As we all know, remuneration is only a moderately useful indicator of employee engagement as other factors frequently play a greater role in making employees happy. Don’t just leave it until Christmas to reward your staff, make sure to reward them throughout the year.
Here are seven economical ways in which you might look to reward your staff without generating a too significant a hit to the bottom line of the business.
1. Say thank you with a written note
A much-overlooked point is that when staff are doing a great job, you should tell them so! Too often in today’s hectic world, appraisals and performance reviews focus on what staff cannot do instead of recognising their worthy achievements.
2. Be open to flexibility
Employees are increasingly discerning in their choice of employer in the modern era, and many take flexible working hours as a given today. Two of the most effective ways to reward staff for hard work include time off in lieu of additional hours done and work-from-home days.If work from home days aren’t possible, why not offer flexi-time to allow for exercise throughout the day?
3. Professional Development
Allow staff to invest in their personal and professional development by subsidising their training courses. In return employees can add value to the business with their new skills and renewed enthusiasm.
4. Provide a lunch
A weekly or monthly catered lunch is a proven and effective way to bring staff together for a morale-boosting break on the premises without necessarily busting the budget.Gourmet sandwiches or takeaway pizza may strike the right note, but a health-conscious lunch could also have additional benefits through increasing the wellbeing of the workforce.
5. Try to offer discounts and benefits
Offering staff a discount on what your business provides can be a fruitful and potentially economical treat. It does work more effectively in some industries than others, but an employee discount scheme can offer an invaluable way to motivate and reward staff.
6. Consider team - building exercises
Some team building exercises are undeniably better than others but organised well and planned efficiently, an inspiring team-building experience can improve employee relations while adding to staff skills and accomplishment. It can be difficult though to strike a balance with a diverse workforce so scavenger hunts, sweepstakes (what will the Royal baby be called?), raffles and non-physical games / contests work well. What matters is that staff have fun.
7. Treat employees as responsible adults
The best way to reward staff can often be simply to treat them as responsible adults and to improve their working environment — we are all human and have an inherent desire to be treated accordingly. Give trusted staff more variety and responsibility in their work, and they are likely in turn to reward you and your business
Remember that the most important thing for employees when receiving a reward isn’t necessarily the financial or entertainment value of what you’ve given them – it’s the feeling that they ARE valued by the organisation.
www.orionsearch.com.au
Adrian Osuchowski - Orion Search
Orion Search assists Primary Processors (Abattoirs & Boning Rooms) and Further Processors (Value Added Meat, Ready To Eat & Smallgoods) within Beef, Lamb, Pork and Poultry employ their hard to find, permanent staff all across Australia.