How to Properly Reward Your Employees

Since the ancient times, military leaders knew that in most cases a side with better-motivated troops wins the day. Not much has changed until present date. The only difference is that today; this tactic is more commonly applied to the business world. Properly rewarding your employees can make a huge difference in their productivity, but breaching your budget in order to do so is never a smart move. With this in mind, here are few inexpensive ways to show your employees that their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.

Gift Cards

In order to get a perfect gift for your employee, you need to know them on a personal level. Still, this kind of behavior is strongly discouraged by most experts. However, the fact that you are not ‘buddy’ with your employees doesn’t mean you shouldn’t show some appreciation for all the effort they make. One of the most reliable ways to do so is through gift cards, but making a random handout would be completely irrational. A perfect opportunity is to wait for their birthday, work anniversary or even holiday season. Using Christmas gift cards will not only boost the morale of the entire office but also show everyone that you really do care about people in your employ.

Promotional Products

Another way to show your employees you value them and stay frugal about it is to give them promotional products. This means handing out items like pens, mugs, t-shirts and even bags with your company logo on them. In this way, you are not only gifting your employees but also investing in a promotional campaign of your business. A clear and undeniable win-win scenario in any way you look at it. The greatest downside of this method is that, at times, it can seem quite generic.

Weekend at Spa Resort

Even though you are supposed to care about all your employees equally, there are always those who go over the top to keep your business together. This means that by the end of each major project, they will be completely exhausted, which can seriously endanger their future performance. This is why you would do both them and yourself a favor if you were to send them to a spa resort for a prolonged weekend. Once they return they will be reinvigorated and ready to get at the helm once again.

Words of Encouragement

Finally, sometimes all your employees expect in return for their hard work are some words of thanks. Of course, this doesn’t have to end there. For example, you could honor them at a staff meeting, write a company-wide email to their praise or even take them out for a dinner to express your gratitude in person. All in all, what matters the most is the gesture itself.

Conclusion

While none of these rewards cost much, they are sometimes all you need to motivate your employees. Seeing how a motivated worker is usually a more efficient one, this would mean that every single reward you give out can be considered as an investment. As it turns out, this is one of the investments with the greatest ROI available to a startup or an SMB.