Teamwork Works Best When Top Performers Are Rewarded

In this era of modest salary increases, employers are looking to differentiate rewards for their best-performing employees. Even bonus pools are not always funded at a level high enough to make up the difference in salary growth.

Giving out rewards is one of the powerful tools that companies can use to engage employees. Recognizing and rewarding achievers in your organization is vital for keeping workers happy and retaining top talent. Your team must trust you if you want your company to operate smoothly. Employee appreciation builds trust. Employee appreciation isn’t just about giving employees a pat on the back. It’s more than that. Recognition is also about the sincerity behind your actions. It’s also about creativity.

When you want to reward your top-performing employees, you have to go beyond promotions and pay raises. Money isn’t enough for all workers to feel happy and motivated in their jobs.

Rewarding your top-performing employees is a good idea: it’s a no-brainer. Incentivizing performance encourages people to be at their best and also helps to create a culture of friendly competition in which each employee pushes each other employee to try to maximize their performance. “You don’t want rewards to be spread like peanut butter with both average and high performers getting the same amounts,”. Identifying top performers is the most important step in this process, and employers may struggle to determine who is most deserving.

Perhaps that’s why almost 90% of organizations have some sort of rewards program in place, while 88% of employees say that it’s important to be rewarded for great work. At the same time, though, people are increasingly turning away from cash incentives, preferring other types of rewards like travel experiences, days off in lieu of simply company-wide recognition for the work that they’ve done. And so with that in mind, the question changes from “should we launch an employee rewards program?” to “what should our employee rewards scheme look like?”.

When times are tough, small business employers know that it’s important to show they value the employees they depend on. But in a world of virtual meetings and limited face-to-face interaction, how do you reward hard work without placing a large burden on your pocketbook?

If you need other creative ways to keep spirits up within your team and reward your top performers, consider these reward ideas: That’s what this post aims to address. Let’s dive in and take a look.

A “Token” of Appreciation

Lunch or Dinner with the Big Boss

A “Passion Pass”

Public Recognition. Boost Their LinkedIn Profile

Gift Cards

Pay for a Training Course

Lyft or Uber Ride Credits

Monetary rewards

Throw a Digital Party

Salary or wage increment

Certificates of Appreciation

Give The Gift Of Fitness

Throw A Surprise Party

Give Out Vacation Days

If you show appreciation for your team, most employees will work harder. However, employees want more than a certificate of recognition once a year. Here’s where you get to show your sincere appreciation for your team. The best recognition programs recognize employees’ wants and needs. However, they should also align with your company values. When done correctly, a recognition program has a positive impact on your company’s profits.

Appreciation and recognition do more than make one employee feel good. It has positive benefits for your entire organization.

Letting your team know you care doesn’t need to be difficult or very expensive, even in this current climate. A bit of creativity is all it takes to deliver something memorable your employees will value. Let’s end with a word of warning. A rewards program can be a great way to improve employee engagement, but only if you’re measuring the right metrics.

“To win the marketplace, you must first win in the workplace.”

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