Rewards are all about recognition and motivation. Can you still remember that moment you received money or a toy when you showed your school report card to one of your family members? Or that moment you got your first promotion? In this blog, we will show you how to properly reward your employees so they feel motivated to work for your company.

Increase motivation

Let’s start off with the basics of motivation. Motivation is one’s direction to behavior and is what causes people to repeat a certain type of behavior. This motivation can be inspired by people or events (extrinsic motivation), or may come from within someone (intrinsic motivation). Research showed us that motivation is one of the most important reasons that inspires us to move forward in life. Intrinsic motivation means the self-desire to seek and complete new goals and new things. Extrinsic motivation often comes from an external reward or possible punishment. In other words, intrinsic motivation is about the game and extrinsic motivation is about the cards.

How do you apply this to motivate your employees?

External motivation can be applied by using monetary and non-monetary rewards. Implementing a reward system has to be done very precisely and according to company procedures and policies. Be sure your reward system is in line with the mission, vision and goals of your organization. If your company works with public money, too many monetary rewards can harm your reputation. You also need to take into account that riskier jobs usually have bigger rewards. Let’s talk about extrinsic motivation first.

Monetary rewards

Some examples are a salary raise, bonusses, profit sharing, stock awards, coupons, tuition fees for employees with children, retirement fund contributions, piece rates and much more. As an HR-manager, you need to be sure your employees know about these rewards from the first day they work at your company so your company can immediately profit from increased motivation. As mentioned before, be very careful with deciding monetary rewards so you won’t hurt your company reputation.

Non-monetary rewards

Examples of non-monetary rewards are appreciation letters, access to company facilities, a company car or telephone, certificates, trophies, extra vacation days, free (healthy) food from the canteen or a promotion. Since a promotion is a very important way to increase ones motivation and responsibility, you need to be sure to promote the right employees. According to the Box Talent Grid, employees most fit for a promotion show high performance and high potential. Be sure to use our Succession Planning Web App to analyze your employees’ powers and promote the right employee.

Feel free to ask us about employee motivation by using our live chat in the bottom right of your screen.