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Discover how 'BHXProudPerks' bridges the deskless divide by engaging and valuing frontline teams.
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Learn how the iconic UK pottery manufacturer enhances engagement and connection for deskless teams.
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Dive into how the global 'B-Hive' programme reduces turnover in engaged users by 50%.
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There's plenty more customer success stories to explore - go and take a look!
MARKET INSIGHTS
8 Emerging Rewards and Benefits Trends in 2026
New year, new strategy? But, what employee rewards and benefits trends need to be on HR leaders’ radars as they plan for 2026 and beyond? Employee priorities continue to shift and to maximise their people power, businesses need to remain ahead of the curve. However, recent data reveals a significant discrepancy between the perks employees are seeking versus what businesses are delivering, with 55% of the workforce currently feeling dissatisfied with their benefits packages and 70% calling for better employer investment in curating a competitive and well-rounded offer.
The November Budget announcement further amplified pressure for businesses to review where they’re allocating resource and how they can deliver smarter, savvier perks that stretch budgets further whilst genuinely addressing the unique requirements of their workforce. And now, the power of a personalised, data-driven strategy has never been stronger.
So, what shifts have emerged in the last 12 months to define the rewards and benefits trends shaping the landscape in 2026?
Grab a coffee and dive in.
1. Personalised perks with more focus on financial wellbeing.
Every workforce is brilliantly unique – and so their benefits should be no different. Tick-box, one-size-fits-all perks are no longer cutting it, especially as employees call for support that addresses their needs personally and professionally across different life stages. And to master the power of personalisation, businesses first need to truly understand what their teams need, making regular feedback loops key – and particularly through a financial wellbeing lens. On top of increased pension contributions and private medical insurance ranking as the most requested benefits in 2025, other perks that stretch employees’ salary further and support wellbeing outside of work are in high demand – from supermarket savings and discounts on travel and commuting costs, to subsidised services across the likes of mortgage advice and counselling.
2. Salary sacrifice schemes are still here to stay.
Despite the upcoming changes in 2029 when a £2,000 cap on pension contributions through salary sacrifice will be introduced, salary sacrifice schemes remain a valuable benefit for both employers and employees in the meantime. Until the cap takes effect, they offer a key opportunity to leverage significant tax and National Insurance savings whilst employers begin to proactively plan for the future to ensure their offers remain both attractive and cost-effective.
3. Flexibility-first approaches will take the lead.
2025 saw a spike in return-to-office mandates for many remote and hybrid teams, despite less than half of employees reporting they would comply if their business implemented this. But whether businesses are looking to engage a desk-based, remote workforce or teams operating deskless or customer-facing roles, demand is rising for better flexibility and more autonomy over how employees manage their own working schedules.
The return to office doesn’t mean the end of flexible working. In 2026, expect to see alternative culture and benefits policies emerge that enhance flexibility for office-based and deskless colleagues alike, such as compressed hours, job sharing, and advanced leave packages.
4. Embedding recognition into culture and performance.
A positive workplace has become a non-negotiable, where connection and belonging are essential culture pillars. Luckily, more and more employers are following suit in no longer seeing a culture of recognition, learning and development as a nice-to-have. This year, we can expect to see diverse approaches to recognition, including the rise of peer rewards, form the basis of not only engagement initiatives, but benchmarks in performance reviews to accelerate progression and retention.
5. Tailored rewards and benefits.
Often, employees are provided a blanket, fixed benefits offer. However, we’re seeing more and more businesses now drive adoption and utilisation by introducing the ability for employees to personalise their perks – whether that’s favouriting their most-used vouchers or providing a wellbeing allowance to choose the benefits most important to them. This freedom of customisation should also be open to employers using rewards and benefits platforms – which is why Rippl enables our customers to tailor visibility of their benefits offer based on relevance to each colleague, and enhance specific discounts and savings they know their teams want to use most, such as on supermarket brands. Read the story of how HGS UK are doing just this.
6. More inclusive strategies for better work-life support.
Holistic approaches to wellbeing remain front and centre for emerging rewards and benefits trends in 2026. Businesses are predicted to broaden the scope of their existing health benefits to include proactive-over-preventative mental health services along with enhanced family-friendly and carer support. Evolving beyond static health perks, we’ll see more employers invest in inclusion perks that genuinely make a difference for how their teams manage and effectively balance their priorities outside of the workplace, aligned closely to DEI objectives and to the priorities of Gen Z talent.
7. Mobile-first accessibility.
With 80% of the global workforce operating in deskless roles, and another large proportion in remote or dispersed roles, rewards and benefits that are hosted on the internal Wiki or Sharepoint receive visibility from only a select few – and otherwise gather dust. Leading a key rewards and benefits trend in 2026 will be modernised approaches that prioritise mobile-first access, so colleagues can see and utilise the perks on offer, no matter where they’re based.
8. Data-driven decisions.
And last but certainly not least, prioritising informed and data-backed investment in rewards and benefits will become even more fundamental in 2026. With tightening purse strings, guesswork around adoption, engagement and redemption will no longer cut it – employers need analytical insights to understand what’s truly resonating with their teams, and what isn’t hitting the mark, so they can prioritise and evidence spend accordingly. What’s more, platforms like Rippl remove the “Excel Hell” processes behind manual data management and tracking, and enable live visibility of reward distribution and redemption, benefits engagement as well as business-level impact in a centralised Analytics Hub – so no more spreadsheet admin.
Curious to explore the Rippl effect?
Whether you’re looking to review your existing engagement strategy or are just starting to explore ways to connect, empower and reward your frontline teams, we’d love to chat.
Rippl’s purpose is to unify deskless and decentralised workforces through meaningful employee engagement so every person feels they matter. We have over 20 years’ experience in enabling just this for leading UK and global businesses through a customised blend of recognition, rewards and benefits. Book a 30-minute slot to discover the Rippl effect as we take you on a platform tour of:
- How Rippl can be tailored to your unique business geography, needs and culture
- Our extensive feature suite including multi-level recognition, dynamic reward options, benefits dashboard and wider engagement features
- Desktop and mobile app customisation and branding capability
- Real-time data and analytics reporting to evidence impact and drive strategic decisions
'BHXProudPerks'
Birmingham Airport needed to engage their operational teams without reliance on access to a corporate device, enhance their rewards package amid union-led conversations and innovate existing manual HR processes. So, we launched the BHXProudPerks app to streamline rewards and benefits, automate engagement, and generate nearly £12k employee savings in its first year.
'B-Hive'
Betfred needed to scale their existing UK reward platform to global teams, enhance their benefits offer and introduce mobile engagement for their frontline teams worldwide. So, we launched B-Hive – a fully branded desktop and mobile app, merging recognition, rewards and benefits into one global community. Engaged users are now 50% less likely to leave.
'Orange Moments'
Dyno-Rod needed a new strategy to engage their UK-wide franchise, meaningfully support colleagues with the cost of living, and champion recognition to celebrate loyalty and performance at a network level. So, we created Orange Moments to recognise and incentivise colleagues, enhance their pay packets further and host news, training and feedback all in one place. Engaged users are now 72% less likely to leave.
Frequently asked questions
We hand-pick only the best rewards and benefits providers which enable our customers to curate an offer tailored to them from our Benefits Marketplace. With Rippl, you have the option to bring your own benefits with you, add some new perks into the mix, or start an offer from scratch to place an accessible, competitive and visible offer into your colleagues’ pockets.
Recognition strategies for frontline teams needs to be consistent, visible and accessible, ideally through mobile-friendly, real-time platforms. Moving away from reliance on corporate devices and logins, or siloed systems, modern recognition programmes put more focus on everyday wins, peer-to-peer recognition and performance-aligned rewards that feel relevant and motivating.
Clear, relevant communication is foundational to engaging frontline teams. Whether that’s highlighting achievements, cascading updates, or reinforcing values, ensuring messages are timely and digestible via mobile ensures frontline workers stay informed, included and valued – regardless of location or shift.
Empowering people managers with the right tools and data helps them celebrate performance, communicate effectively, and reinforce culture day-to-day. With decentralised and customer-facing teams, surface-level engagement tactics fall flat, so giving managers ownership and simple ways to foster recognition is critical to long-term success.
With Rippl, configure mobile wallets for manager reward distribution and instant colleague redemption of hard-earned points to over 700+ global retail, hospitality, travel and leisure brands.
Whether your people are UK based or worldwide, Rippl keeps rewards smooth and simple that support everyday recognition and targeted performance with governance built in. Run points, vouchers, merchandise, challenges and prize campaigns at scale without manual admin or bottlenecks. Managers are assigned budget set-ups and configurable approvals by team/role/location, colleagues take advantage of instant reward redemption, global merchandise and gift catalogues, plus multi-currency rewards and cost-of-living adjustments scale reach whilst real-time reports evidence reward engagement and business ROI without reliance on juggling multiple spreadsheets.
Posted by
Rippl
At Rippl, we believe every colleague should feel they truly matter - regardless of where they work. With over two decades of industry expertise and a purpose to deliver employee engagement differently, we’re on a mission to help businesses unify, value and reward deskless and decentralised workforces across the globe.