6 Rules For A Company to Follow to Give Rewards and Incentives

World Executives Digest | Having an award system for employee’s is essential to employee engagement and retention in the workplace. It is proven that when companies have recognition or incentive programs their employee engagement improves significantly and they have less voluntary turnover.

Your employee can earn the same amount of money with you as another employer but when it comes to belonging to a team you are proud of and opportunities for growth and personal development – this is where you can differentiate yourselves. There are several great articles on this if you would like to learn more.

In order to guarantee programs like this are successful, there are a few rules/guidelines you should follow:

1. Don’t Make Promises

You want employees to show their best selves without the hope of getting a reward for it. This will also help set apart your top performers. You also do not want it to become something that is expected every time people do their jobs efficiently. Make the rewards a surprise.

2. Don’t Make the Rewards Too Large

Obviously, you can have someone off’s where the reward is something the employees have to work towards. These are the rewards that are not easily met, for example, a lot of sales driven companies will have rewards such as a free, all-expense-paid, vacations for the people who exceed their sales goals. This is a great example of a “big” reward. There are companies by the name such as  Power2Motivate has a number of Sales Incentive Programmes that companies utilize to come up with both big and small incentives.

3. It Should Not Be a One Time Thing

Everyone likes to be celebrated, employees, managers, etc. This should be on a continuous basis. For example, there are national holidays almost every day of the week. All it takes is a quick google to find out when National Donut Day is and a few bucks to surprise your team with a tasty treat. This is a small gesture that goes a very long way.

4. Praise In Public

If you have an employee that is doing exemplary work, let it be known to the entire staff. That person should be made to feel appreciated and acknowledged in front of his or her peers and superiors. These are all positive reinforcements that go a very long way. It will force those who are typically underachievers to step up and the ones who are always excelling to feel proud.

5. Make it About the Behavior, Not the Outcome

Not all means of getting to the outcome we want are good behaviors. It is important to realize this and pay attention to those that are working hard and not taking the easy way out. Hard work and effort should be given the acknowledgment.

6. Allow Peer to Peer Recognition

Your peer, more often times than not, knows more than the managers do about which of their teammates has been going above and beyond behind the scenes. Having the opportunity to shout out your coworker in a group setting not only makes the person receiving the compliment feel good, but it also allows for comradery among the group.

All in all, these are just a few rules to keep in mind when giving rewards and incentives at your respective companies. There are a number of great websites that can give you ideas on how to achieve the best rewards systems, but as a leader, it is good to learn about your people. What fuels one person to do well may not be the same for the next.