Let’s be honest here, as business owners, we all know that our companies would mean nothing without our employees. They are the backbone of our structures and the primary contributor to business growth. Unfortunately, however, sometimes they can easily be the reason for our company’s downfall, especially when left unmotivated.
Unmotivated employees are the worse kinds of employees we can have in our companies because they indirectly affect our pipeline, without ever knowing about it. The reality is that 70% of employees in the US are unmotivated, and thousands of companies fail in motivating them. So what do experts have to say? Reward them appropriately for the work they do and the output they give you.
In this article, we will look into meaningful ways to reward your employees for helping motivate them at work. It will also explore other creative ideas that can help facilitate employee growth. Here are some ways to let your employees have a meaningful career in your company.
Give Them a Share of the Company
We all know the saying of ‘sharing is giving.’ This particular saying is rightfully true to many companies out there, especially those earning millions of dollars.
As our companies grow, it’s important that our employees feel its growth as well. One way you can let them feel this growth is by giving your employees a share of your revenue. For example, managers can be given a small percentage stake in the company after a project is done well. This can also be a program for other employees under the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Another example is giving employees a percentage of sales after a long struggle during hell week. All of these rewards create a dynamic interaction between employee output and reward.
Sales and revenue are a good gauge of productivity unless you’re working in the manufacturing industry that relies primarily on pieces of machinery and AI. But if not, you can rely on your sales and revenue to tell your employees if they are doing a great job or not. By rewarding them through a tangible benchmark, they can see that all their hard work isn’t going to waste. Additionally, they are also informed that their work is helping the company improve in many ways.
Education
Career is all about improving yourself for the better, and the current generation demands this from their companies more than anything else. Although monetary reward can certainly be good, giving employees a chance to build their career in your company can certainly be better. One way of doing this is funding their education.
As a business, you don’t necessarily have to pay for their education, but you can give them a percentage of its costs. Better yet, you can sign them up for education programs in line with your business goals. This is a fairly common tactic for big companies who want to improve a valuable employee in their team.
If you’re looking for overseas training, especially if you’re planning to expand to other areas in the world, such as Australia, then you should sign up your employees for the Australian Institute of Finance Training. This particular organization is great if you want your employees to understand Australian work culture and finances. It’s also great for your accountants who want to take up an online accounting course that explores other accounting methods outside the US. Your employees will surely thank you for it, as it will be a rewarding experience for them and a good gift for hard work in your company.
Giving Them Lifestyle Options
Lastly, and the most important in this list, is rewarding employees through lifestyle options. Many millennials nowadays integrate their work life with their lifestyle, and this can be very costly. There are many ways you can give lifestyle options to your options. For example, many millennials choose to visit gyms closer to their workplace because they know their workmates would be there. Giving them a discount in this particular gym or free membership can definitely come a long way in motivating them.
Other lifestyle options are reward cards for restaurants near your office or maybe employee discounts for company products. The latter has certainly kept many employees from big companies such as Proctor and Gamble and Apple. This can all motivate employees by giving them access to their hard work every day.
Rewards can be a simple way to say thank you to employees. As we stated earlier, that monetary rewards are always good as a staple for employee reward. However, it is better to help them build upon their career and lifestyle instead of giving them bonuses every year. Giving such meaningful rewards can create a more meaningful experience for employees in your company, and they will certainly thank you for it.
