Deloitte Total Rewards 2025: A Growing Focus on Impact
More Holistic Design
One Stop Technology
Metrics Sited
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Rewards are no longer just a cost of doing business. The best organizations now design them as a strategic tool supported by modern technology, measured by clear metrics, and built on transparency and fairness. The result: rewards that actually engage employees, strengthen the brand, and help keep top talent.
These highlight the findings of the Deloitte 2025 High Impact Rewards report by Naomi Bradley – Managing Director, Executive Sponsor; Pete DeBellis – Managing Director, Research Oversight; Julie Duda – Vice President, Research Lead; Mike Gilmartin – Senior Manager, Research Lead; Adam Ekl – Manager, Development and Delivery. Contributors are Prince Budhiraja, Sarah Hildebrandt, Frances Symes, Christian Craig, Maria Neira, Anchal Singh, and Derek Taylor.
The report finds that respondents believe that employee views of recognition have improved dramatically since Deloitte first conducted this study in 2018. Companies with advanced recognition program design quadrupled from 4% to 18%. Employee compensation at the companies that responded has risen to above market averages with greater flexibility. Recognition is moving from a nice-to-have to a more strategic, personal, frequent and team-oriented approach, and as a differentiator in recruitment. Transparency on pay ranges and policies has increased to gain trust, with a greater emphasis on rewarding people for skills development.
To draw these and other conclusions the authors conducted a literature review to construct a questionnaire; surveyed 700 reward practitioners in a wide range of organizations, and updated Deloitte’s four-level Total Rewards Maturity Model to identify practices that separate leaders from laggards,
Other findings include:
More Holistic Design
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Rewards now cover much more than pay and healthcare. Leading companies design programs that include:
- Well-being (mental, financial, physical, and a sense of belonging).
- Growth and career development opportunities.
- Recognition programs linked to company values.
- The philosophy of treating employees like customers — listening, personalizing, and constantly adjusting.
One Stop Technology
- One-stop platforms let employees view all their rewards in a single place, replacing confusing, fragmented systems.
- Mobile, web, and even wearable access make rewards easier to use in daily life.
- AI and analytics help personalize offerings, predict workforce needs, and support manager decision-making.
- Recognition tools are built into the platforms employees already use, making it easy to celebrate work in real time.
Metrics Sited
- Employee sentiment towards reports: NPS (net promoter score) favorability jumped from –15 in 2018 to +37, based on the views of the total reward practitioners interviewed.
- Maturity: Beginner-level organizations dropped from 53% to 24%; advanced organizations rose 4% to18%.
- Retention: High-maturity organizations are 15% more likely to say they keep their best people.
- Agility: Mature organizations are three-times more likely to adjust pay more than once a year, and nearly eight-times more likely to pay bonuses multiple times per year.
- Recognition: Advanced organizations are five to seven times more likely to use recognition strategically and personalize it with employee data.
- Transparency: Leading companies are five to six tmes more likely to share pay ranges and policies with both employees and applicants.
Enterprise Engagement Alliance Services
Celebrating our 16th year, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance helps organizations enhance performance through:
1. Information and marketing opportunities on stakeholder management and total rewards:
ESM Weekly on stakeholder management since 2009; click here for a media kit.
RRN Weekly on total rewards since 1996; click here for a EEA YouTube channel on enterprise engagement, human capital, and total rewards insights and how-to information since 2020.
2. Learning: Purpose Leadership and Stakeholder
Management Academy to enhance future equity value and performance for your organization.3. Books on implementation: Enterprise Engagement for CEOs and Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.
4. Advisory services and research: Strategic guidance, learning and certification on stakeholder management, measurement, metrics, and corporate sustainability reporting.
5. Permission-based targeted business development to identify and build relationships with the people most likely to buy.
6. Public speaking and meeting facilitation on stakeholder management. The world’s leading speakers on all aspects of stakeholder management across the enterprise.
