Top 5 Tips for Rewarding and Investing in Your Workforce

Motivating and encouraging your employees to reach their full potential can be a struggle, traditionally this has all been about promotions, pay rises and big bonuses. In recent years, there has been a bit of a shift in how employers reward and invest in their workforce, as we are quickly learning that employee engagement comes from a range of different incentives other than just financial benefits. All too often employers perceive employee reward schemes and incentive programmes as an expense instead of an investment. However, both you and your employees will benefit from having a decent reward programme in place.

When recognition and rewards are organised and implemented correctly, they can have a positive impact on both ROI and staff satisfaction. The best kind of reward scheme will be focused on encouraging and motivating your employees to be the best they can be, and it isn’t about throwing more money at them in the form of pay rises and bonus schemes. It’s about investing in employees in various ways as opposed to just financial benefits. Michael Kalli, Commercial Director at The Dining Club Group shares his top 5 tips for rewarding and investing in your workforce without pay rises:

Promote ownership and entrepreneurship

For most employees it takes more than just monetary incentives to motivate and encourage them long term. As a company you should provide trust, ownership and performance management for your workforce. Every member of your staff should be treated as though they are their own entrepreneur. Your employees should feel a sense of pride and ownership over their work and job role and giving them the freedom and support to really embrace their position as their own is a great incentive for them to stay with you long term. With this mindset of leadership, you will design a positive work culture where any further incentives are a real added bonus for an already engaged and motivated team.

Create an inspiring work environment

One of the most important aspects of any employees working day is their workspace. If you provide your team with an inspiring and well-suited work environment, they will be more motivated to work hard and put in the hours. It is so important to give your employees a workspace that they enjoy coming to every day, and this can be one of the biggest incentives of all. Your business’s work environment should be designed around the people not the building and you can create a range of areas and setups for various needs whilst at work. Investing in your work environment is a great way to improve productivity and the overall happiness of your staff.

Plan learning and development

A major way of driving engagement is through investing in your team’s growth and development. Plan in advance any career progression opportunities and provide your staff with relevant development programmes. Investing in your employees learning is a great business investment as well as an incentive and benefit for your staff members. Implement a learning plan for every employee and invest in sending them on relevant training and development courses.

Invest in team building

For most individuals, one of the biggest factors in workplace happiness is the people and team members they work alongside. Investing in and encouraging your team to bond is a great motivator; not only are you rewarding your staff with some fun team building days out, but also enhancing their work environment by improving their work relationships. You don’t have to spend huge amounts on expensive team building activity days, simple social occasions are often enough to get a small team to bond. Try organising a monthly Friday lunch in the local pub or a staff sports day.

Recognise good performance

Every employee wants respect, responsibility and freedom in their roles, but they also want recognition and reassurance that they are doing a good job. Regular coaching and appraisals are a great way to help your team members know where they stand and offering reward for excellent performance is an added perk. Rewards don’t always have to be financial gain such as a bonus but can instead be an extra holiday day or membership to a discount dining club group.

Your employees will never feel the same way you do about your business. They won’t have the urge to do a little bit of work on a Saturday night like you might, but that is because it is your business and not theirs. Investing both time and money into your team will motivate and encourage them to work hard, whilst also boosting staff satisfaction and retention rates. If you can help every employee to feel like their own entrepreneur within their role, you will reap the benefits of a positive and motivated workforce.