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Study Finds Recognition Programs Miss What Employees Value Most
A Consistent Gap Between HR and Employees
Cash Wins the Choice, But Recovery Emerges as a Priority
Individual Travel Outperforms Group Trips
Recognition and Retention Are Closely Associated
Who Was Surveyed and How the Study Was Conducted
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A new US study finds that HR leaders consistently rate their recognition programs more favorably than the employees receiving them, suggesting that participation, awards issued and other program measures may not fully capture whether recognition is delivering what employees actually value. For rewards and recognition professionals, perhaps the broader finding goes beyond recognition: measuring whether programs are being used is not necessarily the same as determining whether the reward is meaningful to the person receiving it.The survey was conducted by Xceleration, founded in 1999 and based in Charlotte, NC. It designs and manages employee recognition, sales incentive, channel incentive, customer loyalty and travel programs through its RewardStation platform and global rewards services.
The survey also finds that while cash remains employees’ first choice when given the option, employees place considerable value on rest, time with loved ones and personalized experiences—and individual, family-inclusive travel substantially outperformed traditional group incentive travel among the non-cash options tested.
A Consistent Gap Between HR and Employees
The study, Recognition Disconnect, asked HR leaders and employees comparable questions about the recognition experience. The largest gap involved whether rewards deliver what actually matters to recipients. Fifty-four percent of HR leaders rated their programs highly on that measure, compared with only 32% of employees. Sixty-seven percent of HR leaders said recognition was appropriately tied to contribution, versus 42% of employees, while 57% of leaders versus 38% of employees said recognition was designed personally for the recipient.The report argues that this does not necessarily mean HR executives are out of touch. Rather, managers generally have access to metrics such as participation, program activity and awards issued, while having less visibility into how an individual recipient actually experiences a reward.
The personalization issue appears elsewhere in the findings. Fewer than half of employees—48%—said their recognition feels designed specifically for them rather than something everyone receives in essentially the same way. One in four employees reported that their last formal recognition occurred more than a year ago or that they had never been formally recognized.
Cash Wins the Choice, But Recovery Emerges as a Priority
When respondents were asked to imagine receiving a $5,000 reward and select cash or various non-cash alternatives, 68% chose cash.
The study then asked a different question: What should a meaningful reward actually provide?
Financial relief ranked first as an individual answer, cited by 72%. However, 53% included protected time to rest and recover among their top three priorities and 42% selected time with loved ones. When those overlapping responses were combined, 76% selected rest, recovery, time with loved ones or some combination of them.
That distinction is significant for incentive, reward and recognition professionals. The research suggests that asking employees simply which reward they prefer may produce a different answer from asking what they hope recognition will accomplish.
Individual Travel Outperforms Group Trips
Travel produced one of the study's most notable findings. Among employees choosing a non-cash alternative to the hypothetical $5,000 cash award, 36% selected individual family travel, compared with 25% choosing additional paid time off. Gift cards and professional development each received 9%, while a group or President's Club trip received 8%.When employees were asked how well various rewards deliver what they value, extra paid time off ranked highest at 74%, followed closely by individual travel at 70%. The average for the other non-cash rewards tested was 48%. Gift cards scored 57%, solo experiences 47%, group travel 46%, recognition points 42%, charitable giving 35%, and branded merchandise 30%.
The distinction between individual and group travel was particularly pronounced. Seventy percent rated individual or family travel highly on delivered value compared with 46% for group travel. In the $5,000 choice exercise, 12% of the overall sample chose individual travel compared with 2% choosing a group trip.
For an incentive industry with a long tradition of President's Club and group incentive travel programs, the results raise the question of whether greater flexibility and family inclusion could increase the perceived value of travel awards.
Recognition and Retention Are Closely Associated
The study also reports a strong relationship between meaningful recognition and employees' stated intention to remain with their employer. Among employees identified in the research as having been meaningfully recognized as top performers, 70% expressed a high intention to stay, compared with 41% among employees who had never received such recognition.
Employees receiving what the report describes as the fullest top-performer recognition experience showed an 82% intention to stay, compared with 52% among those receiving less recognition or none. Importantly, the report itself cautions against treating this as proof that recognition causes retention. Employees who are already more engaged or valued by an organization could also be more likely to receive recognition. The findings demonstrate association rather than establishing causality.
Who Was Surveyed and How the Study Was Conducted
The study was commissioned by Xceleration and independently conducted by Dynata, a global first-party data and research provider. The research was fielded online in June 2026. Dynata initially surveyed 705 US full-time employees and people leaders, with 686 respondents retained after data-quality screening. The final sample consisted of 240 individual contributors, 259 HR and people leaders and 187 sales leaders. Respondents represented organizations of varying sizes, although the sample was weighted toward mid-size and larger employers: 64% worked for organizations with at least 250 employees and 46% for companies with 500 or more employees.
Most of the report's headline measures use a "Top-3-Box" methodology—the percentage rating something eight, nine or 10 on a 10-point scale. Differences identified in the report as statistically significant were tested at the 95% confidence level. For workforce experience measures, the report generally uses the 240-person individual-contributor sample rather than the full sample because leaders are overrepresented compared with the general workforce.
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