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Effective Ways to Reward Your Employees

By Taylor Berman - Nov. 2, 2022
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Everyone deserves to feel valued by their employer.

In a perfect world, as an employer you would be able to give everyone wonderfully large raises and hold a lavish company dinner every month, but that’s not a realistic possibility for most companies. Finding ways to reward your employees doesn’t have to be extraordinarily expensive.

When people say “it’s the thought that counts”, there’s a lot of truth to that statement.

Simple, thoughtful gestures will go a long way to express your gratitude. Employees who feel appreciated will work harder and enjoy their job more, creating a win-win situation for everyone.

Key Takeaways:

  • Rewarding employees improves their happiness and satisfaction which reduces employee turnover and increases productivity.

  • Offering half days, either in the morning or afternoon, after they finish their work is a great way to reward them for going above and beyond.

  • Other rewards that will show employees that they are appreciated include:

    • Care packages when sick

    • New office equipment

    • Birthday PTO

    • Company gifts

Effective Ways To Reward Your Employees

Why is Rewarding Employees Important

Rewarding your employees when they do a good job or company goals are met makes them feel appreciated and important. Employees are more likely to react in a positive work environment and produce better work.

Rewarding employees helps:

  • Reduce employee turnover

  • Increase productivity

  • Improve customer satisfaction

  • Improve employee engagement

  • Create a fun company culture

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15 Effective Ways To Rewards Your Employees

  1. Praise Praise won’t cost you a dime. Using meaningful praise is the simplest way to show that you care, and everyone will appreciate that.

    A handwritten thank you note or a private conversation detailing how much you appreciate an employee’s efforts will create a long lasting dialogue about performance while keeping your employees on the right track and improving engagement.

    Try to steer away from generic emails or general praise cards, as these will cheapen the gesture and feel more like an obligation than proper recognition. Some managers believe in creating a recognition culture at their organizations.

  2. Showcasing. Your best employees are the rock stars of your company. Providing them with the opportunity to lead by example will reinforce the idea that their accomplishments are, in fact, exemplary.

    Recognizing employees as leading specific categories, such as sales, customer service, or support, will make them feel validated. Try putting a leaderboard up in the break room to showcase your monthly winners.

    This will also inspire other employees to compete for the top spot. Leaderboards should always be designed to encourage, not discourage players. Arriving at a new workplace, the player who earned 5 points will be more than discouraged to see that the top player has already gained 5000.

    The player will likely disengage from the gamification process altogether. One way to avoid it is to slice the leaderboard to show data relevant to:

    • Location. Rank relative to others in the same geographic area.

    • Social Context. Players can see how they’re doing against their Twitter or Facebook friends. The leaderboard should be limited to show only those players who have spent a similar amount of time on the site.

    • Business Context. Showing leaders divided by category.

    • Time. Leaderboards set up every month or year to show top performers at the organization.

  3. Let them choose how much responsibility they have. The amount of responsibility you give to an employee should directly correlate with how capable you believe they are.

    Selecting employees to take the lead on important tasks, or giving them the ability to make their own judgement calls without your involvement shows them that you believe they’re up to the task. It demonstrates that you take their career goals seriously, and they’re worth your consideration to move up or take on a more important role within the company.

  4. Celebrate with parties. Try to throw a small break room celebration every few weeks. You can celebrate monthly birthdays and company anniversaries with a cake, iced with the relevant employees’ names.

    Provide catered lunches during important business times to show your employees that you appreciate everyone rising to meet the occasion. Use any excuse you can find to have a modest employee appreciation event. This serves to reinforce the idea of constant gratitude.

  5. Gift cards. Five dollars here or there is perfect. Passing out gift cards once in a while to a local sandwich shop or a popular coffee chain is a reasonable and appropriate gift that won’t break the bank.

    Giving these to employees to celebrate personal successes, birthdays, employment anniversaries, or simply stepping up to the plate in a great time of need is a very personal way to say thank you. It’s the same as saying “I owe you a cup of coffee for all the hard work you did.”

  6. Let them leave early or come in late. If someone has gone above and beyond in their duties for the day and they’ve exceeded what you could have reasonably expected from them, let them leave early. Or, if someone stayed late the night before putting necessary finishing touches on a project, tell them to come in an hour or two later the next day so they can catch up on their sleep.

  7. Allow for more time off. You can even allow them to take an extra day off if they’ve done a solid job and superseded their goals. Helping them create an ideal work and life balance is massively rewarding, because you’re giving them extra time to spend with their loved ones, or pursue their passions.

  8. Bring breakfast or lunch. By bringing in breakfast or lunch once a week, or once a month, you are showing them that you value their work and their time. Figure out what people like to eat, or their coffee order, and bring it in. Let them know that when they are eating or enjoying their coffee, have them spend that time away from their desk. That way they get a little break in as well.

  9. Let them work from home. In recent years, work from home has become popular. If your employees are able to work from home, allow that option once a week. If they are getting the work done, it shouldn’t matter where they are doing it from. Offer this option on a Monday or Friday that way they are able to relax for the rest of the week in the office.

  10. Change up the dress code. Allow for causal days once in a while. If the office is meeting their goals, let your workers wear jeans or more casual wear for a week. This will help keep employees motivated to reach their goals so they can be casual wear to work.

  11. Invest in their continued education. If you have any employees interested in continuing their education, offer some training or leadership classes. This could be through the company or with a local college. Doing this help show that you appreciate them and want them to continue to grow within the company.

  12. Volunteer at a charity of their choice. Have your employees agree on a charity and when goals are reached, have the management team volunteer there. This helps the organization of their choosing get help for the day. Volunteering also makes people happier and increases the amount that people are willing to volunteer.

  13. Get personalized gifts. Around the holidays is a great way to give personalized gifts. If the company already gets everyone the same gift, personalize each one with their name and a message. This shows that thought went into the gift and they are acknowledged by management.

  14. Pajama day. Who doesn’t want to wear their pajamas to work everyday. They’re comfy and cozy. Offer pajama days through out the year to make your employees more comfortable.

  15. Take a field trip. To get everyone up and moving and have a different scenery, take an office field trip. This could be to a local public speaking event, a conference, or even a museum. This lets them recharge a bit during the day, and they may learn something new along the way.

Other Ways to Reward Employees

Here are some more ways that you can reward your employees:

  • Watch a movie in the office

  • CEO for the day

  • Transportation reimbursement

  • Wine tastings

  • Cash bonuses

  • Care packages

  • Scavenger hunts

  • Bring your pet to work days

  • New office equipment

  • On-site fitness classes

  • Half-day Fridays

  • Designated office nap areas

  • Prize wheel

  • Meal delivery

  • Guest speakers

  • Birthday PTO

  • Movie tickets

  • Employee of the month

  • Company swag

  • Refillable water bottles

  • Bring puppies to the office

  • Streaming subscriptions

  • Wall of fame

  • Work happy hour

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Final Thoughts

These are all strategies that you can implement immediately. Employers who make an extra effort to show their employees a fair amount of appreciation will see boosts in productivity, an overall increase in job satisfaction, and greater employee retention.

What reward methods have been implemented at your workplace? Are you trying anything different that’s not mentioned on the list? Feel free to share them.

Author

Taylor Berman

Taylor is a freelance writer from Pennsylvania. Taylor got into writing because she enjoys writing articles that help people and loves creating stories that inspire. She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and public relations with an interest in communications media from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

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