Employee loyalty is a business consideration employers need to focus on, especially in this slow to recover economic climate. Employee incentives are tools that will help sustain employee loyalty and enhance morale.
While incentive strategies are necessary, they don’t have to be a financial burden. In a 2007 survey conducted by Accountemps it was established that the simple gesture of recognition of a ‘job well done’ by mangers and senior staff proves to be the most effective method of non-monetary employee incentives.
Based on studies such as Accountemp’s, businesses are taking advantage of cost-effective non-monetary employee incentive programs.
According to Thoughts from Training Time a low-cost employee incentive might be to “hold an event for no reason.” The source explains, “Come up with a themed event each month, even if there isn’t a holiday to celebrate. Some examples: Crazy Hat Day, Favorite Sports Team T-Shirt Day.”1
Another incentive might be to allow days off for employees who need special family time, or even half-days for such occasions. Still another idea is to “allow employees to work from home.”
“Reward employee achievements with small tokens of appreciation,” notes the source. “Give a set of movie tickets to someone who went over their sales goals this month or present a small gift card for coffee to an employee who went above and beyond to help out a colleague.”1 An important factor to be aware of when utilizing this type of incentive is to create an atmosphere of sincerity when doling out rewards.
Appreciation incentive programs are an excellent strategy to help foster employee loyalty and morale, thereby increasing productivity. When designing such programs, an employer needs to plan first, including research, to find which incentives will work best for the company. Since these programs can be a real boost to a company’s bottom line, it’s always best to garner advice from an incentive professional to reap the most benefits possible.
