Ideas for rewarding your team

Rewarding your team is part of your role as a leader. You need to provide them with feedback. When goals are achieved you must do something to keep the motivation high, and we would like to share some ideas about how to do it. Remember, it is not all about money. Talk to your team about what motivates them. It may be remote work, a new position, working with new clients, training… Each person’s motivations are different.

Ideas for recognizing your team’s work

• Say “thank you”.
• Ask the president, CEO, or a senior manager to stop by and congratulate the person.
• Get a meeting or lunch date with the president, CEO, or senior manager to show appreciation for an effort.
• Leave the person a handwritten thank-you note.
• Hang up a thank-you note where everyone can see it.
• Send a handwritten letter to the person’s home, so they can show it to their family if they wish to.
• Publish the recognition on the blog, or any internal communication tool (internal magazine, internal newsletter, etc.).
• Take the person out for lunch or dinner.
• Let the employees present their achievement in a team meeting.
• Recognize the person in public at a meeting or corporate event.
• Give the person a diploma, a pin, a plaque, a medal, or a trophy.
• Name the person ‘employee of the week/month/year’.
• Organize a lunch, dinner, or party in this employee’s honor.
• Ask the person’s colleagues to give them recognition.

Rewarding ideas

There are often rewards that are much more appropriate and motivating than money. In general, people will appreciate your gesture. Many of them cost little or nothing. For example:

• Training
• More autonomy
• Greater responsibility
• Internal promotion
• Greater visibility in the organization
• Additional resources
• More flexible work schedule.
• Half-day off
• Trips
• Meal coupons
• Tickets to shows and sporting events
• A day of off.
• Merchandising items.
• Extra break time.
• A long weekend off.
• Longer lunch hour for a week/month.
• A spa session.
• A gift certificate.
• A subscription to a magazine, or an information or training service.
• Flowers.
• Books.
• A weekend trip with hotel and meals included.
• Project or training in another country.
• Toys for his/her children.
• Free courses and seminars.
• A lottery ticket.
• A VIP pass to some event, happening, or place.
• Temporary privileges: parking space, free lunch…
• New equipment: new computer, tablet, smartphone, monitor, keyboard, mouse…
• Stock options: offering a profit-sharing plan is one of the most powerful way of rewarding.
• Salary increases and/or bonuses, especially when they’re not expected. Be careful: monetary incentives have a very short effect and can turn into something people expect.