Program Use Cases and Examples

Incentive programs are flexible — the same tools can serve onboarding, project milestones, learning goals, and company-wide celebrations.

This article walks through real-world scenarios to help you decide which program type fits your situation.

One-off program use cases

One-off programs work best when you know exactly who should receive points and want to grant them all at once. There's no waiting, no claims — you define the audience, set the amount, and execute.

Holiday or seasonal bonus

Award every active employee a fixed point bonus at the end of the year or during a company holiday. Use the Everyone audience, set your points amount, and include a message from leadership.

• Audience: Everyone

• Points: Fixed amount (e.g. 500 points)

• Feed post: On — makes it feel like a company-wide celebration

Project completion bonus

Reward a cross-functional team that shipped a major initiative. Use Specific people or a Segment (by team) to target the right group.

• Audience: Specific people or segment (team filter)

• Points: Varies by contribution level if you run multiple programs

• Feed post: On — gives the team public visibility for their work

New hire welcome

Give new joiners a small point bonus as part of onboarding. Run monthly with a segment filter for users who joined recently, or select individuals manually.

• Audience: Specific people

• Points: A modest starter amount (e.g. 100 points)

• Feed post: Off — keep it personal

Manager spot awards

Give managers the ability to reward their reports for above-and-beyond moments. Create one program per quarter, scoped to a team segment, and let managers request execution through a defined process.

• Audience: Segment (by team)

• Points: Moderate amount

• Feed post: Optional

Claim-based program use cases

Claim-based programs work best when the action needs to come from the employee — you're rewarding them for doing something specific, and you want proof or at least a declaration before granting points.

Certification or learning completion

Reward employees who complete an approved certification, course, or learning path. Require proof (a certificate URL or screenshot link) so you can verify completion before approving.

• Audience: Everyone (or a specific department)

• Points per claim: Fixed (e.g. 200 points per certification)

• Proof required: Yes — URL to certificate or completion page

• Claim limit: No limit, or cap at a reasonable number per quarter

Wellness or fitness challenge

Run a 30-day wellness challenge where employees claim points for each qualifying activity (gym visit, meditation session, step goal). Set a per-person claim limit to keep things fair.

• Audience: Everyone

• Points per claim: Small (e.g. 25 points per activity)

• Proof required: Optional — trust-based or require a screenshot

• Claim limit: 20 claims per person

• Deadline: End of the challenge month

Innovation or suggestion box

Encourage employees to submit improvement ideas, process suggestions, or internal bug reports. Approve claims for ideas that meet a quality bar, reject low-effort submissions.

• Audience: Everyone

• Points per claim: Moderate (e.g. 100 points)

• Proof required: Yes — text description of the idea

• Claim limit: 5 per person per month

Community or volunteering participation

Reward employees for volunteering hours or community involvement. Require a brief description of the activity.

• Audience: Everyone

• Points per claim: Varies (e.g. 50 points per event)

• Proof required: Yes — text or URL

• Claim limit: No limit

• Deadline: End of quarter or year

Referral bonus

Award points when an employee's referral is hired and passes probation. The employee submits a claim once the condition is met, and HR verifies before approving.

• Audience: Everyone

• Points per claim: High (e.g. 1000 points)

• Proof required: Yes — referral name and confirmation

• Claim limit: No limit

Nomination program use cases

Nomination programs work best when you want peers to identify who deserves recognition, and a selection committee to choose winners. They're well suited to awards, honours, and competitive recognitions where the "who" should come from the team rather than from management alone.

Employee of the Quarter

Let the entire company nominate colleagues who exemplify your values. Set the nominator audience to Everyone and the nominee audience to Everyone (or exclude leadership). Require a reason so the committee can read why each person was nominated.

• Nominator audience: Everyone

• Nominee audience: Everyone

• Points per winner: High (e.g. 1000 points)

• Max winners: 1–3 per quarter

• Requires reason: Yes

• Show nominees: Off — keep it a surprise until winners are announced

• Nomination window: 2–3 weeks before the quarter ends

Innovation award

Reward creative thinking by letting employees nominate peers who introduced a new idea, improved a process, or built something outside their day-to-day. Add your innovation leads or engineering managers as committee members.

• Nominator audience: Everyone

• Nominee audience: Everyone (or a specific department)

• Points per winner: Moderate to high (e.g. 500 points)

• Max winners: 3–5

• Requires reason: Yes — describe the innovation

• Nomination window: End of project cycle or quarterly

Culture champion

Recognise people who go above and beyond to build team culture — mentoring new hires, organising team events, or consistently lifting morale. Use a broad nominator audience so the signal comes from the whole organisation.

• Nominator audience: Everyone

• Nominee audience: Everyone

• Points per winner: Moderate (e.g. 300 points)

• Max winners: 1–5

• Requires reason: Yes

• Show nominees: On — builds excitement and visibility

Leadership recognition

Let individual contributors nominate managers or team leads who have made a positive impact. Restrict the nominee audience to people in leadership roles using a segment filter.

• Nominator audience: Everyone

• Nominee audience: Segment (by permission group or team leads)

• Points per winner: Moderate (e.g. 500 points)

• Max winners: 1–3

• Requires reason: Yes

Community impact award

Recognise employees who contribute to the community outside of work — volunteering, open-source contributions, or charity initiatives. Peers nominate and a committee verifies the impact.

• Nominator audience: Everyone

• Nominee audience: Everyone

• Points per winner: Moderate (e.g. 400 points)

• Requires reason: Yes — describe the community contribution

• Nomination window: End of quarter or year

Choosing between program types

Delegation patterns

Programs don't have to be run centrally. Adding program members lets you delegate management to the people closest to the activity, while keeping workspace-level admin access restricted.

L&D team managing certification programs

Create a claim program for certification completions, then add your Learning & Development lead as a Manager. They can review claims and manage the budget directly, without needing workspace admin access. Add your finance partner as a Finance member so they can audit spend.

Department leads running team bonuses

Set up a one-off program for each department's quarterly bonus. Add the department lead as a Manager — they choose the audience, set point amounts, and execute when ready. The People Ops admin who created the program doesn't need to be involved in the day-to-day.

Finance visibility without operational access

For any program where finance needs oversight, add the relevant finance contact as a Finance member. They can see the claims pipeline and budget ledger without being able to approve claims or change settings.

Selection committee for nomination programs

For nomination programs, add the people who should decide winners as Committee members. They can review all nominees, read the nomination reasons, and select winners — without seeing settings, budget, or audience configuration. This works well for cross-functional panels where each committee member brings a different perspective.

Tips for running successful programs

• Write a clear description. For claim and nomination programs especially, spell out exactly what qualifies — what proof you expect for claims, or what makes a strong nomination reason.

• Set realistic budgets. For claim programs, estimate participation rate and multiply by points per claim. For nomination programs, multiply points per winner by your expected winner count. You can always top up later.

• Use deadlines intentionally. A deadline creates urgency, but programs auto-close at the deadline. Only set one if the program genuinely has an end date.

• Review claims promptly. Pending claims generate a weekday digest. Respond within a day or two to keep participants engaged.

• Add your committee before publishing. Nomination programs require at least one committee member before they can be published. Add all committee members during the draft phase so they're ready when nominations start coming in.

• Use the showcase link. When completing a nomination program, add a showcase link (for example, to an internal blog post or announcement) to give winners lasting visibility beyond the feed post.

• Communicate the program. Even if you publish to feed, consider a Slack announcement or email to make sure eligible users know the program exists.

Related articles

• What Are Incentive Programs

• How to Create and Execute a One-Off Program

• How to Create and Manage a Claim Program

• How to Create and Run a Nomination Program

• How Program Roles and Delegated Access Work