Become artists with the art of rewarding employees the right way

Rewarding employees is indeed not easy because human resources today require to be met both mentally and physically. In this article, BEMO will point out mistakes in rewarding employees, as well as suggest tips to help leaders apply the art of rewarding employees effectively.

1. Mistakes in judging rewards

Don’t think employees are selling their labor to receive salary by relying solely on monthly pay slips to acknowledge their contributions! Creating conditions for competitors to acquire talent will be the result of this double-edged sword “drying the blood” of businesses.

To motivate and retain talented employees, businesses must offer more attractive gifts than their competitors. However, only 10-20% of managers properly reward employees and manage human resources effectively. The rest are facing problems like:

• Fear of losing dignity – When managers appear close to their employees, they are concerned that they will lose their dignity, which leads them to show little discipline and neglect their work. In general, employees want to be cared for by their boss, and if he/she understands their needs, they will be more willing to contribute.
• Underestimating reward – The mistake of senior managers is not to emphasize the issue of rewards because the benefits have not been clearly seen. However, rewarding employees motivates them, fulfills their basic needs, and reduces turnover.
• No Time – Managers have a lot of preoccupations and sometimes they forget about the reward policy. It is easy to develop depression when employees’ contributions are not recognized. To reward employees who have contributed to the business, management should take the time to praise them and include them in the reward proposal.
• Do not want to differentiate between employees – Many businesses apply team rewards without considering outstanding individuals. Maybe they applied this policy to avoid internal competition. As a result, potential employees are no longer motivated to make efforts, gradually promoting egalitarianism. It is important for management to monitor the performance of each employee and to have a reward policy for those who excel.
• Fear of making a habit of demanding – An outdated mindset of businesses that lose a lot of talent is thinking that employees will be demanding when they are regularly rewarded. Everyone wants to be recognized, so working toward recognition makes sense. In order to encourage subordinates to work more productively, management should recognize their achievements.

To retain talent, businesses need to understand the above mistakes in reward policies and HR battles.

2. The art of rewarding employees to improve performance

Rewarding employees properly is a must to boost work morale. Nevertheless, businesses need to have a practical reward system so that employees are motivated to do their best. Specifically:

• Thank you is a gift: Sometimes, for employees, the most needed reward is praise from managers and leaders. This shows that their competence has been recognized. Employees who achieve outstanding performance should be rewarded by managers or leaders via public emails or an appropriate occasion.
• Career path: For most working people, career path is an important factor to strive for, which makes this gift a very meaningful one. Enterprises should have a specific promotion policy for employees who achieve excellent results and give them the opportunity to advance in their work.
• Financial rewards: In many respects, retaining talent or rewarding employees financially will be very effective. Exceptional employees can be rewarded with this solution by businesses. Salaries, year-end bonuses, or additional commissions should be included in the form.
• Reward by course: Businesses also consider rewards through courses, since it shows employees they care about their talents and want to conduct training. If companies want their employees to commit to higher quality work, they should allow them to choose courses based on their interests or specialties.

There are also other forms of reward, businesses can consider depending on employee preferences and company potential.

Once there is a reward policy, when should the enterprise implement it?

• Weekly Rewards – The leadership should recognize the team’s achievements every week via email via a weekly commendation.
• Monthly Rewards – Would you like to give away a massage, health care, card, or a flower bouquet to the employee who performs best every month? For senior leaders, businesses should also donate once a quarter for their contributions to departments and organizations.
• Annual bonus – The gift must be valuable enough to be worthy of the achievements the employee brings back during the year.
• In order to understand that not every reward will motivate the employee to work hard, you need to realize that the reward must be right, or practical, otherwise it will be counter-productive.

So how do the rewards promote the right effects and reap the achievements for the business?

3. Rewards help you get more achievements

Understand the overall strategy: Enterprises need to ensure that all departments understand the overall development strategy. Similarly, you should compare the department’s plans and goals with the company’s overall development strategy.

• Enabling employees to participate in goal setting: Not only does this help employees feel valued, but leaders can also leverage their insights to grow the business.
• Set specific goals that need to be accomplished.
• Simple and easy to understand: Make sure the direction is clear, what to do, in how long, the more specific it is, the easier it is for employees to arrange work and strive to achieve the goal.
• Publicize what you ask of your employees.
• Recruit people with qualities that align with business goals.
• Reward each part, each small achievement on the way to the final result.

The above are suggestions on the art of rewarding that businesses can apply to their organization’s welfare policy. In addition to rewards, there are also disciplinary measures for employees who are frequently late. BEMO hopes to have brought you useful management knowledge, stay tuned for more updates!