Employees are essential to the success of your business. It’s important to show your appreciation for their hard work when you can because good help is hard to find. Your most loyal employees also deserve more incentives, more vacation time, and more access to perks because they’ve earned them. If you’re looking for a way to reward your employees, consider these five ways.
1. Give Props for Hard Work
Showing appreciation starts with telling them that their work is paying off in a big way. If you work in a sales environment, congratulate them on their new client. During your weekly meetings, show respect for your co-workers by appreciating them and their contributions. Everyone wants to be told what they’re doing is helpful. On top of that, instead of scolding employees for mistakes, coach them in how they can do better, and congratulate the steps they take to improve.
2. Physical Gifts
There is a time and a place for this, but giving your employees gifts during the holidays or after a massive sale will show them how much you care. Corporate gifts such as watches, gift baskets, wine, or tickets to an event won’t only inspire them to do more, but it will inspire other people in the office to follow suit on their success. As an alternative, you could create prize packs or raffles that deal with charity items, or based on their performance and numbers.
3. Fitness Opportunities
Have incentives in your company that include physical activity, especially if their job consists of sitting at an office for a vast majority of their day. Getting a membership through your business is a cost-effective way of encouraging fitness in your team. If you want to go the extra mile, set goals for your employees to live a healthier, more active life. For example, the team that loses the most weight, or eats less sugar that week, will get an extra 30 minutes on their lunch break.
4. Extra Days Off
The best way to recognize employees’ hard work is by giving them extra vacation time or giving them an unexpected day off. This doesn’t need to be a common way of showing appreciation, but allowing your employees to take time away from their work to spend time with their family, or doing a hobby, will make them more excited to come back to work and be just as productive as they were before leaving.
5. Encourage Feedback
An employee that doesn’t trust their superiors creates a hostile work environment. I’m sure most of us have been there, where we feel like we want to speak up about how to improve the company or concerns about the behaviour of a superior, but we don’t do so from fear of being fired. Being approachable shows your employees that you care about their wants, needs, and their feelings about the company. Their feedback may also improve the company as a whole, so listen to them when they have concerns.
