How To Reward Your Employees For Their Efforts During Pandemic?

Rewards are powerful tools that can be used to increase employee engagement. Businesses all over the world have started to work remotely for quite some time now due to COVID-19. Everyone is trying to adjust to the “new normal.” However, there are times when your employees might not be having the same energy or enthusiasm while they work from home. They can very easily disengage from their jobs.

This is why rewarding and encouraging your team members during a pandemic is important to retain top talent, boost their morale and keep them happy. Encouraging the workers in small businesses by being creative and thoughtful is the need of the hour to continue your business further and get results, even when most of the businesses are struggling.

A lot of companies have even started to use these rewards for recruiting, and it has become an indispensable part of their company culture. Below is a list of the top 7 tips on how to encourage your employees for their efforts during the pandemic.  

1. Use Technology For Face-To-Face Recognition

The first tip on how to encourage team members is to use technology for face-to-face recognition. When your employees gather at the workplace, you can find new ways to celebrate achievements every day. You can have a round of applause or buy the office a great lunch.

But now that everyone is working remotely, you can invite them to a virtual meeting on a platform like Zoom to announce the accomplishments and the hard work done by everyone that made it possible. The extra facetime will even help them get out from the feeling of loneliness that people often experience during the tenure of their remote jobs. This will clear your doubts on how to encourage your employees.

2. Reward Them With Gift Cards

Buy gift cards and reward them for encouraging employee engagement. They can redeem them whenever they wish to. You can offer these gift cards not only to recognise and reward your workers but also on their birthdays and anniversaries.

Many employees like to be recognised with a gift card instead of cash, so this is the right time to stock them up. You can acquire employee recognition software that has gift card functionality. This will eliminate the hassle of purchasing a gift card from outside.

3. Provide Opportunities For Professional Development

This is one of the most creative ways to reward and recognise your employees from afar. This is another answer to your question on how to encourage your employees. This can prove to be a good time to learn new skills, handle new projects and develop your skillset.

You can provide your employees with discounted or free online courses so that they can grow professionally and learn new skills. If you are already using a recognition platform, then you might be having discounts on these online classes.

You can also search for professionals who are offering online classes in your community. Register your team for them. This not only supports your local community members but also increases professional growth and helps you reward and encourage employees.

4. Buy Them Lunch

Restaurants are suffering from COVID-19 as well. You can help them and also reward your employees by ordering lunch from a local restaurant that offers delivery services. Supporting these restaurants is a great way to reward your employees for their hard work.

Do your research on which restaurants nearby are equipped with delivery services and can get lunch delivered in time for your employees. Your employees will feel that the lunch is being celebrated in honour of their amazing work. This will further reduce the stress of cooking a meal for the day, for which they will be very grateful.

5. Recognise On Public Channels

If you want to know how to encourage team members, then you can do that by celebrating their achievements publically as it is also a good way to reward employees for their efforts. You can do that on a public channel such as Slack, your company intranet, or even on a recognition platform with a social feed where everyone can see the appreciation posts.

Public recognition can be a huge motivation for your employees. Also, encouraging the peers to take part in drives the motivation further. Employees are also likely to feel connected via this platform, giving them opportunities to socialise and celebrate together from anywhere.

6. Recognise Them For Their Specific Actions

Still not sure about how to encourage your team? Try recognising your team for their specific actions. Adjusting to the work-from-home environment is a bit tough for everyone, which is why it is important to reward your employees for specific behaviours that you want to see more of.

This shows appreciation and encourages the employees to follow what is best for the business.

You can even write a personalised message for your employee that tells how much you appreciate their abilities to be available from the home office. This will not only motivate them but also will strengthen the value of communication amongst workers.

7. Gamification

If you run a small business, then select the best software for employee recognition that supports gamification. Make it a part of your employee recognition and encouragement program. This strategy will greatly boost the motivation and engagement of employees to put in their best work every week, thus boosting the overall productivity of the organisation.

Final Words

Encouraging the workers in a small business by rewarding them is a way to set the company apart from the others. They let the employees know that their hard work has been paid off and they are being recognised for it. Appreciating the team in a business should be a part of the business culture. It is essential to keep your staff motivated.

Even saying “Thank you! You did great.” can work wonders with increasing employee morale throughout the year. Sincere recognition makes them feel good and lets them know that their work is having a positive impact on the company.  By managing the employee records, OkStaff will assist you with planning the gestures for recognising your staff’s efforts.

Also read:

1) The impact of Covid-19 on Small Businesses. How bad this has been?
2) Best COVID-19 Lessons For Small Business Sectors of India
3) How To Manage Investment During Covid-19 Pandemic?
4) Best investment ideas during the COVID-19 pandemic
5) OkCredit: Simple, Paperless & Secure solution for businesses

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FAQs

Q. What are some other ways to reward your employees for their efforts during the pandemic?

Ans. You can offer flexible schedules, encourage peak productivity, create connection plans, hold virtual celebrations and send care-packed gift boxes to encourage workers during the pandemic.

Q. Why is employee encouragement important for small businesses?

Ans. Encouraging your employees during the pandemic is important as it increases their engagement, they are more satisfied with their jobs, and it ultimately increases productivity.

Q. What are some bonus and out-of-the-box ways to reward employees in a business?

Ans. You can give them a local gift card for car wash, health club membership, and healthy snacks, or you can offer them kindles and cool meetings to relax their minds.

Q. What should we keep in mind while praising our employees?

Ans. You can do employee recognition in both public and private ways. However, as a small business owner, you need to remember that some workers might feel uncomfortable with all the public appreciation, so specifically, ask them what they like as a token of appreciation.

Q. What will recognise good work in a business boost?

Ans. When managers and supervisors are empowered to reward and recognise employees, the bonds of team spirit are strengthened that results in enhanced teamwork and increased productivity, thus encouraging employees to give their best.