When I think of possible incentives to offer employees, so many come to mind. As a result, it could be overwhelming to businesses when it comes to making a decision on which incentives to offer employees. Or maybe you are creating an incentive programme to support your benefits package for the first time. This blog explores different incentives and things to consider when making a decision on incentives.
Why should you offer employees incentives?
There are so many reasons why businesses should offer incentives. Employee Incentives are great for:
- Rewarding staff for their work and for keeping them motivated.
- Improving company culture and retention.
- Recognising employee achievements and celebrating reaching milestones and targets.
- Team bonding.
- Facilitating inclusion and a positive workplace environment.
Factors to consider when deciding on incentives
Before choosing think about:
- Budget – ultimately budget will determine what you will be to able offer.
- Your company set up – do your employees work from different locations? If yes, a good incentive may be to have regular meetups to facilitate inclusion and team bonding.
- Company size
- How your company works – is it target driven, sales orientated etc…
Incentives to offer
Here’s a range of different incentives you could offer, which are suitable for different budgets and company cultures.
Monetary incentives
Bonuses – offering bonuses work well in departments that are target driven but can also be rolled out company wide. For example, providing a company-wide bonus when the yearly income target is met or at Christmas to say thank you to your staff.
Vouchers – are a great way to encourage your employees to treat themselves to things they wouldn’t normally. Most retailers offer gift vouchers, so employees could have a choice as to which company they would like the vouchers for; directly helping with any purchases they are planning in the near future.
Team incentives
Award Ceremonies – this is a bit of fun for the whole company and gets everyone in a company interacting with each other. They can also be as a big or little as you would like. Done virtually or in one location.
Days out / Trips away – recently, here at the Eventus Recruitment Group, the whole company went to Edinburgh for a night. We were given £250 vouchers to spend in John Lewis, had a meal at Gaucho and went chocolate making. To us, this is a beneficial incentive, with us being a small company and based at different locations across the UK. It’s wonderful for everyone to get together in a relaxed environment, catch up and have a bit of fun.
Employee of the month – having an employee of month scheme recognises the achievements of your staff and brings some healthy competition to the workplace. You can decide on the prize. Some rewards that businesses offer as a prize for the employee of the month include trophies, vouchers, extra annual leave and hampers. Another option is to have a wheel that the employee spins to determine the prize.
Team building activities – great to boost morale, identify future leaders and improve communication and productivity in the company. Some ideas for activities include quizzes, competitions, office trivia, escape rooms and cookery classes. You could even create an office memory wall. Get the team to draw or print photos of memories and put on a wall to create discussion and camaraderie.
Buying breakfast or taking your staff out for lunch – this is a great option for thanking your staff personally for their work and to encourage team bonding in a relaxed environment.
Incentives to support health, well-being and work-life balance
Weekends away – again this rewards employees with something they may not do normally and encourages them to take some time for themselves.
Extra holiday days – people have realised the importance of a work-life balance and are valuing their annual leave more. However, if you do offer this as incentive ensure that the person’s workload is looked after. So, they aren’t returning to a desk piled up with work.
Health and Wellness – there are lots of incentives to offer surrounding health and wellness. For example, paying for mindfulness apps, food / meal subscriptions, health insurance, gym and social memberships. In addition, you could put on company classes or arrange a charity fundraiser to encourage your employees to complete a challenge together. For example, we have just signed up to walk, run, swim or cycle 100 km in September for our local Hospice.
Tickets for activities / days out at their leisure – cinema tickets, sport tickets, theme park tickets etc. Tickets for activities are great to encourage staff to do something different with their leisure time. Plus, they will come back to work with a story to tell.
Career development related incentives
Guest speakers – arranging for a quest speaker to come into the workplace or virtually to give a talk on something relevant to your employees or business, can be very motivational for your employees. The talk could be on a career development or sector related topic, mental health and well-being, or even a non-work related topic.
Funded courses – are good for helping people to progress and for incentivising them in their careers. However, courses don’t necessarily have to be work related. People might want to upskill in other areas. For example, property maintenance, crafts or cooking to name a few.
If you would like discuss incentives and benefits packages further with us, do get in touch. Everyday, we advise businesses on their recruitment and retention strategies.
If you could have any incentive, what would be at the top of your list? Please comment below.
Written by Emma Guy, Marketing Executive at the Eventus Recruitment Group.
Further Reading
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