Rewarding Employees

The world is full of people going to work, creating work, doing work and employing others. If you are a leader in a business, you have employees who look to you for rewards, words, and respect and even appreciation. If you find that rewarding your employees is something that you have to work at, I have compiled a few tips and ideas for you to use in understanding and offering rewards to your employees.

For the largest of companies to the smallest of companies, a wall or just a section of a wall that is open to the public that displays the employees name and their specialty or skill is often a great way of rewarding employees. There has to be some type of achievement level that brings employees to this level of getting their picture on the wall, but this is something that gives other new employees something to work towards. 

During special times of the year, give your employees a short note, telling them exactly what you found they did outstanding this year. When you acknowledge that the employee did something well this year, they are going to realize that you do pay attention. This doesn’t cost anything but a little of your time, but is well worth the investment as many employees want some type of knowledge of a job well done. 

What types of rewards will employees appreciate? 

• Dinner out as a group 
• Lunch brought into the office 
• Use of the company car
• An upgrade of their computer 
• Fresh lighting in their office
• Gift certificates 
• Company shirts, hats and similar items 
• Tapes, Cd’s, or Dvd’s 
• Their own office, or a new desk, even a new chair 
• Cash or bonuses 
• Time off 
• Toys for their family 
• Toys for their selves 
• Certificates to the gym 
• Articles written in the newspaper 
• Notification in writing of a raise 
• Copies of their evaluations 
• Certificates of appreciation 

Make it a point to know what your employees are doing. Sit with them at least two hours every six months just so you know what is going on and what an employee is responsible for. Sometimes you may not realize how much is added to a persons responsibility when you are not in the day to day of their task situation. Talk about what they do, and let the employee express any concerns or needs about their daily job. Communication is a big reward that you don’t realize happens until after the meeting is actually over.