“Employees are a company’s greatest asset – they’re your competitive advantage. You want to attract and retain the best; provide them with encouragement, stimulus, and make them feel that they are an integral part of the company’s mission.” – Anne M. Mulcahy

How do you pick the best types of employee rewards for your company? There are numerous methods of praising staff. Each and every company’s situation is unique, and what might work for one doesn’t necessarily have to work for another. To try and help you determine the best way to motivate your workforce, we have sought to compile some employee rewards for you to consider. Here are seven of them.

1) Ideas for Employee Monetary Gift or Products

Although we have quoted Dan Pink in the past as for saying monetary rewards can reduce productivity, staff nonetheless love cash and monetary prizes when appropriate. There are many options here to motivate your workers with monetary rewards. Don’t just stop at the employee when thinking about rewards. Consider their family as well.

• Cash
• Apple products, like MacBooks or the watch
• HD flat screen TVs
• Home spa package (lotions, bath bombs, oils)
• Cooking appliances
• Drones or other novelty high tech
• Sporting equipment
• Bicycles for adults and children
• Car wash
• In-home or in-office hair cut
• Books
• Pay for day care

The trick is to be creative. Ask your staff what they would want to have. Get your office community involved.

2) Gift Cards Selection for Your Employee Rewards

Cards are an efficient way to reward staff. Some benefits of gift cards include they are sent automatically through Recognize for free with the initial subscription, with the large variety of gift cards, there is something for everyone, and gift cards are digital, so they are always accessible. Popular cards according to a 2016 study include:

• Target
• Gamestop
• Chipotle
• Amazon
• Walmart
• Apple
• Bestbuy
• Fandango
• Cabelas
• Netflix
• Home Depot
• Nike
• Victoria’s Secret
• Sephora
• AMC
• REI
• Whole Foods
• Visa prepared cards (who doesn’t love cash?)

3) Monetary Experience Ideas for Your Staff

From boat cruises, tickets to a game, or gym pass, create a unique list of experiences for your staff.

• Cooking class
• Summer classes for the employee’s kids
• Day on a boat with the family
• Sporting event tickets (basketball, baseball, etc)
• Rock climbing gym pass
• Spa package
• Specialty car rental
• Unique combo experiences (‘secret agent package’ with skydiving and mixology class)
• Vacation package
• Local amusement park
• Yoga or dance class
• Skiing trip

4) Non-Monetary Experiences

This is where a company have to get creative about what they can leverage as employee rewards. Non-monetary experiences and non-monetary gifts are less utilized and redeemed, except for the day off. Everyone loves a day off! You may want to subsidize these rewards to have some of them redeemed more often.

• Lunch with the boss (or CEO)
• Boss for the day
• Change offices for a day
• Paid time off (15min, 30min, 1hr, half day, full day)
• Conferences
• Pizza Party

5) Company Swag Gifts 

As you can imagine, these are less redeemed than other categories, since these are things that companies already give away for free.

• Company sweatshirts
• Company hats
• Company mugs

6) Power for Staff

Companies rarely realize this is a reward you can offer and it costs no money. For those in the workplace that pull ahead, show promise, and deliver results promptly, assigning more power through delegation can offer them motivation to continue on the same trajectory they are on. Among the most common methods of assigning more power to better performing individuals is through assigning them some supervisory duties such as making them team leader.

• Power to make a decision in an area they have show expertise
• Power to come up with new ideas to tackle problems

7) Donating to Charity

Helping out is a part of the human condition. Involving your workforce in charitable events works towards building cohesion within your workers. When they relax and connect at a personal level while contributing to a worthy cause, the effects will spill over to the office as rapport and in turn productivity and retention improves. Out of the box, Recognize provides gift cards for a number of charities:

Charity Gift Cards:

• The Nature Conservancy
• Girls Who Code
• RED
• American Cancer Society
• Clean Water Fund
• National Park Foundation
• Special Olympics
• World of Children Award
• Summer Search
• Long Live The Kings

Non-Gift Card Charities:

• NPR
• Greenpeace
• Mercy For Animals
• The Humane League
• Action Against Hunger USA
• American Civil Liberties Union Foundation

Discover more charities to offer here https://www.charitynavigator.org.

Mix it Up

We recommend a mix of the above methods to motivate staff most effectively. Involving your workforce in determining the appraisal package is also a way of making the process more efficient. After all, they know what resonates with them. If leadership can offer perks and rewards staff love, your workforce will be more committed.