By:
MEAadmin |
03.04.15 |
Compensation
List of Low Cost Rewards and Recognition
At a 1998 meeting of the Human Resource Management Association of Chicago’s Total Rewards interest group, members set out to generate a list of 50 practical low-cost ideas for attracting, motivating and retaining employees. Exceeding their numerical goal, here’s what they came up with:
Development
- Attending external work-related seminars
- Company-sponsored language classes
- Corporate training programs (soft skills and technical skills)
- Distance learning (taking satellite classes over the internet)
- New and varied work assignments
- Traveling to and experiencing different corporate locations
- Tuition reimbursement
Employee participation
- Employee-planned parties
- Employee referral gift certificates
- Gathering employee feedback and using it
- Monthly teleconferences or town hall meetings in which corporate leadership addresses employee questions
- Quarterly bonuses for meeting specified targets
- Suggestion programs
Financial lifecycle
- Brownbag lunches with discussions of financial topics
- Investment seminars
- Loans for computers
- Providing financial modeling software
- Retirement planning/counseling
- Scholarships for the children of employees
Health
- Aerobics or yoga classes
- Company-organized lunch walks
- Corporate fitness center or company-sponsored health club membership
- Flu shots
- Massages on the premises
- Smoking cessation programs
- Wellness “lunch and learn” (a brownbag discussion of various health issues)
Recognition
- Award certificates
- Birthday or holiday cards from executive staff
- Celebrations of diversity (e.g. Mexican day)
- Day off with pay
- Employee of the month
- Free lunches
- Gift certificates
- Monthly use of a nearby parking space
- Parties, special events
- Personal thank you
- Public acknowledgement
- Thank-you notes or letters
Work environment/culture
- Afternoon popcorn breaks
- Attractive corporate grounds (e.g. swans in a pond)
- Casual dress
- Company-paid uniforms for hourly associates
- Corporate sports teams, clubs
- Deep discounts on company products
- Free coffee and soda
- Free turkeys for Thanksgiving
- Hot lunches in the cafeteria
- Informal birthday bashes
- Nap rooms
- Off-site meetings
Work-life balance
- Dinner pails (dinner take-outs from the corporate cafeteria)
- Family activities (including employees’ families in corporate events)
- Flexible hours
- Job sharing programs
- Lactation rooms for new mothers
- One-half day off before holidays
- On-site amenities like dry cleaning, ATM machines, etc.
- On-site childcare
- Paid-time-off banks
- Part-time employment opportunities
- Sick child alternative care provided at minimal cost
- “Take your child to work day”
- Telecommuting (full- or part-time)
Reposted with permission from Wolters Kluwer.
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