Driving Worker Performance Through Effective Recognition and Rewards
New research from the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF), supported by leading academics, provides fresh evidence on how recognition and reward strategies can directly improve employee engagement, productivity, and collaboration.Click here to subscribe, and here for an RRN media kit.
Companies that design recognition programs around generosity, personalization, and collective experiences can unlock higher levels of trust, engagement, and productivity, while reducing waste and disengagement. As organizations navigate an era of hybrid work, labor shortages, and rising employee expectations, effective recognition strategies are no longer optional. They are an essential tool for building the engaged, high-performing workforces of the future.
These are among the key recommendations of the IRF’s latest report, Academic Research in Action: Driving Worker Performance Through Effective Recognition and Rewards, by Allan Schweyer, Chief Academic Advisor. It draws upon the IRF’s recent report, Building a Culture of Recognition, as well as upon peer-reviewed academic studies to demonstrate how organizations can design more effective recognition programs. The three academic studies are:
- Presslee et al. (2024): The impact of peer-to-peer recognition and leaderboard design.
- Vogelsang (2024): The comparative effectiveness of leisure time versus cash rewards.
- Kachelmeier et al. (2023, 2024): The role of tangible rewards in team-based contexts.
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Design recognition systems around giving, not receiving.
Leaderboards that highlight employees who give recognition foster genuine cooperation and teamwork. By contrast, leaderboards that emphasize recognition received can encourage unhealthy competition and risk perceptions of insincerity. -
Use leisure time as a high-impact reward.
Time-off incentives, such as allowing employees to leave early on Fridays, often outperform small cash bonuses in driving performance and engagement. Workers consistently rate leisure time nearly as highly as cash rewards—and research shows it directly improves productivity. -
Reward teams with shared experiences.
For teams, tangible, collective rewards—like team dinners or outings—are more effective in boosting cohesion and motivation than individual merchandise rewards. Shared experiences reinforce collaboration and cultural alignment. -
Keep recognition frequent, sincere, and personal.
Recognition has the greatest impact when it is timely, authentic, and tailored to the preferences of individuals or teams. Generic or delayed recognition risks losing motivational power. -
Leverage technology to scale recognition.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms can democratize recognition and make it more inclusive, but organizations must monitor them for fairness and effectiveness.
Enterprise Engagement Alliance Services
Celebrating our 16th year, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance helps organizations enhance performance through:
1. Information and marketing opportunities on stakeholder management and total rewards:
ESM Weekly on stakeholder management since 2009; click here for a media kit.
RRN Weekly on total rewards since 1996; click here for a EEA YouTube channel on enterprise engagement, human capital, and total rewards insights and how-to information since 2020.
2. Learning: Purpose Leadership and Stakeholder
Management Academy to enhance future equity value and performance for your organization.3. Books on implementation: Enterprise Engagement for CEOs and Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.
4. Advisory services and research: Strategic guidance, learning and certification on stakeholder management, measurement, metrics, and corporate sustainability reporting.
5. Permission-based targeted business development to identify and build relationships with the people most likely to buy.
6. Public speaking and meeting facilitation on stakeholder management. The world’s leading speakers on all aspects of stakeholder management across the enterprise.
