Being thrusted into the world of remote working like we have this year can bring its challenges for both managers and employees; including the way in which we recognise and reward performance whilst working from home.
The rewards system that you had in place pre-covid may no longer serve you (or your staff), so it’s time to reinvent them and find creative ways to praise, encourage and reward your staff when they deserve it.
Here are five creative ways you can easily implement as a business that will keep your staff engaged, rewarded and motivated whilst they work remotely.
- Home deliveries
There’s nothing better than receiving an unexpected home delivery of treats that you didn’t order yourself. These could include wellbeing benefits such as veg boxes, a pamper gift set or healthy home snacks to help people get through their working day at home.
Focusing your gift box on employee health isn’t just a nice gesture, it’s also good business. Companies who invest in health and wellness actually save money in the long run by reducing absenteeism and productivity-loss due to illness.
2. Virtual Awards Evenings
Being able to publicly recognise outstanding performance is a great way to motivate and inspire your team. Whilst we may not be able to get together in person, we can still acknowledge employees with virtual awards evenings.
We recommend keeping these short and sweet as more people are suffering from “Zoom fatigue.” 30-minute monthly team virtual social meet ups that recognise your top performers for the month is a nice way to say thank you and motivate others too.
3. Digital Rewards Platform
Sign-up your business to a digital rewards platform such as Reward Me Now, Perk Box and Reward Gateway that offer your staff discounts to UK retail and hospitality brands once they reach certain targets. This gives your employees access to their very own rewards scheme with a digital leader board that provide invaluable peer to peer recognition and a happier, more motivated and productive workforce.
Managing reward through software also makes it easier for managers to understand the effectiveness of reward budgets and which reward types are most popular amongst employees.
4. Spotify Premium or Apple Music subscription
Reward your employees with a premium account to their music streaming service of choice where they can create their own playlist and share it with your team.
5. Health and wellbeing rewards
Employee wellbeing has never been more important, particularly as people need some incentive to keep healthy and active. Some companies are introducing daily health and fitness targets such as walking a certain number of steps each day and rewarding them when they reach certain targets.
Working from home can be an isolating and disorienting experience for your employees who are used to seeing their peers every day at the office. Introducing creative rewards gives them another reason to stay motivated and focused on goals that are important to your business, and that don’t rely on face-to-face contact.
Have you downloaded our HR guidance documents to help with engagement and communication yet? They map out some of the areas you can focus on to assist in improving your employee engagement and why it is important to do so.
