The Why and How of Rewarding Your Employees! (Part III of the 3-R’s)
Boost service employee recognition with tangible rewards! Combine sincere thanks with creative bonuses for a dedicated, long-term team.
KickStart: Back up your 1) sincere recognition with 2) tangible rewards that display your personal gratitude for your workers.
#1- If you’ve been following this 3-R’s series you know that the first of my 3-R’s is “RECOGNITION”. However…
Once you have initially “Recognized” (identified) deserving workers and then Publicly Recognized (praised) employees this leads us to the second part of my “3-R’s”: The “Reward” step!
“OK, Steve, how much money should I ‘reward” my star performers with? 🤑 Give me a number and let’s rock and roll!”
WHOA there, partner! 😵💫 Never forget: both in business and in life “what is easiest is seldom the best strategy”.
So it is when it comes to “rewarding” your employees. After all, simply "throwing money" at people is the easy way out! SORRY! 😥
So, in my circuitous KickStart fashion we wind up at the second of our 3-R’s of employee motivation…
#2- REWARDS! I hope you remember from an earlier KickStart that the best “reward” is... Public Recognition! (PR) Even better, PR is usually FREE to you!😁
Heck, I could fill a whole ‘nother KickStart on this "PR topic" and I might just do it!
🗝️ However, what happens if you combine 1) appreciative “Public Recognition” along with 2) tangible, “Creative Rewards”? 🤔 You will develop a hard-working, dedicated team EMOTIONALLY tied to your company long-term! 👍👍
Do you love this idea? Then here’s some outside-of-the-box ideas on "Creative Rewards"…
Pay small “on-the-spot bonuses” in cold, hard cash! To recognize extra effort I’d spontaneously give small amounts (10 or 20 bucks) to my techs out of my pocket.
Why is cash important? Because who gets your techs’ paychecks? Mama! 🙎♀️ BUT who gets to spend an “instant bonus” handed over in cold, hard cash? I rest my case!
Plus, all of us (and especially your techs) are “immediate gratification” creatures so give employees these small bonuses… IMMEDIATELY!
NOTE: Check with your accountant first (blah-blah-blah) 🙄 but my guy told me if I wanted to gift employees small cash amounts from my personal income (that I had already paid taxes on) he had zero problems with this. Then he put his hand out! 😮Don’t overlook gift cards. Want to add a personal touch? For example, take an employee who loves to fish. Which will mean more to him? Cash or a nice gift card to Cabelas? I rest my case!
Date Night Certificates. 💖 Yeah, I know. We kind of threw mama under the bus in our points above. But get back in her good graces when your Workers Efficiency Bonus prizes (yet another KickStart topic) are paid out in Gift Certificates for restaurant dinners, movie tickets, mini golf admissions, etc! Now everybody is happy! 😃
Paid time off! This one is always popular with employees! At least till they stay home and mama has a 3-page “To-Do” list all ready for them! 😢 I’d get this a lot,“Steve, can I come back to work just to rest up?”
Driving a company work vehicle to and from work- Does your residential services company offers 24-hour emergency services? Is your employee expected to respond immediately to call-outs? If you can answer “yes” to both questions, then this vehicle use benefit MAY 🤔 not be taxable to your worker.
NOTE: If you decide to let an employee commute using a company vehicle, be sure to have clear expectations (in writing and signed by both parties) on its use after hours. Remember my employee mantra, “Trust but Verify!” (Another future KickStart subject!)
Yet another CYB warning: Seriously, tax laws are constantly changing. So, find out what’s going on with the tax implications on all the above… both for you and the employee.
ProTIP: If you discover a given bonus will negatively affect an employee you can increase the amount of the bonus. However, be sure to let your employees know about this so they 1) won’t complain about the bonus and 2) you get the credit! After all, if you don’t toot your horn who will? 😁
🗝️ FINAL NOTE: Never forget the two most important words to sincerely deliver to all your workers… “THANK YOU”!
Folks, we’ve just scratched the surface of the “3-R’s”. So, in our final KickStart let’s enjoy the fruits of our labors with our 3rd “R” and RELAX! Till then…
Let’s git ‘er done… together! 💖
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