If you want to motivate your employees or get prospective workers to join your company, you need to upgrade the incentives you offer. According to a recent report by job site Glassdoor, over 57% of the 2,031 adults it surveyed say that benefits are one of their top considerations when choosing a company.
In a press release on the study, the authors cited big companies like Netflix offering unlimited maternity and paternity leaves to new parents and Airbnb giving $2,000 stipends for employees to use for travel. While the latter does involve money, these businesses aren’t focusing solely on salary increases to reward their workers.
Employees prefer benefits over pay increases, too. Another report by the same company says that about 79% of employees would rather have new incentives instead of pay raises. If you want to motivate your workers better, you may want to give them the following benefits.
Flexible Schedules
More workers want the freedom to work anywhere and anytime. A survey on the preferred benefits of young employees by Deloitte showed that employees want their companies to offer flexibility and remote work. Flexible work agreements can give employees the power to choose their own schedule and work remotely. More than half of respondents in the report even say that they’re confident that opportunities to work remotely can positively impact their productivity.
If you want to try flexible work schedules out, start by offering it as a reward for the top performers. Monitor their productivity and work quality while working their preferred hours. If they’re doing well, roll it out as a regular part of work. Not only will you have satisfied employees, but you may also save on operational costs when they’re not at their workstations.
Education for Advancement
The report also showed that employees value professional development and opportunities to progress a lot. Inject more value into their work by providing training programs and sending them out to seminars. This way, they’ll learn new techniques that may improve their productivity and the quality of their outputs. And when they do get better at their job, you won’t think twice about promoting them.
More Time Off
If an employee goes above and beyond what’s expected of them, they probably spent more hours in the office as well. Don’t leave them to burn out. Give them the time off they earned. If you think they deserve more than just a day or two off work, give out corporate incentive trips to your top performers.
A recent study done by the Incentive Research Foundation showed that over 70% of companies who give their employees travel incentives reported that these incentive programs help them achieve their business objectives. In fact, half of the respondents say that they plan on increasing their travel incentive budgets in the coming years, so don’t be afraid to spend more for your workers. Apart from rewarding worthy employees, you’ll also motivate the rest to perform better.
A fat paycheck alone won’t be enough to show your workers that you value and appreciate their efforts. Your rewards should focus on programs that advance their careers and incentives that give them better control over their time. You know you’ve done your job when you see better attendance, higher quality work, and most importantly more smiles around the office.
