Welcome to Bonusly! You’re an Admin setting up Bonusly for the first time and want to make sure core features are enabled and ready before launch.
By the end of this checklist, you’ll have:
Configure your account settings
Determine Recognition Program Settings
Set up Billing
Set up Chat Integration
Set up User Management Integration
Enable SSO
Pulse Check (Recommended)
Recap (Recommended)
Launch to your team
Step 1: Configure your account settings
a) Start by setting up your company’s basic information and preferences. Navigate to Company > Account settings to:
Upload your company logo (recommended: 350×160 transparent PNG)
Update your company name (used in emails and reports)
Set your organization’s default language
This ensures Bonusly looks and feels aligned with your company from day one.
b) Next, configure how recognition works inside your organization. Navigate to Company > Program settings to:
Customize the name of your points (e.g., “Stars,” “High Fives,” “Kudos”)
Confirm the default exchange rate (points always convert at a 10:1 ratio)
c) Company values
Add your company values as hashtags
Require a hashtag for recognition to tie recognition back to values
These settings define how recognition is structured across your organization.
Learn more
Article: Managing Program Settings
Step 2: Determine Recognition Program Settings
a) Navigate to Recognition > peer-to-peer in your admin settings to set the amount of points each user receives to give away. These points reset every month.
Best practice: We recommend an allowance of 100 to 200 points per employee per month. ($10 - $20 / employee / month)
b) Celebrations give automatic recognition to welcome new employees and celebrate birthdays and work anniversaries.
Best practice: We recommend turning it on for all users (Welcome, Birthdays, and Work Anniversary). However, admins can assign 0 points if budget-conscious.
c) Awards allow you to create company-funded awards, which means your company is recognizing individuals instead of recognition coming from peers.
Best practice: Employee of the month, Deal unlocked!
Note: Setting an award at the start of the Bonusly journey is not required; awards can be created at any point after launch.
d) Set up incentives to encourage your team to complete certain tasks, participate in events, or more.
Best practice: CSAT above 97% (Customer Support Superstar)
Note: Setting an incentive at the start of the Bonusly journey is not required; awards can be created at any point after launch.
e) Rewards billing calculator used to help a company estimate / plan a rewards budget (how much they might spend on rewards), especially during trial onboarding. It’s surfaced as a “Budgeting Calculator” link in the Rewards Billing area.
Pro Tips: Flash Points are a time-bound “special program” that temporarily gives each eligible user an extra allotment of points (a program boost) to spend on recognitions during a specific start/end date window.
Learn more
Article: Budgeting for Rewards
Article: Managing the rewards catalog
Article: Awards
Article: Celebrations
Article: Incentives
Article: Company Exclusives Best Practices
Article: Flash Points
Resources: Reward Billing Calculator
Step 3: Set up Billing
a) Update billing contact email from Plans & Billing section
b) Pay subscription invoice
c) Either add credit card for rewards and set a prepayment amount, or CSM sets rewards invoice amount (we recommend)
Learn more
Articles: Billing
Step 4: Set up Chat Integration
Connecting Bonusly to your daily communication tools reduces friction and keeps recognition visible. Navigate to Integrations to connect:
Slack
Microsoft Teams
Google Chat (if applicable)
Once connected, employees can give recognition directly from chat, increasing visibility and engagement.
Learn more
Step 5: Set up User Management Integration
Decide how users will be added and maintained.
Recommended: HRIS sync
Connect Bonusly to your HRIS (e.g., Rippling, BambooHR, Workday, Gusto) to:
Automatically add new hires
Deactivate users when employees leave
Keep roles and teams up to date
Alternative options
Bulk import users via CSV
Manually add users if needed
Learn more
Article: Adding Users to Bonusly
Article: Adding Groups of Users to Bonusly
Article: User Management & HRIS Integrations
Article: Admin Permissions Overview
Step 6: Enable SSO
Admins enable SSO so employees sign in with the company’s existing identity provider (like Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspace), which improves security (centralized access control/MFA), reduces support burden (fewer password resets), and makes onboarding/offboarding access changes immediate and consistent across systems.
Learn more
Articles: Accessing Bonusly
Step 7: Pulse Check
Pulse Check enables regular employee check-ins and is a key input for manager insights and reporting. Navigate to Pulse Check Settings
Turn on Pulse Check for the organization
Share Announcement
Reports > Pulse Results page to monitor the activity
Learn more
Article: Managing Pulse Check
Article: Using pulse checks with your team
Step 8: Recap
Recaps bring recognition, feedback, and goals together into a long-term view of contribution, removing recency bias from reviews.
Head to Growth > Recaps to set Recap
Use templates (optional)
Learn more:
Step 9: Additional Features
1:1s: Use 1:1s to ensure meaningful conversations happen consistently—helping teams move beyond just working hard to working together toward the same outcomes.
Nominations: Use Nominations to let peers propose colleagues for major awards. It surfaces hidden influencers and democratizes recognition while giving admins final approval.
Advice: Advice enables coworkers to share private, focused feedback with one another not just between managers and direct reports.
Announcements: Use Announcements to broadcast critical info directly to the feed, ensuring your message lands with the organization that actually shows up every day.
Company exclusives: Custom Rewards are a great way to personalize your company's reward catalog.
Note: Setting up 1:1s, Nominations, Advice, Announcements, Custom Rewards at the start of the Bonusly journey is not required; these can be created at any point after launch.
Learn more
Article: Using 1:1s in Bonusly, What Makes a Great 1:1
Article: Nominations
Article: Advice
Article: Announcements
Article: Company exclusives
Playbook: The Recognition Done Right Playbook
Step 10: Plan your employee communications
Ready-made email templates to help you communicate Bonusly to your team—from announcing your launch and reminding people to sign up, to keeping participation strong after the initial rollout. Customize them to fit your company's voice, or use them as is. Each template is designed for a specific moment in your Bonusly journey.
If you need help, browse the Help Center or contact Customer Support for deeper configuration guides.