Any successful business must engage its employees to retain them. The more you show your appreciation for a job well done, the more happy workers you will have on your hands. And a positive workforce leads to better productivity and profits. Taking the time to listen to your employees and thank them is essential. But if you want to really show your appreciation and increase productivity, offer your workforce incentives. Give employees monetary or nonmonetary rewards for achieving specific targets and objectives, and you are sure to have a more positive workforce. But what are the most effective employee incentive ideas? Here are some options.
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Provide Education Opportunities
In sectors like social care, employees are often expected to enroll in training programs or additional educational courses. In other industries, employees might have the opportunity to step up a level in their careers by passing industry-related examinations. For example, accountants with experience may wish to study certified public accountant (CPA) review courses to become licensed CPAs. Training and education programs cost money, which employees usually pay at their own expense. Covering the costs of these programs is an incentive that will genuinely be valued by your employees. The company also benefits because employees will learn skills that will benefit the business.
Provide a Dress-Down Day
There are many ways you can empower your employees to be more productive. Key elements in improving productivity and team efficiency are the work environment and infrastructure. Providing incentives that influence these elements is another way of improving efficiency and productivity. For instance, if an employee or a team of employees reaches specific goals, a simple but effective reward could be a dress-down day. It’s a great incentive if you are not in a position to spend cash on rewards.
Give Gifts
Who doesn’t like receiving a gift? Employees will appreciate receiving presents for reaching targets and objectives, especially if the gifts aren’t boring. A bottle of wine or some fine chocolates is a good idea, but make sure the recipient drinks alcohol or doesn’t have an intolerance. A safer bet could include coupons, gift cards, or other employee incentive ideas like:
- Movie theater tickets
- Sports event tickets
- Concert tickets
- A maid service for the day
- A museum membership
- A book token
- A gift hamper
- Flowers or a plant
Give Non-Sales-Related Bonuses
Although everyone enjoys receiving a gift for a job well done, people also enjoy receiving money. If your business has a sales department that offers sales-related bonuses, other employees might consider it unfair that they don’t receive bonuses for their successful work. The rest of your employees matter as much as your sales team, so offering non-sales-related bonuses can be one of the best employee incentive ideas. You could even implement a bonus program that tracks employees’ progress and automatically alerts you when they should receive rewards, which could also provide a way for managers to evaluate team members.
Give Your Employees Extra Time
Everyone values having more time, so why not offer it as an incentive? For example, you could double the amount of time an employee has for lunch and breaks on a particular day or let your employee work a half day on Friday or have a full day or 2 off. Alternatively, you could offer the option of more flexibility. Some employees will prefer having flexible options regarding the hours they work, the days they work, and where they work. Allowing some employees to work from home on certain days is another option they will appreciate.
Play a Fun Shopping Game
A team employee incentive idea could be to play a shopping game, providing a reward that is both valuable and fun. If your team hits a particular milestone, such as a sales target, use that number as part of the game. If the sales goal your team hit was $129.32, take them to a mall, and give each employee 129.32 minutes to spend as close to $129.32 as possible. Then, give the winner an additional reward, such as a paid-for, post-shopping-game meal.
Let the Leadership Team Serve Tasty Treats
If you want to provide an incentive to all your employees regardless of meeting targets and objectives, you can boost morale with indoor food service. On hot days, the leadership team could take a cart around the office to serve ice cream and other treats. On a cold day, they could fill the cart with hot chocolate and tasty pastries.
Bryce Welker is a CPA and CEO at Crush Empire and the Founder of Crush The CPA Exam.