Employee Perk Insights

According to customer loyalty firm Xexec, published by Incentive from writer Matt Alderton, a survey of nearly 2,000 people published this week shows that what employees want, more than financial rewards, are personalized awards over money.

Among Xexec's findings, says the report, 66% of employees said they'd rather receive two tickets to a concert of their choice than three times the value of those tickets paid into their paycheck over the course of a year. 34% of employees chose the money.

For small, non-personalized gifts such as cake, ice cream, or chocolate; only 35% of employees chose the token gift, while 65% chose to receive 10 times its monetary value in additional salary.

The most popular work-related awards are annual leave and public recognition. 43% of employees said annual leave is the work-related benefit that would make them feel most loved at work.

• Followed by public recognition (15%)
• Team drinks (15%)
• Training (10%)
• Professional mentoring (7%)
• Sleeping in once a week (7%)
• Setting a parking space for a month (2%)

47%of employees want to receive rewards spontaneously while 38% want to receive rewards in exchange for good work. Only 10% wanted to be recognized on traditional calendar events such as birthdays, and 5% on Christmas.

52% of employees would rather celebrate rewards with their families than with colleagues (39%).

Jamie King, head of global reward at Xexec, says "… employee recognition is about motivating and engaging team members… recognizing day-to-day contributions… employees want things that are going to make a difference to their personal lives and interests… extra holiday or tickets to a concert of their choice… the monetary value of a reward is by no means the key concern for employees… it's clear that employers need to go above and beyond things… like annual bonuses and birthday treats… to make their employees feel loved and appreciated… regular and spontaneous recognition has a much greater impact on employee engagement…"