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Research / The IRF 2025 Top Performer Study: Financial and Insurance Industries
by Incentive Research Foundation
In the spring of 2025, the Incentive Research Foundation reintroduced its Top Performers Study to explore a central question in motivation and engagement: What do high-performing companies do differently with their reward and recognition programs? Assessing survey responses from reward and recognition program decision-makers, this study focuses on the financial services industry, where talent competition, regulatory changes, and evolving expectations highlight the importance of effective motivation and retention strategies.
In financial services, where trust, performance, and long-term relationships are central to success, high-performing companies set the standard for effective use of rewards and recognition strategies to drive engagement. While many factors contribute to the performance metrics of an organization, examining these programs reveals practical lessons for others to emulate. By understanding how top performers design and execute these programs, other organizations can gain actionable insights to strengthen culture, motivate teams, and drive measurable business results.
The 2025 Top Performers Study surveyed 600 program decision-makers across industries, including 145 respondents from the financial services sector. Participants represented organizations with annual revenues of $100 million or more, and most operated on a large scale, with 90% reporting 500 or more employees.
Respondents held significant influence over the structure, funding, and execution of their organization’s reward and recognition programs. Within financial services, the majority reported offering employee programs (91%), followed closely by sales incentive programs (86%) and channel partner initiatives (48%). This variety reflects the sector’s need to motivate a broad range of stakeholders, from client-facing professionals to internal operations teams and intermediary networks.
While the scope of the project reflected a broad representation of the incentive industry, its primary purpose was to examine what differentiated top-performing companies from others. A defined set of achievement criteria established the standard for high performance. Top Performers were identified as those that:
Companies that did not meet this full set of performance indicators were categorized as Comparators. This segmentation provided a practical and data-driven lens for analyzing the reward and recognition practices most closely associated with stronger business outcomes. Among financial services respondents, 22% qualified as Top Performers, while 78% were designated as Comparators.
High-performing financial services companies strengthen programs by prioritizing resourcing and linking reward and recognition closely to the organization’s strategic direction. Nearly all Top Performers (97%) report strong cross-departmental collaboration in program design, 40% higher than Comparators. This collaboration integrates perspectives across the business, helping programs align with corporate priorities and broaden the approach to engagement and motivation.
Top Performers also report stronger program funding. Three-quarters of administrators rate financial support as excellent, compared with half of Comparators, giving them the resources to design rewards that resonate with participants. Additionally, 63% of high-achieving companies report excellent alignment to corporate goals, 13% higher than their counterparts. These advantages allow Top Performers to deliver programs that reinforce business objectives and support long-term talent strategies.
By combining alignment, adequate funding, and broad collaboration, Top Performers position their programs as strategic assets rather than isolated initiatives. This approach strengthens effectiveness, ensures sustainability, and sustains engagement and retention of top talent in a competitive industry.
In the financial services industry, Top Performers are more likely to leverage a variety of reward options for program participants. All high-achieving companies employ an award points system, nearly 30% more often than Comparators. While both groups use incentive travel at similar rates, Top Performers are also 16% more likely to offer merchandise rewards and 10% more likely to offer gift cards, providing greater flexibility for participants.
Top Performers take varied approaches to rewarding participants, with some prioritizing inclusivity by recognizing a broad set of contributors, while others emphasize exclusivity by focusing on exceptional performers. This suggests that program success depends less on the breadth of rewards and more on thoughtful design and alignment with participant needs. High-achieving companies focus on rewards with high perceived value, unique experiences, and flexibility, while deemphasizing ease of administration and physical reminders.
Particularly, Top Performers distinguish themselves in the perceived value of merchandise and gift card rewards, with 68% placing this as a high priority compared with 43% of Comparators. They also emphasize flexibility in incentive travel (41%), 11% higher than Comparators. In contrast, Top Performers are 16% less likely than Comparators to prioritize building emotional connections in incentive travel, reflecting a focus on experiences participants value and can select rather than on symbolic or sentimental aspects. These companies are also less concerned with ease of administration for both merchandise and gift cards and incentive travel rewards, reinforcing a focus on alignment, program cohesion, and designing recognition that drives meaningful engagement.
High-performing financial services companies are committed to self-evaluation and evolving their programs to achieve the desired outcomes of engagement and motivation. Among Top Performers, 60% treat reward and recognition programs as living initiatives, continually assessing and refining them to ensure maximum impact, nearly 20% higher than Comparators. These evaluations allow organizations to adjust strategies, refresh rewards, and maintain relevance as organizational priorities and participant preferences evolve.
Top Performers also make smarter use of technology, with 56% strongly agreeing that they leverage tools and platforms to streamline administration, enhance participant experience, and provide timely insights, well above the 35% of Comparators. By combining ongoing evaluation with technology-driven insights, these companies keep their programs dynamic, engaging, and strategically aligned, ensuring recognition continues to motivate and reinforce desired behaviors.
Top-achieving organizations design reward programs that provide participants multiple ways to earn, expanding opportunities to influence motivation. Within sales programs, 53% of Top Performers allow participants to earn rewards through a variety of activities, with some requiring minimum achievements and others offering rewards from the first dollar earned. In contrast, only 12% of Comparators provide such flexible opportunities, with most rewarding participants only after reaching a sales quota or goal. For channel partners, 64% of Top Performers offer the same flexibility, compared with just 10% of Comparators, while an additional 25% allow reward earnings from the first dollar. Similarly, only 21% of Top Performers require employees to achieve a goal or quota before earning rewards, compared with 59% of Comparators.
Successful companies also give participants the opportunity to earn without limits. 87% of Top Performers allow sales participants to earn unlimited rewards, compared with 55% of Comparators. The pattern is similar for channel partners, with 85% of Top Performers offering unlimited reward potential versus 69% of Comparators. By removing earning caps, these companies encourage sustained effort and recognize achievement across a broader range of participants.
High-performing financial services organizations demonstrate that reward impact comes from thoughtful allocation, not just absolute spend. For top earners, non-travel rewards reflect strategic investment across program types. In sales programs, average rewards are similar between Top Performers and Comparators, but the elevated median for Top Performers suggests more consistent recognition of high-achieving sales participants. Conversely, top-performing companies average significantly higher non-travel reward values in channel and employee programs, suggesting that these organizations allocate a greater portion of their budget to these program types than Comparators.
Incentive travel rewards display a similar, though less pronounced, trend. Again, Top Performers and Comparators offer comparable average travel reward values to their highest-achieving salespeople, while Top Performers provide higher average values to channel partners and employees. This suggests that organizations can maximize the motivational impact of rewards by carefully considering how values are distributed across program types, focusing on relevance and perceived value rather than simply increasing overall spend.
The findings from the 2025 Top Performers Study indicate that leading financial services companies treat reward and recognition programs as strategic levers rather than transactional initiatives. They strengthen programs through strong resourcing, cross-departmental collaboration, and alignment with corporate goals, providing their initiatives with the foundation needed for long-term impact.
Top Performers design programs with flexibility and perceived value at the forefront. They offer a range of reward options, including award points, merchandise, gift cards, and incentive travel, and provide multiple ways to earn recognition. High-achieving companies focus on rewards that participants value and can choose, while deemphasizing ease of administration and symbolic elements, ensuring recognition drives meaningful engagement.
These organizations treat programs as living initiatives, continually reviewing and refining them to maintain relevance and effectiveness. They leverage technology to streamline administration, enhance participant experience, and provide timely insights. Flexible earning structures and uncapped rewards further encourage sustained effort and broaden participation across all levels.
Finally, reward value is allocated strategically. Top Performers ensure consistent recognition of high-achieving sales participants and allocate higher non-travel and travel reward values to channel partners and employees. This emphasis on relevance and perceived value, rather than overall spend, maximizes the motivational power of their programs.
By combining alignment, flexible design, ongoing optimization, and strategic reward allocation, Top Performers deliver recognition programs that engage participants, reinforce business objectives, and support long-term talent and organizational success.
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