HOW TO REWARD EMPLOYEES WITHOUT CASH
How can you keep employees on top of huge expenses ? We caught up with James Kelly , Director at Red Letter Days Motivates to find out .
Research continues to show us that a lump sum of cash does not effectively motivate staff . Your employee may feel delighted by the bonus at the time , but cash tends to be swallowed up in mundane items such as household bills and the benefit your employee receives is very short lived . People also don ’ t like to talk about cash and you have to get the amount of money correct to make sure employees appreciate the reward . For example , if the bonus amount is too small you may end up demotivating your employee rather than motivating them . It ’ s a tricky one to get right .
But all is not lost as there are plenty of other ways you can reward your employees to make them feel appreciated and engaged . We recently carried out research with 2,000 UK employees to find out what really motivates them . One fifth of people ( 21 %) said they felt motivated at work all of the time ; we asked this group to name five things that motivated them at work and interestingly the ‘ cash type ’ reward , such as a pay rise , came in third place . In first place was completing a piece of work that they found particularly challenging :
The results show employees are not necessarily looking for a tangible reward to feel valued for what they do . Further evidence for this was discovered when we explored whether staff lost interest in a task when a reward wasn ’ t up for grabs . We found that the more motivated an employee is , the less the need for a carrot to be dangled in front of them to make them succeed .
This completely flips on its head for employees who are not motivated at work . For example , out of the employees who said they felt motivated at work all of the time ( 26 %), two fifths of this group said ‘ no ’ they would not lose interest in a task if a tangible reward was not up for grabs . Yet , the employees who said they didn ’ t feel motivated at work ( 15 %), two fifths of this group said they would lose interest if a reward was not available to them .
So if we don ’ t offer gifts as a reward , what else can we offer ? Well , we know setting a challenge for an employee will get them engaged in what they ’ re doing , however our research also shows that flexible working and autonomy to get on with a task is also a form of reward to employees .
We asked staff what was the most motivating thing their manager could do and almost half ( 49 %) of people said ‘ let me get on with my job ’. Close behind was ‘ say thank you and show appreciation when I have done well ’ ( 41 %) and ‘ be flexible with my hours ’ ( 24 %). The stats show that when looking for other ways to reward employees above and beyond cash it ’ s important to think outside the box . You could set employees a challenge and mark the occasion if the challenge is met , reward their hard work and dedication
TOP FIVE
THINGS THAT MOTIVATED EMPLOYEES FOUND MOTIVATING
1 . Completing a piece of work that is challenging ( 37 %)
2 . Learning new things to help with development ( 32 %)
3 . A pay rise ( 31 %)
4 . Finding a solution for a difficult problem ( 30 %)
5 . Receiving a reward for doing a good job ( 25 %)
by allowing them to work flexible hours to fit in with their lifestyle , or reward them with your trust and give them the freedom to carry out , run and manage a difficult task on their own .
However , as there will always be a need for a tangible reward the best alternative to cash is a gift voucher . We asked employees which award they would like to receive from their employer and even though a third ( 31 %) said cash – next on the wish list was a gift voucher . A voucher that can be spent across a wide range of brands , shops and restaurants is a more rewarding alternative to cash as you can more or less guarantee that it will be spent on your employee – not general expenses . A voucher is more personal too . Your employee will feel recognition towards their company when buying and using their purchase , giving the gift a longer lasting motivational effect . The purchase will also create a memory which is invaluable when it comes to employee engagement .
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