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EY Puts the Behavior Before the Recognition Technology
How EY Designed the Program
Williams-Sonoma Takes an Even More Direct Route
There Are Other Signs Worth Watching
Could This Help Explain the Growth of Payment Platforms?
A Question for the Recognition Industry
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Two companies do not make a trend. Nor do a handful of additional examples prove that organizations are abandoning traditional recognition programs. They do, however, raise an increasingly relevant question for the recognition industry: What if organizations begin designing recognition around specific behaviors, accomplishments and measurable business impact first—and worry about the technology and reward fulfillment second?
That is arguably the more important aspect of EY US’s recently announced $100 million rewards and recognition initiative. EY does not begin its announcement by talking about a platform, points, merchandise or engagement. It starts by defining what the organization needs from its people.
How EY Designed the Program 
EY says the program is specifically intended to recognize professionals who develop future-focused skills, advance the firm’s culture, drive innovation and deliver exceptional client service. It identifies business acumen, judgment and adaptability among the capabilities it wants to reinforce.
It then divides recognition into three levels based on impact: everyday leadership involving learning, experimentation, collaboration and leadership in the moment; transformation that produces measurable results through innovation, technology or growth; and game-changing contributions by individuals or teams that create a lasting material impact on the firm. Employees at all ranks can recognize colleagues when contributions occur.
According to Wall Street Journal reporter Allison Pohle’s coverage of the program, EY will provide immediate spot bonuses of up to $500 and larger cash awards of $10,000 to $25,000 for significant individual and team contributions. That sequence is worth noting. EY first determines what matters, what behaviors demonstrate it, what levels of impact deserve differentiation and what those accomplishments are worth. Only then does it need technology to handle nominations, approvals, tracking, controls and payments. The technology matters, but it is not the strategy.
Williams-Sonoma Takes an Even More Direct Route
That same distinction appeared recently at Williams-Sonoma. Following receipt of approximately $198 million in tariff refunds, the company recorded a $10 million employee recognition expense in the form of a discretionary contribution to the 401(k) accounts of all eligible employees. Williams-Sonoma’s second-quarter financial release explicitly calls the payment “employee recognition.”
CEO Laura Alber subsequently explained that employees had done an exceptional job dealing with a chaotic tariff environment, including shifting sourcing and helping offset tariff costs. The company therefore decided employees should share in part of the financial benefit.
There was no need for a points catalog. Management identified a contribution, connected it with a tangible financial result and shared some of that value directly with the people involved.
There Are Other Signs Worth Watching
There are other examples suggesting this direct approach is hardly unprecedented.
IHG Hotels & Resorts’ 2025 Annual Report says employees below senior and mid-management levels can receive cash through its Bravo recognition program for going above and beyond while demonstrating exceptional IHG behaviors. In 2025 alone, IHG says it distributed 13,203 one-time cash awards to corporate employees and 19,921 to hotel employees worldwide.
At Bon Secours Mercy Health, according to Naomi Diaz of Becker’s Hospital Review, the Called to Shine recognition program combines social recognition and points with a much more direct component: standardized cash spot bonuses generally linked to significant projects. Quarterly awards also consider contributions such as measurable financial impact or improvements in patient care.
These examples still do not demonstrate an industry-wide shift. They do show, however, that substantial organizations are comfortable calling direct cash payments, retirement contributions and project-linked bonuses “recognition.”
Could This Help Explain the Growth of Payment Platforms?
Perhaps the most intriguing evidence comes from technology suppliers themselves.
Oracle Celebrate now promotes the ability to tie recognition to company values and desired behaviors while issuing direct cash awards natively connected to Oracle Payroll. It also emphasizes measuring recognition against business impact.
Even more telling, corporate payments provider Onbe announced a partnership with Payroll Growth Partners in 2025 specifically to bring digital employee recognition and incentives into payroll-company offerings. Onbe says its payout gateway integrates directly with existing payroll technology so employers can provide digital rewards without maintaining a traditional standalone reward infrastructure. Payments platform Tremendous says organizations use its infrastructure for employee recognition and bonuses as well as research incentives, rebates and other payouts.
That may help explain why payout and payment technologies are becoming increasingly visible in the rewards business. If an organization already knows precisely who should be rewarded, for what behavior, at what amount and why, it may not require an elaborate recognition technology ecosystem. It may primarily require an efficient way to authorize, distribute and document the payment or other recognition.
A Question for the Recognition Industry
None of this means points, merchandise, peer recognition or recognition platforms are going away. Bon Secours Mercy Health itself demonstrates that social recognition, points and cash awards can comfortably coexist. The question is where the value increasingly resides. If recognition starts with a technology platform and then asks employees to recognize one another, the platform sits near the center of the proposition.
If senior management instead begins by identifying the behaviors, skills and measurable contributions required to achieve organizational goals, and then how the purpose, goals, objectives are to be communicated, learned, measured and appropriately rewarded and measured--the technology becomes primarily an implementation tool.
EY’s announcement is interesting not because it proves recognition is changing, but because it provides a very visible example of recognition designed from the business strategy outward rather than from the technology or reward inward. For recognition providers, that distinction may be worth watching.
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