Rethinking the Employee Points Reward System With Tacos

Doug Dosberg April, 2 2025 2 minute read

What Is an Employee Points Reward System?

An employee points reward system—sometimes called an employee rewards points program—is a type of recognition program where employees earn points for certain behaviors, like hitting goals, completing tasks, or being recognized by a peer or manager. Those points accumulate and can be redeemed for rewards like gift cards, branded swag, extra time off, or charitable donations.

These systems are designed to solve a very real challenge: how do you keep employees motivated and engaged? Especially in growing organizations, it’s easy for great work to go unnoticed. A points-based system offers a structured, scalable way to recognize effort, reinforce values, and reward contributions across teams.

In theory, it’s a win-win: employees feel seen, and companies get a culture boost.

But in practice, these systems often fall short. That’s why we built HeyTaco—to make recognition feel like recognition again.

Why Traditional Employee Reward Systems Feel Transactional

Most employee reward systems are built around performance and tied directly to monetary value. Hit your quarterly goals? Here’s 500 points—redeemable for a $50 gift card. While that structure is easy to track and report on, it can make gratitude feel like a currency instead of a connection.

And the language these systems use—points, coins, tokens—only reinforces that dynamic. These words carry weight. They signal transaction, worth, and evaluation. When you give someone 100 points or 20 coins, it can feel less like “thank you” and more like “here’s what I think you’re worth.” That’s not how recognition should feel.

🧠 Words matter. “Points” and “coins” feel transactional. “Tacos”? They just make people smile.

Once appreciation becomes something you earn, it loses a bit of its magic. It shifts the focus from “I appreciate you” to “What’s this worth?”

There’s also a budget problem. If your rewards budget disappears, so does your entire program.

💡 “If your budget disappears, your recognition program shouldn’t.”

We’ve heard this over and over from companies using traditional points-based employee reward systems. No money? No motivation. And that’s a big problem—because appreciation shouldn’t be a line item on a spreadsheet.

With HeyTaco, we built something different. Tacos don’t need a budget to matter. They’re a simple, fun, peer-to-peer way of saying “I see you. I appreciate you.” Whether or not you choose to layer in rewards, the taco itself holds value because it’s backed by sincerity, not spending.

A Different Kind of Employee Points Reward System

HeyTaco was built to flip that dynamic. Instead of focusing on points that equal dollars, we created a system where the recognition is the reward.

Here’s how it works: every person gets five tacos per day to give to their peers. They can send them in Slack or Microsoft Teams, often paired with a quick message like:

“Huge shoutout to @Riley for helping prep for today’s customer call. 🌮🌮🌮”

These tacos don’t have a dollar value. They don’t expire. They don’t require manager approval. They’re given freely—because appreciation should be simple, fun, and frequent.

🎉 Recognition doesn’t have to be expensive—it just has to be genuine.

If a company does want to tie tacos to rewards, that’s totally possible. Many organizations use our Taco Shop to let people trade in their tacos for gift cards, team lunches, extra time off, or even charity donations. But those rewards are optional, not essential. The real value is in the tacos themselves.

Employee Reward Systems Examples That Actually Build Culture

Here are a few ways teams use HeyTaco to build meaningful employee reward systems:

Tacos for Charity: Teams pool tacos to support causes they care about, turning appreciation into impact.
Core Values Recognition: By tagging tacos with values like #Teamwork or #Innovation, companies reinforce what matters most.
Rituals That Stick: Some teams celebrate top taco givers, run taco-themed gratitude games, or create their own reward menus.

🌱 Culture isn’t built in annual reviews. It’s built in daily moments of recognition.

These aren’t just incentives—they’re ongoing rituals that strengthen connection and bring values to life.

Why We Chose Tacos Over Points

We didn’t just pick tacos because they’re fun (though they definitely are). We picked them because they’re symbolic, joyful, and free of financial baggage.

Tacos aren’t earned. They’re given. And that makes all the difference.

🧡 Tacos feel like a gift. Points feel like a transaction.

In tough times, when budgets shrink or disappear, HeyTaco still works. Because our system is powered by gratitude, not dollars. And gratitude scales—even when spending doesn’t.

Final Thoughts

Yes, HeyTaco is technically an employee points reward system. But it’s unlike any other.

We built it to help people recognize each other in ways that feel real—not transactional. In a world where so much is tied to performance and metrics, tacos offer something refreshingly human.