Researchers also found that while 75% of employers believe that reward and recognition feels meaningful rather than performative, only 58% of employees agree.
The data suggests a recognition gap: 67% of employers believe that staff are recognised regularly, while 60% of employees indicated that they haven’t received any recognition in the past month that made them feel valued.
“From a psychological perspective, how reward is experienced matters just as much as what is being offered,” said Tracey Paxton, Perkbox’s psychotherapist and clinical director.
Paxton said: “If people don’t understand how decisions are made, or if recognition feels inconsistent, it very quickly starts to feel unfair. Once that perception sets in, it can impact trust, motivation and ultimately retention.”
According to Paxton, HR has a critical role to play in closing that recognition gap. The first step towards doing that is “improving communication and being clear, transparent and consistent about how reward decisions are made”, Paxton added.
Communication can’t be a one-off, Paxton said, and warned that it “won’t land if managers aren’t on board”.
“Managers are the biggest barrier but also the biggest opportunity here,” Paxton said. “HR leaders will need to brief them, support them and make it easy.”
According to Perkbox’s survey findings, 30% of employers report that lack of consistency across managers is one of the biggest barriers to effective reward and recognition.
Constanza Busto, CEO of global management consulting firm Axialent, said: “The fact that 30% of employers cite manager inconsistency as a top barrier tells you everything: recognition can’t be left to personal style.”
Busto explained that HR’s job is to make recognition a “part of shared values and cultural norm, not an individual personality trait”.
“That means being radically transparent about what gets recognised and why,” Busto said, adding: “When people have clarity on what ‘good’ looks like and can see the criteria behind recognition decisions, it stops feeling random or political.”
Paxton added that recognition doesn’t need to be complicated, it just needs to happen regularly.
“HR leaders shouldn’t rely on one channel like newsletters, team briefings, onboarding, or even payslips. They need to get people talking about it, too. Hearing it from a colleague will always hit harder than a company-wide email,” Paxton concluded.
