Employee incentive programs will help support your team and foster a culture of collaboration, engagement and trust.
Here are 5 best practices to consider before moving to the examples below:
- Make your program inclusive: ensure that you tailor your programs to include all of your team members by identifying those who might be at risk from exclusion and creating pathways of inclusion in activities.
- Promote your incentive programs: Its no good creating incentives without anyone knowing what your doing. Identify the routes for communication which have the highest rate of engagement and use these to promote your program.
- Have leaders show the way: Start with your leadership team first to foster a environment of trust and show that you are able to engage with incentives.
- Personalise your incentives: This shows that you know your team, what are they good at? What do they enjoy? What do they talk about?
- Ask for feedback: Find out what works, what doesn’t work. How are they feeling? Has it helped? There isn’t one thing that will fix everything, every team is different.
Here’s some examples of things that you could try:
| What is it? | How does it work? | How do I implement it? | |
| Employee Recognition | A program that enables every team member to share messages of thanks and provide others with tangible rewards. | It fosters a culture of collaboration in the workplace and reinforces behaviours and actions which align with your strategies. | Adopt an employee recognition platform with fun and engaging social recognition features, along with a points-based reward system. |
| Personal or HR development | Provide opportunities for team members to develop their skills and pursue professional interests. | It’s motivating because it clearly demonstrates your support of their career and development, as well as offering extra time within the working day to learn and develop. | HR should lead the way by working with you to design and administer training initiatives, mentorship programs, and individualised career paths. |
| Celebrate Milestones | Recognise milestones for individual team members such as birthdays, promotions etc. Recognise milestones for the team such as meeting targets, excellent on supervisions etc. | It shows that you are paying attention to the team, and their achievements. | Get the team to let you know how they want to celebrate – feedback is important. Cake, cards or even small gifts or gestures could also be included. |
| Extra Leave/Flexible working hours | You could offer an extra days annual leave, leaving early or longer lunch breaks, additional breaks or flexible working hours. | By offering extra vacation time and flexibility when employees meet specific goals, you can enhance engagement and issues of burnout and disconnection. | Communicate with your team about what their individual requirements are in private. Ensure that you are fair about how you allocate extra time off. |
| Health and Wellness programs | Practical reward based wellness incentives which promote healthy habits at work and home. | Health and wellness programs incentivize employees to adopt healthier lifestyles and fitness choices, which is crucial for preventing burnout and promoting overall well-being. | Practical wellness incentives include offering free healthy lunches, on-site health screenings, bike-to-work reimbursements, standing desks, and annual wellness fairs. Additionally, you can reward for achieving wellness milestones, such as quitting smoking or completing a steps challenge. |
| Performance management programs | Performance management involves continuous communication and coaching between managers and employees to align individual goals with organisational objectives. | Performance management can help to enhance employee engagement by providing clarity on how individual roles contribute to broader strategic goals. | Regular feedback and recognition using various methods to help your team understand their value and foster a sense of purpose. |
Here are some examples of how employee incentive programs can positively influence the workplace:
Increased motivation
Employees who receive consistent recognition may produce better quality work, which can benefit the team.
More engagement
An employee who feels appreciated typically plays a more active role within the company they work for.
Increased productivity
Recognition can help increase productivity because people typically want to work harder when they receive acknowledgements for their efforts.
Stronger retention
Employees are usually happier in their roles when they feel their contributions matter.
Improved collaboration
Recognising employees can help bring teams together.
Downloads:
References/Further reading:
Tirivayi, Nyasha, Henriette Maasen van den Brink, and Wim Groot. “Group incentives for teachers and their effects on student learning: a systematic review of theory and evidence.” School Effectiveness and School Improvement 25.4 (2014): 570-601. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09243453.2013.857697
Gomez-Mejia, Luis R., and Monica Franco-Santos. “Creating a culture of collaboration, innovation, and performance through team based incentives.” The compensation handbook: A state-of-the-art guide to compensation strategy and design (2015): 199-209. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Team-based-incentives-Creating-a-Culture-of-Collaboration-Innovation-and-Performance.pdf
Vegas, Emiliana, and Ilana Umansky. “Improving teaching and learning through effective incentives.” Incentives to improve teaching (2005): 1. https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/30271555
We hope this Toolkit has helped give you some extra reading and information about Team rewards.
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