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Make Core Values Visible and Meaningful
Empower your team with meaningful recognition that brings core values to life—making them visible, actionable, and impactful every day.
Bring Values Alive
With HeyTaco's Values feature, recognition becomes a powerful way to reinforce what matters most to your organization. Team members can tag company values when giving tacos, helping everyone connect daily actions to core principles.
You will get:
- Team members living your core values, strengthening company culture, and driving positive change.
- Clear visibility into how your team embodies those values, making it easy to highlight and reward positive actions.
- Recognition aligned with your values to boost engagement, inspire action, and reinforce the behaviors you want to see.
#authenticity #selflessness
What customers are saying
It's simple, but meaningful—being able to give a taco with a quick message of thanks or recognition helps build a stronger, more positive culture without feeling forced.
DeAnna R., QA Manager
It's been a fantastic tool for boosting team morale and encouraging recognition across the organization.
Rebecca S., Quality Operations Lead, QA Wolf
It's low-effort, high-impact culture-building — and honestly, our Slack would feel weirdly empty without it.
Abhinav P., Solutions Engineering
It's brought us closer together as a team, and that's priceless. It also brings more awareness to what everyone's doing, which is another big plus!
Steven B., QA Automation Engineer
HeyTaco is a more grassroots way (compared to shout-outs from team leaders) to get everyone's contributions recognized, especially the little things like helping respond to an incident late at night, or giving really insightful replies or a teammate's questions.
Kalinda P., Software Developer
It's a fun, unusual, and memorable way for people at our company to appreciate one another. And providing this has built a culture of gratitude at our company.
Rakesh A., Founder & CEO
I love how HeyTaco encourages peer-to-peer recognition in a lighthearted and engaging way. It has strengthened our team culture and helped everyone feel appreciated.
Daniel Alberto J., Fraud Analyst
It is a quick and easy way to show recognition and celebrate teammates. Initially, I thought it might be cheesy, but when you are able to acknowledge more wins throughout the organization, they quickly become meaningful.
Elaina C., Compliance Manager
It's simple, fast, and creates an instant boost in morale. People love getting acknowledged publicly, and the taco format makes it feel fun rather than forced. It's especially great in remote teams where spontaneous praise is harder to give. It also encourages a culture of gratitude.
Samantha G., Proposal Manager
This has been a great tool at our office to share kudos on a daily basis. It's thoughtful, and with only five a day, it makes you focus on what's best. Very easy to implement in Slack as well.
Tom S., Growth Architect
When our company first started using this, I thought it was a stupid idea. Then I got my first taco for something and was amazed at how happy I was to get it. It's become a fun way to give my coworkers some appreciation, and I really like the stickers.
Casey P., Senior Analyst
I appreciate how easy it is to share appreciation with teammates on Slack. It's as simple as sending an emoji, but it adds a thoughtful, personal touch to recognize someone's effort. This simplicity encourages frequent, genuine expressions of gratitude, which have positively impacted team morale.
Nick Z., Email Marketing Manager
I love HeyTaco because it fosters a sense of community, encouragement, and empathy among workplace teams.
Jen M., Director of Business Development
The idea, the execution, and the way it brings people together! A little bit of appreciation goes a long way, and HeyTaco helps with spreading love!
Ansh P., Customer Support Specialist
Peer Recognition Rooted in Shared Values Boosts Morale
According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 88 percent of organizations that tied employee recognition to core values said their programs helped instill and reinforce those values, compared to 57 percent among organizations that did not have that linkage.
Celebrate company values with Taco Tags
Exclaimer spices things up every month with fun challenges to show off their company values in action. By adding hashtags with values to their taco appreciations, the whole team gets to celebrate living their values.
Ellie & Stephen, the dynamic HeyTaco admin duo, run those challenges by getting people engaged with the awesome taco hats, reminding them about the values, and rewarding the winners with some fun prizes.
Integrating Taco Tags with your company's core values can effectively promote and strengthen them within your team. By tagging your tacos with specific values, you ensure they remain at the forefront of everyone's minds, while also identifying which values resonate most within your team.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does HeyTaco help reinforce company values?
HeyTaco makes it easy to tag recognition messages with your core values—like "Teamwork" or "Customer Obsession"—so you can celebrate moments that reflect what your company stands for. It turns values from words on a wall into everyday actions.
Why is values-based recognition important?
When employees are recognized for living your core values, it connects their work to something bigger. It boosts alignment, reinforces the behaviors you want to see more of, and helps create a more intentional, values-driven culture.
What are taco tags, and how do they work?
Taco tags are hashtags you can add to any recognition message in Slack or Microsoft Teams (like #innovation or #inclusion). They help categorize recognition by value or theme - making it easier to surface meaningful trends over time.
Can I customize the values in HeyTaco?
Yes! Taco tags function similarly to hashtags on social media. Admins share the custom taco tags to reflect the company's specific values with the whole team, and teammates can include them in their taco messages to highlight when someone's actions align with what matters most.
Can we use taco data to inform value awards or recognition programs?
Absolutely. Every single value is tracked, and many teams download taco data or use built-in filters to track which values are being recognized and by whom. This helps with quarterly culture awards, spot bonuses, or team shoutouts tied to specific values.
Is this only useful for HR or leadership?
Not at all. Peer-to-peer value recognition means everyone participates—not just managers. It creates a grassroots way to bring your culture to life, with recognition flowing across all levels and departments. In HeyTaco, everyone has visibility into which core values are being used, and by whom.
What's the benefit of tying recognition to company values?
It helps make values actionable. Instead of just talking about what your company believes in, you're showing what those values look like in real behavior - and celebrating it in real time.
Can HeyTaco help build a values-based culture?
Yes. Over time, consistent recognition tied to your values helps shape how people show up, collaborate, and make decisions. It reinforces what "good" looks like and helps everyone stay connected to a shared sense of purpose.
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