From Rare to Ritual: How Immunefi Scaled Recognition with HeyTaco

Imagine a fully remote team of engineers goes from zero recognition to half of its members receiving recognition a minimum of once a day. Picture 90% of the team receiving recognition at least once a week, leaders going wild for it, and the company taking it wider. And imagine employees did it all on their own. 

Stop imagining–it actually happened at Immunefi, the leading security platform for the onchain economy, protecting over $190B in value and having averted more than $25B in hack damage. Through their AI-powered Security OS, Immunefi unifies threat intelligence, bug bounties, audits, monitoring, and more into a single command center, enabling capital to move onchain with confidence and scale.

The team at Immunefi is proof that successful peer recognition programs belong to employees, not HR. The grand plan was hatched by QA Automation Engineer Steven Boutcher and Technical Project Manager Klavdija Janc. Boutcher had used HeyTaco at a different company and gave Klavdija the scoop. 

“Steven had the idea, but I said, let’s put it in writing, let’s see how we can sell it, and let’s make it happen,” recalls Klavdija.

Keep reading to discover just how easy it is for recognition to become habitual when you focus on celebrating small wins.

Getting leadership on board

This is a story about the type of cohesive team every company wants: Immunefi’s Web2 engineering team. They’re a pretty tight group that collaborates daily. It also helps that they’re fond of tacos. After Boutcher and Klavdija proposed HeyTaco, they launched a pilot test. 

“Within the first few days, I saw my manager and his manager both excessively using tacos,” marvels Steven. “They loved how silly and fun it is. Now, we can’t go a day without somebody giving somebody tacos.”

Leadership’s rapid adoption and visible participation made it natural for engineers to join in. Suddenly, recognition wasn’t occasional. It became part of everyone’s work rhythm.

Klavdija wasn’t part of the pilot team, but was anxious to begin. Joking that she was “50 tacos behind,” she started sending taco emojis on her own before the official rollout.

Lighthearted recognition that feels right every day

It’s easy to give all the credit to Immunefi here. Teams taking the initiative and enthusiastic leadership buy-in make peer recognition doubly effective. However, HeyTaco wasn’t the first time the company used a recognition tool. Previously, they used Lattice for kudos. 

“It felt like a big gesture,” Boutcher explains. While valuable, Lattice wasn’t the right fit for small, daily acts of teamwork. Employees were hesitant to use it for anything less than a major milestone.

“With HeyTaco, there are so many small things to be grateful for every day—and tacos make it easy to recognize them.”

Pilot study results: Immunefi’s new recognition ritual

Measuring and monitoring the results of recognition tells us what type of culture teams want to help build. Immunefi tracked the impact of HeyTaco through surveys before and after the pilot. The results speak for themselves:

Recognition received:

• Before HeyTaco: 0% received recognition daily
• After HeyTaco: 50% reported receiving recognition at least once a day
  
  

Recognition offered:

• Before HeyTaco: 33% offered recognition daily
• After HeyTaco: 88.9% offered recognition once a day or more
  
  

That means recognition went from occasional to habitual. Boutcher’s early observation about picking up on small things to be grateful for rings true. Team members were even more willing to express gratitude than they were to receive it.  

Building on performance with stronger connections

Immunefi is fully remote. Remote work (especially on collaborative teams) is associated with greater productivity, but it can be more challenging to build a connection. 

That’s one reason why Immunefi turned HeyTaco into a digital water cooler. It helped provide a space where teammates could interact beyond tasks and deadlines.

The team even launched a dedicated Slack channel called #random-tacos. “Ever since we created random tacos, usage has been going through the roof,” says Klavdija.

The channel puts camaraderie and bonding in focus, with jokes and games enhancing the results of recognition. From emoji storytelling contests to AI image challenges, tacos became a playful currency for everything from peer appreciation to Friday fun.

A recognition-only program that works

While Immunefi is flush with tacos, you won’t find a Taco Shop. The joy of giving and receiving tacos was enough to sustain momentum, so they don’t offer rewards.

However, they do keep leaderboards visible. An element of friendly competition is suitable for their team. For some, bragging rights as a top giver were the goal. For others, it was about being recognized as a top receiver. But nobody needed extrinsic rewards to stay engaged.

“A thank you just feels better with a taco attached. It’s like a gift,” says Steven.

Taco takeover (certified organic)

“We all want to be cool. And tacos made it cool to show appreciation,” says Klavdija. That’s how HeyTaco went from a single-team experiment to a companywide phenomenon. 

Soon, tacos were everywhere at Immunefi. Weekly reports celebrated both top givers and receivers, and employees invented their own games with tacos (not rewards) as prizes. And of course, leaders modeled recognition by giving tacos openly and often.

Even weekends weren’t safe! Some employees logged in just to send “weekend tacos.” That has to have a positive impact on Monday’s morale. 

The data doesn’t lie–recognition works when it’s authentic, easy, and fun. 

Peer recognition’s power is undeniable. For Immunefi, HeyTaco isn’t just about boosting recognition metrics. It gives employees a way to express gratitude every day. It’s easy to use and feels natural inside workflows.

The percentage increases are impressive, but the wider results and the way they pulled it off can create lasting change:

• Skyrocketing recognition: Daily recognition became the norm.
• Stronger culture: Recognition isn’t HR-driven. It belongs to everyone.
• Remote connections: HeyTaco acted as a cultural hub for a distributed team.
• Sustaining engagement: No rewards store required—fun and authenticity naturally keep usage high.

Ready to launch your own pilot study and join Immunefi in the Tacoverse? It’s free to try!