Gartner Survey Finds Employee Total Rewards Preferences Have Shifted Toward Stability in 2026

Employees’ total rewards (TR) preferences have shifted in 2026 with employees prioritizing financial stability and security, and focusing less on work-life balance and career growth, according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.

A May 2026 Gartner survey of 10,055 employees revealed that the 15 most valued TR offerings across categories are dominated by those that provide financial stability and protection against future unanticipated costs. Paid time off, work-life balance, and individual pay differentiation are less important to employees than in the past.

“As workforce needs shift, and become more fragmented, medical benefits, long-term incentives, and flexible financial benefits have become more important,” said Augustus Vickery, Director Analyst in the Gartner HR practice. “In today’s uncertain business environment, organizations must reset their TR strategies to attract and retain critical talent while optimizing costs.”

Gartner has identified three shifts organizations can make to meet employees’ rewards preferences:

Employees are focused on pay growth and wealth creation, highly valuing future base pay increases, long-term incentive (LTI) target amount, and LTI vesting period. Employees do not value merit pay differentiation or short-term incentives (STIs) to the same extent. Instead, they want spot bonuses and increased bonus frequency.

CHROs can take several actions to address this desire among employees for financial stability:

• Overhaul incentives strategy to better meet employee and enterprise needs
• Broaden access to LTIs for new talent segments critical to business strategy
• Pilot the use of cash incentive units with non‑executive/leadership workforce populations as a performance driver

Employee wellness levels continue to be a cause for concern, with fewer than 35% of employees reporting high levels of overall wellness, according to a 1Q26 Gartner survey of 11,838 employees.

“Employee well-being has not meaningfully improved in the past three years, despite significant organizational investment,” said Joe Coyle, vice president analyst in the Gartner HR practice. “Employees do not value most individual well-being benefits, except for LSAs, GLP-1 access, and fitness subsidies, offering CHROs the opportunity to make targeted changes to the well-being benefits offered.”

Organizations can transparently remove underutilized well-being benefits without impacting employee engagement or trust. By investing in flexible LSAs instead, employers enable employees to use the support they personally need. Fund-based benefits are also the most highly valued across core medical, life insurance, dental/vision, and family benefits categories.

Medical benefits that protect against and displace personal cost are the most valued by employees today. Specifically, employees are focused on two aspects of medical benefits: aversion to financial risk when accessing care and managing recurring healthcare costs.

CHROs should assess their programs to ensure investments that protect the workforce from unexpected medical costs are prioritized and communicated transparently to employees. GLP-1 access and fitness subsidies should be positioned as preventative health offerings in benefit communications to improve participation and connected health outcomes such as healthcare cost reduction and improved employee productivity.