When you reward your staff, you are showing them that their efforts are not in vain. It can be very easy for a staff member to treat their job as just another clock-in-clock-out 9-5. This means that they won’t go above and beyond their roles. And most importantly, you aren’t getting as much out of your team as you could be.

Rewarding your staff minimises the risk of this happening and it means that the small rewards you give out can quickly materialise into staff being more motivated and the creation of a more productive workforce.

The outcomes of rewarding your staff

There are two main outcomes of rewarding your staff and they are:

1. Productivity increases

When your staff are incentivised to work harder, they put in more effort and creativity into their tasks. Their additional effort turns into increased productivity – meaning that they’ll get more done in a day and they’ll get it done better.

This improved business could mean the difference between being able to take on a new client and not having the capacity to do so. You can serve more spending customers with the same amount of staff.

2. Opportunity cost of them leaving

Another outcome of giving your staff rewards is avoiding the consequences if you don’t. The opportunity cost of replacing a staff member can be more severe than you first imagine. You will have to dedicate time to finding a replacement, training them up to do the role, and even potentially paying for any training and qualifications that they might need for the job.

If you can retain your current staff members, then you can dedicate your time and funds towards growing your business rather than patching it up.

How to reward your staff

1. Small gifts and gestures

Something as small as a birthday cake or a card can go a long way towards making a staff member feel that they are valued in a workplace. One common problem that faces employers is the fact that they don’t know how their staff feel in terms of the culture of their office. If you make steps towards bringing people together in this manner, you can ensure that your staff feel more at home at work.

2. Team meals

On that same note, you can reward your staff and enjoy a bonding experience at the same time through a staff meal. If everyone sets aside a little bit of time after work one evening, you can create a more cohesive team. If your team enjoys working together, they will produce better collaborative work in the future.

3. Flexible working hours

This might not be an option for all businesses but allowing your staff the opportunity to work at times that suit them can drastically reduce your staff turnover. For instance, if one of your employees has children, allowing them to go home at a time that means they can pick their kids up from school might make the difference between them staying and going to another position at another company that will allow them to do this.

4. Staff discounts

This is another optional reward that is entirely dependent on the industry that you operate in. But if you sell products that your staff members are interested in, offer them at a discounted rate. This means that they will feel like a part of the team rather than as a customer whenever they deal with your business at the other side of the counter.

A small decrease in the profits that you make in the sale isn’t much compared to the value that the staff member brings to your organisation.

A cash bonus

When all else fails, cash is king. Be cautious when awarding cash bonuses though – your staff may become reliant on them. But if you are looking to reward a truly exceptional performance from your team, nothing speaks quite like money does.

We can help

If you are looking to introduce bonuses into your workplace but you don’t know where to start, get in touch with our team. We can help you arrange a budget for your rewards so they help your business’s profits increase while making your staff happier at work. For more information, call us on 01235 768 561 or drop us an email to enquiries@pantheraaccounting.com – we’ll be back in touch with you shortly.