Most organizations share their priorities with employees; but far fewer can see how they’re landing or being executed on. Our new survey of 2,500 employees shows that people thanked in the past week are 2.5× more likely to say they feel aligned to company values — and when recognition is tied to strategic initiatives, employees are 5× more likely to feel very personally invested in those priorities.
When employees can understand how their work contributes to your big strategic initiatives, it helps your humans become connected to those goals. Moreover, recognition gives you a window into how those initiatives are progressing in real time.
In the 2025 Workhuman Global Research Study, Recognition as an Engine for Strategy, we explore:
- The core levers of alignment — specific, recent, visible recognition tied to named initiatives — and why they matter
- How recognition behaviors affect understanding, personal investment, alignment, and psychological safety, with fresh data and benchmarks
- Practical steps to make strategy an everyday habit — and to give leaders a real‑time view of execution across teams