What Rewards Can You Give?

Typical rewards given in conjunction with employee recognition are:

• certificates
• plaques
• trophies or ribbons
• jewelry (pins, pendants)
• pens or desk accessories
• watches and clocks
• cash bonuses
• savings bonds
• tickets to sporting or cultural events
• vacation trips

Recognition on a shoestring budget. Even if your small business can't afford to go all out due to budget constraints, recognition is one case where the thought does count. If you can't afford something expensive, consider a nice card and a gift certificate to a restaurant. Or, consider taking the employee to lunch or just having an informal "thank you" party with cake for the employee or group of employees you want to reward.

Here are some other more inexpensive forms of recognition suggested by Rosalind Jeffries and Kathryn Wall, in "Recognition Secrets: A Succinct System for Organizational Success," Best of America HR Conference & Expo, Tampa, Florida, February 11, 1991:

• Write personal notes to employees. Jot down a message to one of your employees, recognizing him or her for better performance on the job, or write a thank you note to an employee for putting in extra time in the workplace. Use your personal stationery.
• Create a "year in review" booklet. Have a year-in-review booklet with pictures or a celebration highlighting your employees' proudest achievements of the year.
• Give courtesy time off. Grant employees an afternoon off, or even a day or two of leave for special, personal events in their lives.
• Give credit when credit is due. Remember to give credit to those who have introduced great ideas and completed special projects.
• Put up a bulletin board. Construct a bulletin board at your place of business to recognize employees through letters, memos, pictures, thank you cards, and other methods.
• Have a "Friday surprise." Surprise your staff with something nice on Friday, recognizing them for working hard or just hanging in there.
• Get a traveling trophy. Establish a trophy that goes each month to the employee exhibiting the greatest overall performance — behaviors and results — in the business.

Practice Tips Don't give awards out every day or else they will lose their meaning. Be especially careful not to give them to everyone, but only to those people whose work really stands out. Giving out awards just to give them out is a demotivator. Use them sparingly and when deserved.