13 benefits of a reward and recognition platform
10 September 2025
Reward and recognition are nothing new. Reward psychology is embedded in our psyche, practised from the moment we enter the world, let alone the workplace. Motivational theories put weight behind employee recognition and rewards, and the HR software and employee perks industry responded with platforms to unify processes and support the rollout of initiatives. Read on to discover thirteen benefits a reward and recognition platform brings to your business.
In a hurry? Here are the three key takeaways about the 13 benefits of reward and recognition platforms.
1. Employee recognition significantly boosts performance, motivation, and retention: Recognised employees are more motivated (79%) and productive (78%). Lack of appreciation is a major driver of attrition — 66% would leave without it. Recognition improves wellbeing, loyalty, collaboration, and a sense of belonging.
2. A dedicated reward and recognition platform creates real business impact: Platforms ensure consistency, fairness, and transparency across the company. They drive company values, support peer-to-peer recognition, and improve access for hybrid and deskless workers. Centralised tools make it easier to manage and track recognition, reducing HR admin burden.
3. Recognition platforms deliver ROI and integrate with broader HR strategy: Easy-to-measure usage and engagement data help show return on investment, and can integrate with wider employee benefits platforms, creating a seamless experience. Recognition platforms promote positive workplace culture, increase buy-in, and align with strategic goals.
Got time to stick around? Let's dive a little deeper.
Benefits of employee recognition and rewards
Before we go into the benefits of rewards and recognition platforms, it’s worth bringing attention to why employee recognition matters. In our blog, 'Employee recognition: The ultimate guide for employers', we present 11 reasons why you should prioritise employee recognition, and we’ll sum them up here.
Benefits of employee recognition include improving employee motivation, performance, retention, wellbeing and loyalty. Employee recognition also enhances an employee's esteem and sense of self-worth, as well as their ability to work effectively and collaboratively.
Do reward and recognition motivate employees?
Yes. The impact of rewards and recognition on employee motivation has been well-documented. Our blog, ‘Harness the Power of Motivation with Maslow, Herzberg, and Pink’, explores these three renowned theorists and their workplace motivational theories.
How do rewards and recognition motivate employees?
Employees are motivated by reward and recognition due to a few fundamentals of human nature. Most people go to work because they need the salary. At the most basic level, this is why we need jobs. There is, of course, more to it than that. Work can fuel our interests and passions, along with other fulfilment needs.
Working for survival means employees show up and do their jobs, but to motivate them to go the extra mile, you need to offer them more than the basic salary.
Improving employee performance
It’s when you need to encourage employees to do more, adopt certain behaviours or align with organisational values that you’ll see the significant impact of rewards and recognition on employee performance.
As we reveal in our recognition guide, 79% of employees give more when their employer recognises them, and 78% believe they’re more productive.
Do reward and recognition initiatives encourage employee retention?
Absolutely. In our blog, ‘Why Employee Appreciation is Important’, we reveal that 66% of employees would leave their roles if their employer didn’t show their appreciation through recognition and reward.
What is a reward and recognition platform?
We’ve established how rewards and recognition benefit your business; now it’s time to delve into why it’s vital to combine your efforts into a bespoke platform. First, let’s cover the basics.
A reward and recognition platform brings your strategy to life in a centralised location, allowing colleagues to embrace peer-to-peer recognition, creating a thriving working culture where everyone feels valued and like they belong. Employees have a unique platform identity, and they can log in to send messages of appreciation, make nominations and recognise milestones.
13 benefits of a reward and recognition platform
So, what are the benefits of a reward and recognition platform? Why do you need a specific programme or software instead of simply sending messages over email? Let's find out! Below, we’ll present thirteen benefits of a reward and recognition platform.
1. Create consistency
A reward and recognition platform allows you to be consistent with how, why and when managers and colleagues recognise their teammates. You want your employees to embrace a recognition culture, and that comes from embedding it into their everyday lives.
2. Adopt transparency
Your platform allows all employees to see who’s recognising whom and for what. Nothing is done behind the scenes, meaning employees can celebrate with and learn from others’ success.
3. Promote fairness
A reward and recognition platform allows your entire workforce to recognise a colleague. From the factory floor to the corner office, everyone has access, ensuring no one goes unnoticed.
4. Cement company values
A rewards and recognition platform promotes a values-based strategy. You can still celebrate the big wins and cheer on the colleague who closed a big deal -- that’s a must. Values-based recognition is an inclusive way to celebrate the people who live and breathe your company culture, creating a positive employee experience.
5. Encourage peer-to-peer recognition
Peer-to-peer recognition creates loyal employees who feel seen and valued. It makes work a place to belong. A recognition platform puts the power of appreciation in the hands of your entire workforce, creating camaraderie, breaking down siloes and helping your business thrive.
6. Accessible for hybrid and deskless workers
A rewards and recognition platform can reach your entire workforce, regardless of where or how they work. It ensures that those employees who aren’t seen in the office every day are still seen, that their efforts and contributions are applauded.
7. Unify remote teams
If your entire workforce is remote and doesn’t have many in-the-moment, face-to-face connections, a rewards and recognition platform will help keep them connected. As we explore in our blog, ‘A Spotlight on... Employee Mental Health: Remote Workers’, people working in physical isolation can often feel lonely, and a centralised recognition hub will encourage them all to share the love and positivity.
8. Better user experience
A centralised reward and recognition platform offers a better user experience than relying on office communication tools. It makes more of an impact because it’s consistent, transparent, fair and inclusive, and accessible to everyone. It's also purpose-built to make the most or appreciation.
9. Promotes all-company buy-in
When investing in a recognition and reward platform, you need to see a return, which makes you more likely to get buy-in across the business. When your employees see you taking recognition seriously and have an accessible way to engage, they’ll adopt the ethos behind it and drive better results.
10. Nurture a positive workplace culture
Recognition is at the heart of a positive workplace culture. When aligned to your values, your platform will help you drive the behaviours and attitudes that define who you are and what you aim to achieve. A clearly defined reward and recognition criteria helps employees understand what’s expected of them, helping them feel like they belong.
11. Reduce HR admin
Imagine not having a reward and recognition platform? If you wanted to report on how many employees received a message of appreciation, points, or a financial reward, you’d have to go to multiple managers and sources to gather data. A recognition platform puts all this in one place, saving time and alleviating HR headaches.
12. Demonstrate a return on investment (ROI)
A recognition platform allows you to report on usage and reward data. One way to determine whether your platform offers value for money is by tracking use. When it comes to measuring ROI, you can review engagement scores and retention rates to see if there are improvements in both. As for measuring the employee experience – that’s a topic we’ll cover soon.
13. Integration with other benefits
Your reward and recognition platform doesn’t need to sit in isolation. Choose a platform that integrates with your employee benefits offering, giving you and your employees access to everything in one place. A centralised and unified platform is a real game-changer for your people and business, reducing HR admin and creating an unbeatable user experience.
Be the change! Reward and recognition with Pluxee UK
We’ve given you thirteen benefits of a rewards and recognition platform and touched upon why reward and recognition make such a difference.
We’ve covered a range of topics on reward and recognition, which you can click into below:
FAQs
How do I get my recognition programme off the ground?
In our blog, ‘Employee recognition: The ultimate guide for employers’, we offer eight top tips on launching your employee recognition programme.
How can I make a reward and recognition platform reach deskless workers?
An app-based platform puts recognition and reward in the hands of all employees.
How do I engage deskless workers with the recognition platform if they don’t receive email communications?
Our case study for the University of Salford reveals what they did to engage their deskless workforce and the positive impact it had.
