Non-Cash Ways to Reward Your Team (including 54 specific ideas)

Having a team of great employees that are motivated and working towards your business vision is a huge part of growing a successful company. In fact, once you have a team onboard, keeping each team member happy and inspired should be a big part of your job. It’s easy to keep striving towards the next goal or putting out the latest fires, but it’s important to stop and recognise your staff. Having an arsenal of different ways to reward your team makes showing your recognition much easier.

Demonstrating your gratitude towards staff is especially true when someone in your team has gone the extra mile for the business. It could be a big effort, a big improvement or a great result – whatever the reason, taking a moment to acknowledge and thank your team members is so important.

Recognising your employees with a simple “thank you” can go a long way, but what else is there?

Most people immediately think of pay-rises and bonuses – these can certainly be effective (and are sometimes necessary), but they’re also not always possible (or warranted). So today, we have put together a bumper list of some alternative ways to show your employees some love…

Public Recognition

A private thank-you is great, but recognising someone publically is usually a far stronger gesture. All of us have a need to feel important and valued – especially in front of our peers. Here are a few ideas to recognise your team members publically…

• Use a team or company meeting to formally recognise someone’s efforts or results
• Send an email to the team in praise of a particular individual
• If you receive positive feedback from a customer, forward that around in an email for everyone to see – publically thanking those involved in creating the good experience
• Write an article about your team member for your business blog
• Do a social media post about this team member on Facebook, Twitter or wherever you promote your business
• Have an “About Us” section on your website and highlight your team members
• Talk highly of them in front of their spouse or family (e.g. at a company event)
• Have a “Team Member of the Month” or equivalent award. Display these prominently in the office on a wall of fame

Meaningful Gifts

Gone are the days of handing out golden watches and pens – we can be a lot more creative than that! For times when you’d prefer to give something a bit more tangible to your employee, here are a few ways to reward your team with staff gifts…

• Voucher to a restaurant – especially one you know they’d enjoy
• Voucher to a family activity – eg the local aquarium, zoo, museum, amusement park or movies
• Bunch of flowers (deliver them in the office if for public recognition in front of their colleagues, or have them delivered to your employee’s home for recognition with their family)
• Bottle of wine – extra points if you know their favourite type
• Quality headphones – especially if they like to use these while they work
• Voucher to a favourite shop – some good options are a high-tech shop, department store, or their favourite clothes shop
• Picnic basket set or blanket
• Box of cookies, lollies or chocolates to share with their family
• Subscription to a fruit and vegetable delivery service
• Cake or a box of donuts
• Quality drink bottle – especially if they’re health conscious
• Luggage – especially if they travel for work
• Good quality coffee or tea, or a voucher to the local coffee shop
• Voucher for a massage, facial, manicure or pedicure
• Buy them a car parking spot for the year
• Gift voucher for a car washing / detailing service
• Voucher for something adventurous – hot-air ballooning, sky-diving, fishing, racecar driving, etc
• Dinner or lunch out with just you (this is less of a gift but it can demonstrate gratitude very well, in addition to giving you an opportunity to have a one-on-one discussion with them)
• Good book or a voucher to a bookstore
• Tickets to un upcoming show or sports match
• Rent them a fancy car for the week
• Voucher or credit towards a virtual assistant – especially if they’re busy and need some help getting home errands done
• Pay for a regular cleaner or gardener for their home

Non-Gift Rewards

There are also lots of ways to reward employees without gifts. If you’re strapped for cash, these staff rewards can still be very effective. Here are a few of our non-gift ideas…

• A handwritten card or thank-you note (don’t underestimate the power this can have)
• A day or afternoon off work (for maximum impact, this is usually best done as a surprise)
• Have a trophy (or something fun) that symbolises some award that team members can display on their desk
• Print a formal recognition certificate – have this framed and put on display
• Add an extra day (or week!) of leave added to their payroll account
• A change to their title (although be careful you don’t take this too far and leave yourself nowhere to go in the future)
• Access to a training course or conference they’re interested in attending
• The opportunity to work from home one day a week
• Flexibility in hours

Team Recognition

Often, it’s not just one employee that needs recognising, it’s your whole team (or one of your teams). In this case, you can either do some sort of individual recognition for each of them (see the ideas above), or you can show your gratitude to the team all at once. Here are some ideas for team recognition rewards…

• Get a good coffee machine for the office
• Come with surprise muffins and croissants for morning tea
• Arrange for the team to go out for lunch or dinner
• Get lunch delivered (and eat together)
• If you’ve got a kitchen at the office, cook up a meal for your team (they’ll appreciate it more because you’ve cooked it)
• Get something fun for the office – a foosball table, bean bags, some cool art, plants, a comfortable couch, an exercise bike, a treadmill desk, etc. Let your team help decide what they’d like
• Get a regular delivery of supplies for the office – eg a stocked fruit bowl or healthy snacks
• Order team hats or T-shirts – customise them with your business colours or include an in-joke or motto of the business
• Arrange for a masseuse to come to the office and give everyone a massage
• Agree for everyone to finish up early on Friday
• Or, come to an agreement for everyone to work longer hours at other times in exchange for having one day off a week
• Order a bunch of balloons for the office and have a little party
• Hire a caricature artist for a day and have then do sketches of everyone to put above their desks

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So there you have it – a whole heap of ideas and ways to reward your team.

We’d love to hear what you’ve used and found effective. Do you have others to add to the list?

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