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2025: AI powered lean, high-impact teams
Teams simplified and got smarter this year, doing better work with fewer tools. They pared down and used AI to automate busywork and facilitate deep work, driving a powerful surge in creative output.
2025’s high-achieving teams rewarded complex problem-solving and innovative leaps, tying recognition directly to ingenuity, performance, and the people behind the AI paradigm shift.
Donut was proud to support leading AI innovators and Fortune 500 powerhouses alike, helping to scale recognition, fuel performance, and spark connection at every stage of the employee experience.
What we saw
Top teams focused on recognition
In 2025, top-performing teams had one thing in common: a strong culture of recognition, especially peer-to-peer recognition.
Donut launched Shoutouts this past June, empowering teams to celebrate great work, directly spotlight impact, and tie recognition to real, meaningful rewards.
Team members gave and earned 1.9 million recognition points with Donut in 2025, delivered right in Slack. That’s a lot of engagement and appreciation — and major acknowledgement of big impacts.
Connections got smarter and more meaningful
We made 1.5 million introductions in 2025, helping teams break down silos and stay connected across departments, time zones, and roles.
This year, we gave those connections a boost with AI-powered introduction messages that used Donut Profile details to surface shared interests and help every conversation click.
New hires got to success faster with AI
AI made it faster and easier to automate and scale engaging, consistent onboarding experiences.
This year, teams onboarded nearly 200,000 new hires with Donut and automated over 800,000 onboarding and other HR tasks. That adds up to 150,000 hours saved — or almost 17 years.
To get even more time back, try using Donut AI to build an end-to-end onboarding workflow in minutes.
…and AI tools unlocked performance across the board
In 2025, Donut built for AI-native workplaces, launching essential tools to empower HR leaders and drive productivity—like smarter Intros, automated workflow design, and more.
We’re just getting started: in 2026, expect groundbreaking AI solutions for performance management, 1:1’s, employee engagement and more.
Want a chance to try our latest AI features first?
Doing more, with Donut
We released 940 new features and updates in 2025, all designed to help teams save time, streamline tools, and exceed goals.
Here’s are just a few you might have missed:
- Profiles tell every teammate’s story and make Intros smarter
- Badges + Points reward participation and milestone Donut achievements
- New Journeys automations make it easier to update workflows, enroll teammates, and deliver the right experiences at the right time
Cheers to another great year; we can’t wait to see where you take Donut next!
Do more with Donut in 2026
Join 20,000+ companies using Donut to improve collaboration
and drive outcomes.