Engagement up 30% in internal surveys

Haze Shift is a Strategic Design and Innovation consultancy based in Brazil. When the team transitioned to fully remote work during COVID-19, they knew maintaining strong interpersonal connections wouldn't happen by accident. Their Employee Experience team went looking for a solution that was intuitive, fun, and practical — one that could keep appreciation flowing across a distributed team every single day.

The Taqueria Principles

Haze Shift discovered HeyTaco in 2021, and it quickly became central to their employee experience strategy. Integrated into Slack, team members can send up to five virtual tacos per day to recognize contributions, acts of support, and team achievements. But rather than just turning it on and hoping for adoption, Haze Shift did something deliberate: they created their own "Taqueria Principles."

These principles gave the whole team a shared language for recognition — guiding employees to use tacos to express gratitude, celebrate achievements, share happiness, and show admiration. The team embraced it, and HeyTaco became part of how the team talked to each other.

More than a recognition tool

Between 2021 and 2025, Haze Shift sent 46,237 tacos — each one a signal of appreciation woven into the daily rhythm of work. But the impact went beyond the count. Tacos became symbols that celebrate small wins, strengthen connections, reinforce core values, and keep employees informed and engaged across teams. What started as a recognition feature became a cornerstone of Haze Shift's organizational culture.

The team also uses HeyTaco's leaderboard to recognize top taco givers and receivers during team ceremonies — turning peer recognition into a shared ritual that the whole company looks forward to.

The results

The numbers reflect what the team already felt: engagement up 30% in internal surveys. 90% of employees rated their experience above 3 on a 5-point scale. And in Q4 2024, Haze Shift recorded a satisfaction score of 4.50 — the highest ever in the company's history.

Appreciation, it turns out, compounds. When it's easy to give and part of every workday, people feel it — and the culture transforms around it.