It’s important in business to find the best ways to boost employee morale and engagement. As an employer, it’s essential to find ways to show your employees that you appreciate their hard work and dedication.
One effective way to do this is through the use of employee rewards – but how do you know the best employee rewards to give without spending 16 hours trawling Google shopping? (Don’t forget you will need another 4 hours to convince your manager for the budget to do something seriously amazing…) Don’t fall into that trap – keep on reading instead.
With decades of sorting out rewards for the biggest names around, we have all the tips on what to do to nail your platform, programme, points or prizes -all with a decent ROI for your time and energy.
You need a simple, effective reward strategy.
Let’s jump in with the 3 tips to get it right.
1) Start with a survey
What gift would you buy a man born in 1948, lived in a castle and was basically royalty?
A dignified piece of glassware? A civilised scarf set?
Well, it might be great for King Charles – but for Ozzy Osbourne, who also fits the exact same demographic, that’s probably not going to hit the mark.
That’s why the answer is to survey your employees first. Would they want a onecode gift card to redeem with many retailers? Would they like a digital gift card? A survey is the best way to find out how to boost employee morale.
Survey questions you can ask include:
– How often would you like to be rewarded (little and often, or a larger reward over longer tenure)
– Do you prefer digital or physical rewards?
– Would you like a reward that can be shared with your team?
– Would you like a reward to share with your family?
– Would you like a reward that is time limited to ensure you use it?
– Would you consider ‘adding’ or topping up a reward balance?
– How would you like to see your reward history?
– How would you like your reward promoted – is public recognition important?
You can then take this survey data and put it to work for you, finding out the most popular gift categories and items or experiences. Once you have this information, you can begin to create a strategy around your employee gifts.
Break this down into your budget. You can choose a few options.
- Cost per annum
- Cost per employee
- Cost per gift
- Cost per department
Scope out the costs of each item with a supplier. You can browse the Simply Thank You shop to take a look at some of the prices for things like wine, hampers, food gifts, luxury items and so on.
This can provide a good starting point. Don’t forget that the UK also has a £50 tax-free option for employee rewards to take advantage of as well, so you can start to pull together ideas that sit under this. Again, we are happy to help here and have expert employee engagement specialists who can work with you to boost employee morale and engagement in your workplace.
2) Implement the changes across your workforce in a controlled fashion
Start with a discussion with the board on the ROI. Discover the key stats where you would like to see drivers of change – employee churn rates, absences, unplanned leave, mental health statistics and survey outcomes, NPS scores – any data that can really help benchmark where you are as a business.
This helps draw a picture of what will work for you.
It’s then time to get the message out! Employers can launch a programme of reward communication – broadcast it across emails, posters, intranet and social media. You can also share case studies of successes from similar companies that have implemented employee rewards programmes to explain your hopes and aspirations. This will instantly begin to boost employee morale.
Employees should be clear on how to earn gift rewards, when they are given what for, and how long the scheme is piloted for.
You might be interested in seeing
– Engagement on your platform
– Positive / negative talk around the changes in person or on comms changes
– Number of employees signing up for the scheme
– Feedback on the gift and reward selection given in the programme
This can all help you measure success and make improvements in the way you boost employee morale.
Step 3: Report the success metrics
The last step is to monitor and review your employee reward system – make it ongoing. Find out what works, and what doesn’t and keep adapting to boost employee morale and engagement.
The great thing about employee rewards is that they are personal to your company, and when it comes to reports, you will find your own ways to boost employee morale. It’s a key part of your strategy though – showcasing the success of your reward programme and the positive impact it has on employee morale will help you secure further investment and can act as a springboard to even more changes in the workplace, a must for any dedicated people manager.
We use a full reporting suite on our reward platforms that can take HR and sales data and combine them to create powerful insights! We’d love to show you more.
