Employee incentives are a smart business decision for both improving the workflow of your company as well as keeping your employees happy and productive. Choosing incentives can be difficult because you want to be sure that your incentives are economically efficient and appropriate, but still exciting. Here are some things to keep in mind as you attempt to make your employee incentives just a bit more personal.
- Usefulness
The most important thing to remember is that your incentives need to be useful. For example, if you know that many of your employees have families, then you could offer a day trip to children’s play zones. This offers a way for the incentive to be more personalized to the individual family, isn’t too expensive, and offers a way for your employees to relax both in the office and outside of work. - Choices
When offering personalized incentives, make sure to offer a wide variety. This allows you to offer many different choices for your employees without appearing to aim incentives at certain people which can be perceived as favoritism. So if you offer the day at a play zone, also offer trips to the gym or even certain paid days off of work. You may even consider offering a paid dinner at a restaurant but allow the employee to choose the location. Giving employees the choice of their incentive not only gives them goals to work towards but can also create a feeling of having control over the special benefits they are receiving. - Professionalism
When offering more personalized options, it is important to remember that you are still the boss. Do not offer incentives that could potentially harm the relationship between boss and employee. You can be friendly, but be sure to keep yourself in a position of authority and respect. For this reason, don’t offer incentives that require near intrusion into the lives of employees. Offering a dinner is fine, but offering rewards that take place at the employee’s coming wedding is too personal. - Frugality
While having a diversified and wide range of options for incentives is beneficial, do not spend too much. Offering a meal is good, but offering a meal that costs upwards of $250 is most likely too much. These incentives are meant to encourage work and boost both productivity and (hopefully) eventual profits. Don’t use up all of your profit on rewards for your employees. While this can make you a popular boss, it won’t make you a good businessman.
