15 Ways To Reward Your Employees Without Spending Money

Much of the company’s success is owed to its most valuable asset—its employees. If not for a productive and efficient human resource, the organization would find it hard to thrive. That being said, nurturing your staff and rewarding their well-being should be considered as one of the top priorities. 

There are many ways you can show appreciation for your employees’ performance without cash involved. Creating a community where one can be free to express ideas, have opportunities for career advancement, and feel a sense of belonging are important for keeping your staff motivated.    

Below are examples of how you can reward your employees without spending:

1. Be Generous With Compliments     

Being acknowledged for a job well done is enough motivation to work harder. Make sure you’re always recognizing your top-performing staff in meetings, newsletters, or other forms of company announcements.        

While it’s great to focus on accomplishments such as hitting a monthly sales goal, closing a big-ticket transaction, or surpassing monthly and yearly targets, also commend the efforts spent by your staff or department to achieve pre-set objectives. 

For a more practical way, you could send a card with your handwritten congratulatory note on it. If you have no idea how to do this, you can find more information on this site and learn about gift cards.  

2. Facilitate Peer-to-peer Praises

Who says only bosses can provide words of encouragement and praise? Everyone can nurture a community of positivity by setting aside a portion for colleagues who have something nice to say about other people in the office whom they had the chance to work with on a specific project or assignment. 

Shania Brenson, the co-founder of 15M Finance, strictly believes that a healthy work environment is the key to building a team that is engaged in reaching common business goals. “Praise, both from the boss and colleagues, is a strong motivator along with material incentives. This is what helps us build healthy communication in the team. We spend a significant part of our lives working, so it’s crucial to make your employees feel comfortable. People who enjoy their work are more likely to lead the company to success.”

3. Make Them Feel Valued 

Employees who feel they’re being heard and taken care of could make them feel valued. This strengthens their motivation and sense of belonging, even without the attached price tag. You could easily connect with them by asking them how they are and their loved ones. Be a friend to them and not just an officemate.

4. Include Them in Decision-making Processes 

Instead of announcing new company policies and guidelines, allow your staff to have a say before changing rules, especially those which would directly affect them such as the workflow and other systems in place. Conduct a survey where they don’t have to write their names, so they can properly express their reservations without fear of retaliation.

5. Enhance Employee Engagement

Find other ways to enhance employee engagement as this can make your staff be attached at an emotional level to their work. Because of employee satisfaction, your workers will feel great about their job and have high respect for their colleagues. An engaged employee is always willing to show loyalty and likely exceed performance expectations.

6. Build Trust 

It’s normal for newly hired employees to require guidance from a mentor. But if you continue to hover around them and look for mistakes, your employees will feel demotivated. Once you know what your staff is capable of, provide less supervision. Give them some leeway on how to approach their work. Make them feel they can be trusted even if they commit mistakes at times.  

7. Provide Guidance

At the same time, provide much-needed guidance. Having the right kind of help in times of need will show trust in your employee when faced with a specific workplace-related dilemma. For new employees, training them thoroughly during onboarding would greatly help. 

8. Show Concern And Offer Flexibility

If an incident happens to an employee or someone important to them, allow working flexible hours or taking an extended leave. In instances where an employee is incapable of reporting due to pressing issues at home, consider a work-from-home arrangement.

9. Provide Perks And Privileges

Small perks like offering a free spa appointment for an employee who has done an amazing job, giving discount coupons, extending break times, and other small things can help your employees enjoy working for your company better. Rewarding them individually would make them feel appreciated. Recognizing their efforts can be as a rewarding as a perk. Some companies gift their outstanding employees with challenge coins to honor their work and accomplishments.

10. Offer Time Off 

Working long hours has accompanying health risks, so discourage your staff from working late. Manage their hours to finish their work assignment. You could also reward your hardworking staff with a day off or a few hours of shortened work on a Friday to have a long weekend.

11. Be Creative With Break times 

A healthy employee is a productive staff member, so having breaks is imperative. Sitting on their desks for hours takes a toll on their health. Make 10 to 15-minute break times mandatory in your office. Have them leave their desks and walk around the premises or make coffee in the pantry. Also, have them use a lounge in a special room where they can de-stress or meditate. 

12. Invest In Their Success 

Apart from offering special projects and assignments to your employees, show the company’s commitment to upgrading their skills by offering them specialized training. 

Training offered internally may be a great start, but be open to other opportunities as well. For instance, offer hospitality and room service training to your office cleaning staff. Pay for the costs of your office engineer who wants to attend a seminar on continued learnings and updates on modern engineering procedures.    

13. Encourage Autonomy 

Ask your employees about a task they find interesting, and empower them by letting them work on projects of their choice. This provides great motivation and reward since it shows the company’s trust in their abilities and strengths.

However, don’t forget that communication and collaboration are important in any organization, so make sure your employees can still do these things while working on specific projects.   

14. Schedule An All-company Activity

All work and no fun could make employees bored and unmotivated. There’s no better way to express gratitude to your employees other than celebrating it in or out of the office. Appreciate your employees’ efforts with an afternoon pizza or a cocktail after work. On weekends, consider hosting a family day.

15. Build Personal Relations With Your Staff

Knowing your staff beyond the confines of their cubicles makes them view your company as compassionate. Take time to know about their hobbies and passions. Building a relationship with them also impacts how they feel towards the management and the company, boosting employee engagement and satisfaction.  

The Bottom Line 

Taking every opportunity to appreciate and reward employees is essential in every organization. If you’re not sure what kind of reward your team wants, ask them and give it to them, as long as it’s reasonable.

Money doesn’t always have to be involved in providing incentives. With specific actions and free perks, you’ll get a more productive and engaged team, which is worth more than any paycheck