Our experience in employee recognition and on-the-spot rewards in different industries has opened our eyes to the creative ideas introduced by our clients and our client services team.
This idea is one of our favorites. The Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority (RDUAA), a long time client, honors associates who score 100% on the mystery shops Confero conducts at the RDU airport. The airport authority changes the gift over time and tracks which employee receives which item, so that the award item is always fresh and meaningful for the recipient. This summer, the RDUAA presented top performers with a car sunshade imprinted with the RDU logo and the tagline Exceptional Service. In our heat wave in North Carolina this summer, the sun shades have not only been useful, they have become coveted. On any given day, the employee parking areas are peppered with cars using the sun shade. Now that recognition item is not only a valuable item for the recipient, it has become a daily reminder of customer service as employees come into work. At one point, the air traffic controllers in the tower even noticed the sunshades and asked how to procure one!
This year is Confero’s 25thyear in business, so we have periodically featured a “25” list in a newsletter article. So here are our top 25 employee incentive ideas. Please share your ideas with us!
- Restaurant gift cards
- Prepaid American Express or Visa gift cards
- Department store gift cards
- Grocery store gift cards
- iTunes cards
- Gas cards
- Vacation day
- Extra hour for lunch
- Choice of schedule for upcoming time period
- Awards and recognition Certificate
- Company logo items of value (such as the sunshade mentioned above)
- Movie tickets
- Event or concert tickets
- Cash
- Points to accumulate and use toward “purchase” of any company reward
- Yearly incentives, such as weekend getaways
- Breakfast or lunch for the team, brought in by manager
- Payroll incentives
- Lunch for team at local restaurant
- Plaque delivered by manager at staff meeting
- Rotating trophy (think of the Stanley Cup)
- Drawing entries: Monthly, quarterly or yearly
- Party for employee and work group
- Downloadable prizes (iTunes, points, etc)
- A sincere thank you