You put your heart into your business. You put all your efforts into it to make it a success. But are you forgetting one essential thing?
Your employees. You’re feeding your operation’s beating heart.
They make your vision reality. And if you want to see actual growth, you must make them feel valuable. Rewarded. Appreciated.
And it’s not just about throwing money at the problem.” Sure, bonuses are nice. But there’s a deeper level to genuine employee satisfaction. It’s a matter of fostering a recognition culture. And a place where they celebrate hard work.
Where individuals have that sense of belonging. As if they are a part of something greater than themselves.
Still not convinced? Let us break it down for you.
Why It Matters
Happy employees stick around longer. They’re more productive. More engaged. Organizations with successful reward systems are 20% more likely to have engaged employees. Teams that are highly engaged are 25 % more profitable.
But it’s more than just the numbers. When you acknowledge your own people, you’re also communicating to them, I see you.” You appreciate their efforts. And that feeling? It’s priceless.
Provide Unique Rewards
Let’s start with the fun stuff. A bonus and a raise are always nice gifts, but consider some unique gifts specific to your company culture. A well-balanced combination of the following can make your best employees feel that much more appreciated:
- Surprise them with an impromptu paid day off via email. A spontaneous long weekend? Yes, please!
- For the music-junky, tickets to their favorite band or artist in concert.
- If they’re a sport fans, buy them a ticket to the big game or a subscription to their favorite sports streaming service.
- Sponsored weekend getaway to any location for the aspiring travelers in your audience.
- Share the household load with a grocery store gift card. Practical and appreciated!
The possibilities are endless – think outside the box for things that will cater to the unique interests and hobbies they have outside of the cubicle.
Invest In Professional and Personal Development
Making that investment in those employees’ growth is not only good for them, but it’s also savvy for your company. By providing opportunities to improve and learn, you are creating a more skilled and motivated workforce. A few ideas:
- Pay for them to go to an industry conference, seminar or masterclass that’s going to teach rather than be a jolly.
- Refund them for continuing education (such as certification or degree programs that pertain to their position) tuition.
- Have an outstanding employee start a fun (but still productive) project they’re passionate about and that will add real value to the company.
- Organize mentoring sessions in conjunction with a highly regarded senior co-worker.
- Seek out your own personal fulfillment by presenting a membership to a library, book club or hobby class in, say, art, music or pottery.
The more you invest in their professional and personal growth, the more engaged and invaluable they will be.
Align Rewards with Performance
And, all this is not to say, you can’t and shouldn’t correlate your incentive program to the metrics that, truly, are most important to the business.
If you need to beat aggressive sales targets up the top of the list, set up a scheme where you pay commission on sales that are above target. Some potential performance-based rewards:
- Quarterly or yearly bonuses for over-quota achievement
- Lucrative commission rates or accelerators
- Stock options for company overachievers
- Profit-sharing incentives
- Top achievers increase in salary for (continued) consistency
- Benefits that are the things you really want, like additional vacation time or remote work privileges
Using reporting and analytics in digital HR tools, like custom dashboards, you and your team can both easily monitor and adjust the path to your goals on an ongoing basis. The openness provides motivation and accountability.
Offer Personalized and Specific Recognition
While team incentives are motivating, never underestimate the power of individual recognition. Honoring a person’s excellence in a unique way can genuinely let them know they are known and valued more than you’d imagine. A little personal flair makes a big difference:
- Write a personal note from the CEO or a senior leader, one that is truly written from the heart, outlining their specific contributions and impact.
- Shine the light on their successes companywide through internal comms channels, email newsletters or social media.
- Ask the team about their great work and create a video around it.
- Make a personalized gift, such as a company T-shirt or plaque with their name and photograph, to remember the event.
- On big accomplishments, coordinate inviting their family to celebrate in the office.
- No birthday goes forgotten and without a card, treat or something small for a win!
Making this personalized makes an employee feel less like the other cog in the machine. They recognize that you truly care about them as people.
Reward Teamwork
Individual recognition is great, of course, but it’s important to be rewarding great teamwork and collaboration. The best products and solutions are created by teammates working together. When a team accomplishes something significant together, they offer a valuable team prize to redeem together for a win as a team:
- Treat everyone to a fun group outing, like laser tagging, go-karting, bowling or a delicious group lunch.
- For a low-key burst of team bonding, send a delivered meal or snack basket everyone can enjoy together.
- A custom t-shirt, mug or piece of swag that the team can wear to remember the group achievement.
- Experiences are worth more than stuff, so consider annual passes to a sporting event, comedy show or concert.
Whichever way you frame it, rewarding teams (not just individuals) sends the message that you value workers who collaborate to share ideas, and to help promote each other’s work.
Donate to a charity or cause
Giving to charity can be an incredibly meaningful reward for employees who are passionate about having a social impact. Paying it forward makes change, not only in your workplace. Some ways to make that happen:
- Let the honoree choose an upstanding charity or nonprofit, and donate generously in their honor.
- Instead of giving a cash gift, they pay for the employee as well as their family to spend a day volunteering at a local organization.
- For virtual teams, organize a team to participate together in a virtual giving event like 5k walk/run.
- Cater a meal for volunteers and staff to enjoy at a food bank, animal shelter or community outreach program.
Linking that reward to a social good not only heightens its value, but also allows your business to foster a strong sense of good will. It can be a powerful way to make the values of your organization feel tangible.
Create Fun Surprises
Apart from recognition and incentives, make a fun, everyday habit of surprising employees in small informal ways. These small initiatives make people feel appreciated. Some ideas:
- Send their favorite snack or meal to their office or home, along with a cheeky note.
- Surprise them with a spa gift basket, small plant or sweet treat on their desk as a “just because” pick-me-up.
- For major accomplishments, have a special office party of decorations, candy, music and fanfare when they get there.
- Make custom memorabilia such as company swag they helped design, or a plaque celebrating a huge deal they contributed to closing or project they put in motion.
These considerate, unscripted surprises are what make the daily grind so joyful. Never underestimate the motivation of some confetti!
Recognize Major and Minor Achievements
Sure, it’s important to celebrate those big wins, but it’s equally as important to notice the little ones on your way to the top.
Being constantly acknowledged and positively reinforced helps your team keep up their enthusiasm until they reach those larger finish lines. Some ways to offer those ongoing bundles of support:
- Mark work anniversaries with something special or a gift every year. Go bigger for biggest tenure milestones.
- At the beginning of team meetings or standups, recognize individual’s recent accomplishments and achievements (big or small).
- Send out regular kudos emails or Slack messages where people can give shout outs for great work.
- Print certificates or hand out tokens with your logo to mark mini-milestones.
- When making promotion make sure there is high announcement, cheers, and celebration and of course giving and receiving congratulations on your title and level up.
