Employee incentives have a way of both motivating your team members while simultaneously letting them know how much you value and appreciate them. When done right, these programs and ideas can do a lot for your business.
Coming up with new ideas for keeping your team inspired and excited is not always easy, especially when trying to balance everything else that goes along with running a business.
There are several things to keep in mind when choosing incentives for your employees. These include:
- Their interests
- Age demographic
- Level of activity
- What your business has the capacity for
Motivate Your Employees with These Incentive Ideas
Here are some employee incentive ideas you can implement that will excite your team and probably make your life a little bit easier.
Offer Flexible Hours
For some employees, work-life balance and time away from the office are much more important than a bonus or even a promotion.
Work is important, but in order for your employees to perform their best, they need to be fulfilled in other areas of their lives as well. Showing some leniency with hours and scheduling can go a long way when it comes to keeping your employees happy.
Some of our favorite ways to offer flexible hours to employees include:
Summer Fridays
Let your employees leave early or take Fridays off during the summer months. This is especially motivating for those employees that have school-aged kids they’d like to spend more time with over summer vacation.
Late Start Mondays
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Monday’s are rough, and that is just a fact. A late start every now and then never hurts anyone. Instead of having everyone come in at 8am, have them come in at 10am. You will be amazed at how much of a difference it makes, and how it can potentially remedy a case of the Monday’s.
Half Days on Fridays
If you’re not so thrilled about giving time off on Friday’s for the whole summer, consider throwing in a half day every now and then throughout the whole year.
When the workload is low, and there’s not much to do, offer employees the option to take a half day and get an early start to their weekend. They’ll be much more likely to come back on Monday feeling newly energized and driven.
Work From Home Options
Last, but certainly not least, is the option for your employees to work from home. If this is something your company can accommodate, it’s definitely an incentive idea that is worth considering. Unlike the other options we mentioned, the work still gets done, and your employees feel like they’re getting a treat. It is truly the best of both worlds.
Extra PTO hours
The problem with late start options and half day incentives are that a lot of employees may opt out, regardless of whether or not they truly want to.
A solution that accounts for this nicely is to offer extra paid time off. For those employees who don’t feel comfortable taking advantage of the other flexible scheduling options, this can go a very long way. Extra PTO hours allow employees to take a day or two off based on their own schedule and workload – this is both good for you and your employees because it doesn’t disrupt work in any way.
Send Teams to a Conference
We know. This doesn’t sound like much fun at first. But the truth is, a great conference (in a really awesome place) can actually be extremely beneficial.
Take your employees to a conference or convention somewhere exciting, like in the mountains or somewhere tropical during the cooler months. Exploring a new location and gaining some more knowledge will be an experience they’ll always remember–even if it is work-related.
The fact that you were willing to invest in their advancement and splurge for them to go somewhere fun will make them feel appreciated and valued. The hope is that this feeling will stick with them on the trip home, so they can use those positive emotions to apply all the things they just learned.
Send Employees on a Vacation
Has there ever been a better way to make someone feel appreciated than treating them to a free vacation? Maybe, but we highly doubt it.
The bottom line: Travel incentives work. This incentive can be something as simple as a weekend getaway somewhere closeby, or an all-expenses-paid trip to the beach. No matter which way you choose to go, your people will be excited about it. Who doesn’t love a break from reality every now and then?
Have Their House Professionally Cleaned
This is one of those things that most of us can probably appreciate.
As Americans, most of us work a lot of hours every week. It can be extremely easy to let things pile up around the house when we’re strained in other areas of our lives.
Professional house cleaning is a unique and effective way to show your employees some love. It’s also something that most people wouldn’t purchase for themselves, which kind of makes it the perfect gift.
And besides, who wouldn’t want to come home to a sparkling clean space after a long day at the office?
Note: If you want to incorporate this type of incentive reward, make sure you get your employees permission. The surprise of having a clean home is wonderful, but the idea of having someone in your home without your knowledge is not so wonderful. Many cleaning companies offer gift certificates; we suggest you give your employee that instead of scheduling a surprise cleaning.
Happy Hours
The happy hour employee incentive is perfect for teams who are killing it and performing well at work. Reward them with a little bit of laid back fun and watch it work wonders for morale.
This time together is also great for building camaraderie and establishing a workplace culture. The better your employees know each other, the easier it will be for them to spend time together at the office every day. You never know–if they all like each other, they might even start to look forward to coming to work on Monday morning.
Gift Cards
Gift cards are always a great way to reward your employees, no matter what business you’re in. They are especially effective, however, for sales contests and competitions. Putting a gift card on the table for great performance on a Friday afternoon is a great way to inspire employees to stay motivated when they’re so clearly already dreaming about the coming weekend.
If you decide to use gift cards as an employee incentive idea, we suggest Amazon or restaurant gift certificates. After all, we all have to eat, and well, Amazon is… Amazon. Enough said.
If you are interested in rewarding your employees and creating a travel incentive program, contact the experts at MTI Events today!
