50 Ways to Recognize and Reward Employees
An income is only part of the story when it comes to having a successful work life within a company. If you want to experience more meaningful (and less expensive) ways to show appreciation for your employees, here are 50 ways to implement employee recognition on a budget.
- Celebrate Birthdays – A common form of employee recognition, to show that everyone deserves to be remembered on their birthday.
- A Thank You Note – A personal thank you note goes a long way, and can be treasured by your employees in the long run. You can even create a formal letter of their deeds, using the company’s seal to give the letter something extra.
- Thank You Video – Create a simple, fun, and shareable video of recognition for your employee.
- Premium Parking – Parking can be a great form of employee recognition.
- Company-Branded Gear – These can be most effective when the gear is the best quality and useful for the employee (and especially fun when there’s a limited quantity available) (i.e – branded T-shirts, jackets, etc.)
- Day Off Passes (PTO) – An extra day off from work is great for employees. Those that are paid off, stackable or choosable…even better.
- Travel Subsidy – For teams that travel frequently, these can provide a nice incentive to take a trip and help strengthen bonds across your team members.
- Flexible Work Options – Give your workers the freedom to work where they work best.
- Catered Meals – Breakfast, lunch, dinner…it’s all on you when you serve up some delicious meals as a reward for your employees.
- Gift Cards/Packages – Think of credits to their favorite restaurant or add-ons to their Starbucks cards.
- DIY Trophies – If you’re feeling crafty and like to get creative, make a custom trophy or gift basket that contains an assortment of gifts.
- Wine Tasting or Brewery Tour – If your employees like to drink a bottle of beer or a glass of wine, send them to a local brewery or winery to up their taste level.
- Points Reward System – Reward employees with a point system or custom tokens. At the end of a certain period, allow them to redeem what they’ve collected for gifts and other prizes.
- Life Coach – Hire your employees a life coach to work with them on whatever they want. Be cautious though on how you present this one, as you want to make sure it’s seen as a reward, not a hidden agenda to fix something.
- Wall of Fame – Create a wall of fame for each recognized employee, and list what they did for their recognition.
- Founder’s Wall – An upgrade to the wall of fame for employees, start with a short description and timeline of how they have contributed to where the company is today.
- PR Release – Run a press release or tell your local paper about your employee’s success.
- New Toys – Think of useful tech accessories such as headphones, speakers or a new phone.
-
Bring The Pets – Allow your employee to bring their pet to work (if appropriate).
-
Company Newsletter – Address your employee’s success in a print or digital format to the entire company.
-
Perk Your Part-Timers – Make sure to give part-timers fair acknowledgments for their contribution to the workplace.
-
Thank the Entire Family – Send gifts and acknowledgments to your employees’ family in situations where they have to work longer hours or are taken away from their family for work-related reasons.
-
Start a Team – Whether it be a sports or fantasy team, the idea is to build relationships, camaraderie, and respect among employees.
-
Claim The Name – Name a product or award after an outstanding employee who invents or contributes to the new process, product or service.
-
Mentor Time – Give the gift of your time and attention and offer to coach your employees’.
-
Collectors’ Gift – Find out what your employee’s passions, hobbies or interests are. Then give them a gift in that field (i.e – a coin for their coin collection).
-
Movie Tickets – Gift them a few movie tickets and the time off to go see their favorite movie during the workday.
-
Charitable Donation – Find out what their favorite charity is and donate to it in their honor.
-
Spa Day – Give them a day of relaxation and special treatment at a luxury spa.
-
Cover a Major Expense – Help ease your employees’ financial worries by contributing to a major payment or purchase for that individual. (i.e – a mortgage payment, car payment, tuition, etc.)
-
Family Day – Set aside an afternoon for employees to bring in family to your workplace, and showcase the company and the work that your employees do.
-
Their Own Personal Assistant – Hire a temporary assistant for a period of time to help them with whatever work tasks they have.
-
Subscription Coverage – Pay for a subscription of their choosing. (i.e – magazines, gym membership, etc.)
-
A New Chair – Many employees sit for at least eight hours a day, so a new comfortable, supportive chair can definitely make the best reward.
-
VIP Meet-N-Greet – Introduce an employee to the “VIPs” in your organization, to signify how important your employee is to the company.
-
Adult Education – Pay for one adult education class of their choosing. (i.e – Cooking classes, dance classes, etc.)
-
Taxi Service – Many employees have spouses or other people dependent on them for rides. Offer free taxi service for those individuals who rely on your employee when you’ve asked them to work longer hours.
-
Concert Tickets – Pay for an event or music festival of their choice
-
Training and Conferences – Provide training opportunities to high performing employees, or send them to an annual conference they’d enjoy.
-
Music – If you let your business play music in the background, allowing your employees to control the playlists can be a one-up for your workday.
-
Website Recognition – List your top-performing employees on your website to leave a better digital footprint for their work.
-
Pay it Forward – Develop a unique award that employees pass among each other as an expression of recognition.
-
Training Videos – Put high-performing employees in training videos to give them exposure for the knowledge and skill set they’ve acquired.
-
Different Dress Code – Break the norm and do casual days to help set the mood for your best employees.
-
Trade Workspaces – See the fun that may happen when you sit at different desks!
-
Show Respect in Everything You Do and Say – Simple, and effective. Your employees go through a lot to earn their place and their respect for the work they’ve done, and giving them that respect would show you understand the path they took to get there.
