Creating a Well Balanced Employee Rewards Program

A fundamental reason that some employee reward schemes struggle to deliver a measurable return on the investment is that they aren’t tailored to the needs of the individual employees in question or effectively aligned to wider organisational goals. It can be time consuming to create a reward scheme that engages the majority of the workforce and this guide will help you to get it right.

Create Categories

A great employee reward scheme means different things to different people and one way to make sure that your scheme motivates employees to put in 100% each day is to provide them with multiple reward options. One way to do this is to create categories when it comes to choosing the criteria and the rewards themselves. Make sure that your rewards program has a good mix of incentives from retirement plans to health and wellness perks. Including the benefits that complement your company and the employees that work for you is crucial, so ask yourself if you have the correct combination of benefit options. When researching the perfect benefit scheme, turn to your employees for advice and use this feedback to construct a scheme that is relevant.

Style and Substance

Everything about your reward scheme should look professional and create a buzz that encourages employees to get involved. However, it needs to do so much more than simply look the part. Your reward scheme needs to have both style and substance but while you need to take the time to make sure each aspect of the employee rewards program is well developed; you should also be selective. It is essential that every part of the scheme is beneficial to your employees rather than simply bulking it out. Analyse every part of the scheme to make sure that it complements your company goals and employee requirements. Peer-to-peer recognition, opportunity for progression and flexible working are all popular benefits but a successful rewards program isn’t simply about offering employees every benefit but those that they covet the most.

Evaluate Regularly

When launching your reward scheme, you may think that you have ticked every box. However, the dynamic of your workforce changes all the time and as a result you will need to go back to your reward scheme regularly to ensure it still meets the required criteria. What works for you when first introducing the scheme may not still be as effective twelve months down the line so it is important to evaluate regularly. Measuring the success of your reward scheme on a regular basis will help you to see how the benefits you have chosen are performing. For example, if your workforce has seen an influx of millennials in recent months, you should ask yourself what the main motivators of employees in this age range are and if your employee reward scheme reflects this.

Is your employee rewards program performing as well as it could be? Follow the three steps above to tweak and tailor your employee benefit scheme to improve the success of your company and keep your valued employees satisfied.

Take a look at our employee reward programs here.