Only 28% of respondents have a defined strategy in place that links reward and incentives to business objectives, according to research by Edenred.
Its Getting more from employee reward and incentives research, which surveyed 50 HR and benefits managers, found that 23% of respondents track how reward and incentives contribute to specific business goals.
The research also found:
- 63% of respondents said reward supports employee engagement.
- 53% of respondents do not measure the impact of reward and incentives.
- 49% of respondents said their investment in reward and incentives is cost effective.
- 17% of respondents could make a clear link between reward spend and business performance.
- 13% of respondents will increase their budget in this area compared to 6% of respondents that plan to reduce this.
Colin Hodgson, director of sales for incentives and motivation at Edenred, said: “It is clear that although employers value reward and incentives as a way of recognising the contribution employees are making, many organisations could realise more from the investment they are making.
“Employee recognition schemes deliver the best results where there is a strategy that aligns the investment to business-specific outcomes and provides clarity to managers and employees about the kind of behaviours that will be rewarded.
“Measuring impact against those goals is also critical, not just for justifying investment, but identifying what is working and what can be improved.
“In the current environment of budget and performance pressure, every part of the reward mix should be working as hard as possible for employer and employee.”