O.C. Tanner Releases The 2025 State of Employee Recognition Report, Exploring What Makes Recognition Meaningful in the Age of AI

July 08, 2025 at 09:00 AM EDT

This inaugural report reveals employees prioritize authenticity, personalization, and human connection in recognition – despite rising AI adoption in the workplace

Today, O.C. Tanner, the global leader in employee recognition solutions, released its first-ever 2025 State of Employee Recognition Report. The report explores how organizations can enhance workplace experiences and outcomes by focusing on the most valued aspects of human connection in the workplace. Through modern insights about how today’s employees want to see recognition moments evolve to match their expectations, the report leads employers to practices that create more human moments as the use of AI skyrockets in the workplace.

Based on data gathered from more than 2,815 individuals in the United States, Canada, Australia, India, and the United Kingdom, the report highlights the power of recognition coupled with insights and recommendations for business leaders and HR practitioners in the context of the latest statistical trends and forecasts.

“Today’s business leaders are rightly focused on improving efficiency and performance in the workplace, but our research reveals that when this emphasis becomes overly transactional, it can undermine authentic human connection and results,” said Mindi Cox, Chief People and Marketing Officer. “This report outlines how organizations can enhance recognition practices that encourage great work and support their unique culture while also bolstering the connections that make our workplaces distinctly human.”

The research highlights several key trends:

Despite advances in AI, employees still crave in-person recognition: Employees believe in-person recognition will be important to them in the future. Three in four say delivering personalized messages of appreciation (74%) makes recognition more valuable. AI plays a supporting role – 55% of employees say it can improve the recognition experience, and nearly 60% believe it helps craft better recognition messages.
Recognition is most impactful when it’s personal and purposeful: Awards linked to company purpose are 10x more meaningful; those that highlight an employee’s impact are 11x more meaningful; and when an award symbolizes that someone is truly valued, meaningfulness increases 12x. Custom awards also drive results – recipients are 5x more likely to do great work and 4x more likely to be engaged.
Recognition may be a workplace norm, but it’s far from universal. Most organizations recognize service anniversaries (75%) or top performers (63%), yet many employees still go unrecognized in their day-to-day contributions.
Recognition must be inclusive and fully integrated to succeed: While nearly 61% of employees use digital platforms for recognition, success requires more than just technology – especially for offline and frontline workers. Employees with limited tech access are 57% less likely to believe their program is equally accessible to all, and 46% more likely to feel recognition is an empty gesture. Yet just 65% feel it’s embedded in their culture. To experience positive workplace outcomes like increased engagement and belonging, companies must ensure recognition programs are available for all employees and amplified across the organization.
Multi-generational workforces value different kinds of recognition, and symbolism plays a powerful role for younger employees. Millennial and Gen Z leaders are 3x more likely than their Baby Boomer counterparts to say that receiving a meaningful symbolic award is a career highlight. Younger talent prioritizes recognition that reflects identity, purpose, and impact.
Meaningful recognition fuels culture when it’s authentic and personal. While 61% of employees describe recognition experiences as very meaningful – feeling genuinely seen and connected to a shared purpose – there’s a critical caveat. Even in workplaces with formal recognition programs, 54% of employees say the recognition they receive can still feel like an empty gesture. To make it meaningful, organizations must go beyond the award itself. Custom awards that are exclusive to an organization are 8x more impactful than generic ones – and when personalized, that impact jumps to 24x.

“While recognition is evolving, its power still lies in making people feel seen, valued, and connected to colleagues and the broader company culture,” said Gary Beckstrand, Vice President of the O.C. Tanner Institute. “The 2025 State of Employee Recognition Report revealed that technology and AI can enhance the experience, but human authenticity, personalization, and symbolic meaning are what make it truly impactful.”

To learn how businesses can meet employee expectations for recognition – while effectively balancing human interaction with technology – and to download the full report, please visit: www.octanner.com/state-of-employee-recognition-report.

About O.C. Tanner

O.C. Tanner is the global leader in software and services that improve workplace culture through meaningful employee recognition experiences. Our Culture Cloud employee recognition platform helps millions of people thrive at work. Our team of more than 1,500 programmers, researchers, designers, client professionals, and craftspeople hail from 58 countries and speak 62 languages. Together, we create the technology, tools, and awards that help our clients shape productive work environments, drive innovation, and fuel positive business results. Learn more at octanner.com.

Research Methodology

O.C. Tanner Institute Research used multiple research methods to support the 2025 State of Employee Recognition Report, including focus group interviews, cross-sectional surveys, and a longitudinal survey.

The qualitative findings are derived from six United States-based focus groups with employees, leaders, and HR professionals conducted in the fall of 2024. Employees represented a range of employers and industries (including both public and private firms).

The quantitative findings were derived from an online survey distributed in early 2025. The total sample size of 2,815 consisted of employees working at organizations with 500+ employees in Australia, Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and the US. The O.C. Tanner Institute collected and analyzed all survey data. This sample is sufficient to generate meaningful conclusions about the cultures of organizations in the included countries. However, because the study does not include population data, results are subject to statistical errors customarily associated with sample-based information. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from the O.C. Tanner Institute.