Think Outside the Box: Creative Ways to Reward Your Employees

Wellness awards are important to encourage on-going, healthy behaviors in your workforce. These are also important to your recognition program as they apply to all employees. There are no “winners” and “losers”; everyone can get involved and participate! Some wellness award ideas include:

• Receiving Annual Flu Shot
• Tobacco Cessation Program Completion
• Walking / Mileage Club
• Preventative Care Visit
• Dental Cleaning
• Participating in Organized Race
• Selecting Primary Care Provider

Excellence / Above and Beyond Awards

Have your employees demonstrated behaviors that go above and beyond what is expected of them in their normal job descriptions? They need to be recognized! Again, there should not be clear “winners” and “losers”; your staff is not a sports team competing in a contest. Remember to award performance, not people.  How can you structure awards for excellence?

• Focus on immediate or on-the-spot recognition of great behaviors; awards should be timely.
• Award specifically for a certain action; don’t be generic.
• Keep an open mind about what excellence means; the employee working overtime to complete a project should get a pat on the back but so should the employee who helped clean up after the company picnic or made a great cost-savings suggestion.

Employee Referrals

Most employers know the struggle of hiring a reliable, talented workforce. One way to make sure you have quality candidates is by incentivizing employee referrals from your own staff! Referral bonuses can be offered as cash, but non-cash awards options and programs that allow employees to choose their own awards are very effective. It can be simple to roll an employee referral program into your existing recognition program; view our incentive program options to see how easily data can be collected for your referrals!