How To Create an Incentive Program for Employees

Get Buy-In From Other Departments

Gaining leadership buy-in at your company is a crucial first step. For a rewards program to be successful, leaders across all departments must understand that recognition plays a significant role in keeping employees engaged. Connect with the leaders at your organization to learn about their goals and objectives. As a team, you’ll want to discuss:

• Your current budget for incentives
• Your unique goals and objectives
• If current incentives effectively motivate employees and reward their performance

Determine How Much the Program Will Cost

The rewards you offer don’t have to be expensive or grand. Giving smaller tokens of appreciation more frequently can create immediate satisfaction, making employees feel valued for going the extra mile in the actual moment.

Keep in mind, your employee incentive program should be both cost effective and time sensitive. Having to leave the office to purchase physical gifts, cards, or meals is disruptive to your workers’ productivity. Ordering a catered lunch for the group can also be time consuming. Ultimately, accessing your rewards should be quick and convenient.

Establish How Incentives Will Be Earned

The rewards you offer don’t have to be expensive or grand. Giving smaller tokens of appreciation more frequently can create immediate satisfaction, When setting parameters, the first step is to establish who you’re rewarding and why. How incentives are earned should be consistent across all departments. Different programs—whether it’s manager incentivization or peer-to-peer recognition—will require different parameters and budgets.

Decide What Incentives Will Be Given

What incentives should you offer? Gift cards are by far the easiest, most flexible option. They’re especially effective because employees know they can redeem them for something they truly want. And, if the gift cards are presented in a personalized, thoughtful way, your employees will know how much you appreciate their service.

Keep in mind, without an established partner to streamline gift card delivery, the process can become very manual. You want to avoid being in a situation where you’re constantly visiting stores to purchase gift cards directly—and figuring out how to securely store them.

Here’s a look at how popular rewards stack up against each other, from cash and merchandise to gift cards and clothing.

Launch Your Rewards Program

Now that you have a plan in place, it’s time to share it. In your company-wide communications, include the reasoning behind the new program and how it works.

For future employees, include the information in their onboarding materials. Your incentive program can be an excellent recruitment tool as well. Let candidates know your company cares about their employees and highlight how your leadership team looks for ways to show their appreciation for excellent work and service.

You’ll also want to stay on top of your reporting to track its effectiveness and to spot any trends. If it turns out that your employees respond well to rewards programs, consider running them monthly or quarterly, making sure to change them up so they don’t get stale. With good reporting, you’ll have an extra tool to find which employees should be next in line for a promotion or raise.