5 Ways You can use an Online Employee Rewards Program to Recognize Your Team without a Huge Budget!
Every great business leader wants to surround themselves with the best and brightest employees. However, all too often, when you finally find that perfect team member, they get scooped up by one of your competitors.
So, how do you get your hardest working, most creative employees to stick around for the long haul? Simply put, you need to make them want to stay with you by providing them with a great culture of recognition and collaboration. One of the best ways to do this is to periodically reward your team in ways that make them feel valued and instill within them a sense of belonging and pride. Here are five simple ways you can meaningfully reward your employees for all the valuable work they do!
1. Send Them on an Unforgettable Vacation
One of your team members has done a fantastic job following safety guidelines and spreading the safety culture throughout your work site; how do you reward them? You could give a $0.40/hour raise, or you could gift them round-trip tickets to the destination of their choice!
The way most people mentally frame rewards leads them to generally feel better about receiving trips to their favourite destinations than about receiving a small $0.40/hour raise, even though both rewards cost roughly the same amount. After all, who wouldn’t feel amazing about their boss lifting a huge expense off of their yearly vacation budget!
This simple reward will keep your team feeling valued without breaking the bank.
2. Give a Gift that Suits Their Individual Interests
One of your most dedicated employees just reached their 10th anniversary with the company. You could give them a set of fancy steak knives or a new watch, but now that you think about it, have you ever actually seen them wear a watch, and aren’t they vegetarian? Rather than give out generic, impersonal gifts, let your team choose a reward that actually suits their hobbies and interests!
Does Jessica love rock climbing on the weekends? Buy her a new rope and climbing shoes through your online employee reward program.
Does Peter like to go-kart? Let him pick up a gift card to his favourite go-karting track!
A gift your team members can tailor to their specific hobbies and interests outside of work is a fantastic way to recognize anniversaries, and offers that personalized touch that traditional gift options lack.
3. Help Support Their Favourite Charitable Causes
Many people on your team undoubtedly have deep and meaningful connections to a charity organization or general cause. Maybe it’s Adam in sales, who donates regularly to the War Amps, or Sandra in marketing, who volunteers at her local SPCA shelter on weekends.
Whatever the case, getting behind your employees’ causes by donating company money in their name to the charity of their choice is an incredibly meaningful way to say thank you, and shows you care about them as people, not just employees.
4. Make it Easy for Them to Spend More Time with Family
Pat loves spending time with his family, especially his kids. However, lately he’s been so overwhelmed with securing that major construction contract that he hasn’t had the chance to spend any quality time with them. Reward Pat for closing that big new deal by giving him what he truly wants, an extra day or two of paid time off he can spend at the park with his kids.
Work shouldn’t consume your employee’s lives. Mark a milestone achievement by giving them time to enjoy the things that truly matter.
5. Give Them Your Undivided Attention Over Dinner
All too often you have a bright, energetic, creative employee who feels like they can’t get their big ideas to the right people in the organization. This frustration at not being heard breeds discontent, and discontent leads to yet another talented team member jumping ship.
Nip this problem in the bud by giving your best and brightest the option of using their online employee reward points towards a paid-for, one on one dinner with you or another member of the leadership team. You would be surprised by how many employees would jump at the opportunity to have your undivided attention for an hour or two!
Our modern world moves at a break-neck speed, and employees are not staying with a single company for as long as they used to. However, it is possible to stack the deck in your favour and keep your best talent. By rewarding and recognizing your employees’ dedication and hard work, you ensure they remain satisfied and happy in their jobs, and happy, satisfied employees typically don’t go looking for greener pastures elsewhere.
Online Employee Reward programs make it easy to remember birthdays and work-anniversaries, and are the perfect platform for giving your team the recognition they deserve after a major milestone. What’s more, this type of reward system could not be easier to set up!
If you have any questions about employee rewards, reach out to the team at BIS, and we would be happy to demonstrate our rewards program and show you even more ways to keep your team happy in the many years to come.
