regularly.
Getting Started
The best way to set up 1:1 is to integrate your Google or Outlook calendar. To create a 1:1, click 1:1s in the sidebar, then Create new. Search for the person you want to meet with and you're ready to go.
If you've connected your calendar, you'll also see people you already have meetings with—making it easy to start a 1:1 with someone you're already talking to.
What You Can Do in a 1:1
Once you've created a 1:1, you'll land on your shared meeting space. Here's what's available:
Check-in
Share how you're doing with a quick score (1–5) and optional note. Your check-in history gives both of you context over time—patterns matter more than any single number.
Shared Notes
Add topics, goals, and action items together. Repeat topics across meetings or let them flow naturally. It's a shared doc, not a rigid template.
You can add images to Shared Notes, too. Paste or drag-and-drop an image into the editor and Bonusly will upload it and insert it into your notes.
Context Drawer
See recognition and feedback that happened since your last meeting. It's a quick way to catch up on what's been going well.
Transcripts
Record your meeting directly in Bonusly, or paste in a transcript from your favorite tool. Either way, you'll get a summary and the full text to reference later.
Completing a Meeting
When your conversation is done, click End 1:1 to mark the meeting complete. Bonusly will automatically create your next upcoming meeting so you're ready for next time.
You can always revisit past meetings from the date selector at the top of your 1:1.
Articles: Goals - Create and track goals within your 1:1
Calendar Integration for 1:1s
Why connect your calendar?
The best 1:1s happen with the people you already meet with regularly. When you connect your calendar to Bonusly, we'll spot those recurring meetings and suggest turning them into structured 1:1s—so you can make the most of time you're already spending together.
What Bonusly can see (and what it can't)
We designed calendar integration with privacy in mind. Here's what Bonusly reads from your calendar:
Event titles — to identify meeting names
Times and dates — to find recurring patterns and show upcoming meetings
Attendees — to match events with colleagues in your organization
That's it. Bonusly doesn't read event descriptions, notes, attachments, or any other details from your calendar events.
It's also worth knowing: Bonusly only reads your calendar. We don't create events, modify existing ones, or sync anything back. Your calendar stays exactly as you left it.
How to connect your calendar
You'll find calendar integration when you set up a new 1:1. From there, choose either Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook, depending on which you use for work.
When you connect, you'll be asked to grant Bonusly permission to read your calendar. This is the standard authorization flow from Google or Microsoft—Bonusly only requests read access, nothing more.
The whole process takes less than a minute. Once connected, you'll see a confirmation in your settings, and Bonusly will start analyzing your meeting patterns right away.
What happens after you connect
Once your calendar is connected, Bonusly gets to work finding patterns in your meetings. If you have an upcoming 1:1 on your calendar, Bonusly can send a prep reminder so you show up ready.
Email: sent ahead of your meeting
Slack or Microsoft Teams (if your company has the integration connected): sent shortly before the meeting
You can control whether you receive these in your notification settings.
1:1s Summary
The 1:1 Summary gives HR visibility into manager engagement by showing who is consistently holding 1:1s and who may need additional support.
Engagement
Where it lives
Admins can open the detailed Engagement view from 1:1s summary
What it shows (table)
Manager (person)
Department
Total meetings (as manager, last 30 days). Managers with 0 meetings are visually flagged.
Engagement ratio (as manager, last 30 days) displayed as a percentage-style progress indicator.
Common “why am I not seeing anything?” case
If the company has no managers configured, the page shows an informational empty state explaining that manager relationships must be configured (with guidance to integrate HRIS or edit users in People Management).
Adoption
Where it lives
Admins can open the detailed Adoption view from the 1:1s summary
What it means by “adoption” in this report
Adoption is based on whether people have a 1:1 set up. In the detailed adoption report, a direct report is considered to “have 1:1s” with their manager.
What it shows
Adoption % (percent of employees with a 1:1 set up).
Unparticipating managers (count of managers with no 1:1s).
Unadopted employees (count of employees without a 1:1 set up).
What it shows (table)
Manager (person)
Department
Total reports
With 1:1s: an avatar group preview of direct reports who do have a 1:1 set up with that manager (and an alert icon when that count is 0 but the manager has reports)
Without 1:1s: an avatar group preview of direct reports who don’t have a 1:1 set up with that manager (and a “complete” icon when that count is 0 but the manager has reports)
Export
The Adoption detailed view includes an Export button that downloads a CSV (opens in a new tab).
The CSV includes (per manager): name, email, department, total reports, # with 1:1s, # without 1:1s.
Frequently asked questions
Can I disconnect my calendar later?
Yes. You can disconnect your calendar anytime from your account settings. Bonusly will stop reading your calendar immediately, and you won't receive meeting-based suggestions anymore.
Is calendar integration required?
No. Calendar integration is completely optional. You can create and manage 1:1s manually without ever connecting your calendar. The integration simply makes it easier to discover who you should be having 1:1s with.
What if I don't want suggestions for certain people?
You can dismiss any suggestion Bonusly shows you. If there's someone you meet with regularly but don't want a formal 1:1 with, just skip the suggestion and move on.
Does my manager or admin see my calendar?
No. Your calendar connection is personal to you. Bonusly uses your calendar data to make suggestions for you—it's not shared with managers, admins, or anyone else in your organization.