Rewarding employees can become trite and lose its meaning. Sometimes coming up with interesting ways to recognize exceptional employees like presenting a public reward or giving an innovative gift such as a gift card, instead of cash can make the reward more meaningful. Here are a few quick criteria for keeping meaning in your employee rewards program.
- Spell out the criteria- Be clear about how employees can qualify to win rewards. Define what it takes to be a top performer.
- Customize prizes- Giving gift cards is a fantastic way to customize gifts. Offering gift cards to an employee's favorite retailer is a great way to customize the reward without breaking a budget.
- Recognize multiple top performers- This prevents an employer from placing arbitrary limits on which employees can be recognized. If many employees perform exceptionally, recognize them all.
- Limit the kind of awards- Recognizing employees for a limited number of specific skills maintains the meaning of the awards and the opportunity to recognize employees with unique skills.
