How you can reward your employees using these five useful guidelines

When it comes to rewarding your employees, it is good practice to ensure both diversity and simplicity. No employee is the same, and therefore your reward and recognition offering should match this. However, there are ways this can be made simpler, even more so by using these helpful guidelines.  

An all-inclusive experience

However you decide to reward your employees it is crucial it is completely inclusive and needs to work for all members of the organisation. If you offer free food, for example, then make sure you have a variety of dietary options available. If you have an app, then you should ensure that it is optimised for all devices and accessible. Even making sure that you interact equally with your team is one step towards inclusivity. Introducing what is called 360 degree recognition is another way of including everyone, as this allows anyone to recognise anyone else in the business for hard work.   

Generosity, not just to your employees

Whatever form this may come in, generosity is always a welcome reward for employees, but there are ways to extend this even further to achieve maximum engagement. Offering your rewards to your employees’ spouses, families and even friends can encourage better use and uptake of the rewards. Some examples may include giving away a set of family cinema tickets or a voucher for dinner for two at a nice restaurant, or maybe even hold a raffle for a set of theatre tickets. Rewards are great, but these can be made even greater when they are shared with the people they love.  

It’s not all about money

There are so many ways you can reward your employees and often the non-monetary kind are the things that have the most impact. Some examples of this type of reward are that you could let the employee being rewarded the chance to give the one project they like least to someone else, give them full use of the CEO’s office for a day, the front parking spot, or even something as simple as a handwritten thank you note. A study conducted by Gallup found employee engagement and motivation have little to do with money, and it reported no significant difference in employee engagement by pay level.  

Time

Time is valuable to people and so employers should use the power that they have to give this back as a reward. British people are the most likely country out of 22 others to take all of their paid holiday per year, with 75% saying they would use it all, showing how precious a commodity this really is for employees. You think someone else has gone above and beyond for someone else? Why not nominate them for a bonus day off. If days off are not a possibility, then you could simply give a longer lunch or an extra break. It all adds up and makes a difference to your employees.  

Celebrate

Fun events taking place at work make it a nice place to be. So whether this be celebrating birthdays, national holidays, or even company exclusive festivities – make a day of it! If it’s someone’s birthday you could buy a cake at lunchtime and even maybe get them a gift from the company, or if someone is having a baby why not hold a sweepstake throughout the office? There are endless possibilities. At Personal Group we are never shy of a party and often take the opportunity to commemorate special events. We recently celebrated our 35th Birthday by having an award ceremony, a birthday cake and even had a taco van for lunch for our staff! The tasty treats went down well with everyone and it is this kind of gesture that really make people feel special and part of an organisation worth the effort. 

Find out how Personal Group's fully customisable benefits solution, Hapi can help your team, get in touch.