How to Reward Your Employees

Every year I have the same dilemma. I want to recognize employees for a year of great work but I don’t know how to best go about it. I want it to be affordable but also have meaning to the employee, (i.e. no one wants another coffee mug).

Here are some things to consider when deciding what the best reward/gift is;

How do you treat senior verses new employees?

You may have employees who have worked for you for 10 years, 1 year or 1 month. Or perhaps you have employees that work 40 hours per week or just a few hours per week. You want to reward all of your employees but you don’t want to create hard feelings with your senior employees that Joe, who just started last week, got the same gift.

It’s okay to recognize employees based on length of service or on contribution to the business. The classic approach is monetary bonuses based on position or tenure with a company but this isn’t the only option. Gifts can be monetary or a combination of monetary and non-monetary. For example, perhaps you give all of your employees a small gift certificate to a coffee shop and then give just your more senior employees a bigger monetary bonus.

Just make sure you have a solid reason behind your reward distribution. You don’t want to appear to be playing favorites. Employees will compare notes. It should be obvious to them why Jane got more than Joe.

Think about what will drive the desired behaviors

You want to express your thanks and appreciation but you also want to encourage the same great results for future. Studies have shown that money (salary or cash bonuses) is not the primary motivating factor for employees. Purpose, autonomy, challenge, growth, inclusion and encouragement are among the top of the list. https://www.yourerc.com/blog/post/what-truly-motivates-employees-besides-money

Now is not the time to give everyone a travel mug or tote bag with the company logo on it (be honest, you know this is just a thinly veiled attempt to get free advertising from your employees). Instead, you can use this opportunity to give them something that will motivate them more deeply going forward.

Perhaps you could get them involved in the strategic planning for next year. You could even have them provide input for growth targets with rewards for staff based on achieving these targets. Doing so would promote inclusion and purpose and provide an ongoing challenge over the next year.

Don’t get stingy

Money is always tight but remember there is no business without your employees. Also keep in mind that finding and hiring great people is time consuming and expensive. You don’t want to lose the employees you have and this is your chance to tell them you appreciate them. It’s a cliché but it’s true, they are your most valuable asset. This isn’t the time nor the place to pinch pennies.

That said, if you truly do not have the funds to provide a gift to your employees, don’t despair. If you can give them something from your heart like a nice handwritten letter or note, they will appreciate this. And then when you do have some extra money to spend you can always come back and offer something more substantial.

With a little planning and thought you can recognize employees in a way that motivates them and helps set your team up for the year to come.

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