by Sarah Bammel

Created on: May 27, 2009   Last Updated: December 05, 2010

Rewarding employees can be a difficult task. The employee or employees have to feel it is a fair reward and it can’t put the company out of business.

Bonuses and raises are a reward that everyone thinks of first, but there are other ways to give money as a reward. Gift cards are a great way to reward employees. A cheap gift card for gasoline equals a few days of free travel. Instant lottery tickets are another good idea. You could even take it a step further and make a game out of getting these items by creating a raffle with the lottery tickets or gift cards as a reward.  

Company parties are a way for employees to kick back with co-workers and forget about the job.  Another plus to company parties is if they happen during office hours. There is nothing better than a small vacation, and if the office closes even an hour early so employees can go to the party is bonus enough. Then to be able to just have fun, and possibly meet some family members of your co-workers can be a great experience.

The parties don’t have to be big events; they can be really simple and cheap. Bringing in a few cakes (depending on how large a group) or a pancake breakfast with sausage to compliment a department or team for a job well done or celebrate meeting or exceeding a production goal the company set.

Office games are another great way of rewarding employees. A game of office Bingo could be played to encourage employees to go green and turn in binders no longer needed and recycle papers kept in their desk and have needed  papers scanned and then saved to their computers. And for each binder or so many papers being recycled or scanned be given a Bingo board. The numbers drawn could be distributed via the intranet or email to the employees, who could then turn in their winning Bingo boards for a prize.

Raffles are another fun game. Once my whole department played a raffle, even though a few of the prizes were little knickknacks like trinkets from a few of our vendors, we all still had fun looking over what everyone chose, and a few lucky winners got instant lottery tickets.

Rewarding employees does not have to be difficult; it can be as simple as a thank-you or a gift card. Parties and games add the element of fun and keep employees thinking happy thoughts. Promotions are a reward given to the employees that want to move up the ladder and have shown their commitment to the company and the job.

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