Making the Most of Employee Rewards

Design an employee reward program that's right for your business

By Denise Brown
If you are just getting your business started, you know it can be difficult to give expensive employee rewards no matter how much you would like to do so. The same is true if the economy slows down. However, you still need to keep promoting employees and rewarding them. Making the most of employee rewards means making employee rewards systems affordable for you as well as meaningful for your employees.

The key to making the most of employee rewards is to make sure they fit your business. What may be perfect for every other business may not be right for yours. Nor may it be right for your employees. For any employee motivation reward to have value, it must be meaningful to its recipient. As you design your employee reward program, keep these things in mind:

1. Set a budget for employee recognition rewards.

2. Choose employee gifts from reputable employee recognition vendors.

3. Find ways for everyone to celebrate workplace promotions.

 

Give employee rewards to celebrate your business's profitability

This is the prime example of when employees should receive awards. If they have met or exceeded sales goals or other expectations that directly affect your profits, reward them. If you have to cut back somewhere else, do so, but don't cut back here because the employee loyalty and dedication you build with profitability rewards is priceless.
Try: Celebrate a successful sales campaign with employee recognition rewards from Successories. You can also get help with rewarding employees from CorporateRewards.com.

Set up employee recognition rewards for safety in the workplace

This is especially important if you have a business that employs skilled labor in a shop. The safety of your employees is important, but any breach in safety protocol can cause a loss of work that can cost you money. It's in your best interest to promote and reward workplace safety.
Try: Visit the SafetyAwardStore.com for ideas for safety employee rewards to give in recognition of safety in your workplace. Awards Network also has a number of safety employee incentive rewards. They offer employee reward programs in a variety of formats, including online redemption.

Create customized employee rewards

Think outside the box. Ask your employees what would be meaningful to them. They may appreciate an extra day of vacation much more than a certificate or wall plaque. Once you do decide on unique rewards to your business, you may be surprised to find they may cost less than more traditional workplace rewards.
Try: You can design your own workforce rewards in the form of vacation packages from PerksandPats.com. Elite Corporate Gifts and Rewards has a large selection of employee promotions you can use as workplace rewards. Or you can give your employees gift cards so they can get something they would truly enjoy.

 

  • Once you begin giving employee rewards, you should try to be consistent with them. Design a set of guidelines to determine if someone is eligible for workforce rewards from you.


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Online Rewards HR Tools

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