The world of work has changed a lot in the last few years. Much of the long-established practices of rewarding employees are no longer relevant or effective, and new methods are needed to show your employees that they are valued even when they’re working from home. At Laser Crystal, we know a thing or two about rewarding employees – so here are some ways you can reward your remote team, no matter their location.
Give them a shout out on social media
Public recognition can go a long way to making your employees feel valued. Giving them positive feedback in private or even in work channels such as on Slack or Teams also has its place, but for someone who has really gone above and beyond or you feel will benefit from public recognition, posting on social media is a great idea.
If you’re not in charge of your company’s social media, ask the social media team if you can request they post about one of your team members. This could include an image of them or their work or a summary of what you’d like to thank them for. Posting on LinkedIn – whether on the company’s page or your own – and tagging your employee is particularly effective as it will showcase their skills and effort to their network as well as yours, supporting their future prospects.
Offer them a flexible work schedule
In businesses which allow it – such as ones without set opening times or where employees aren’t needed to answer customer enquiries – providing your remote team with the option to work flexibly is a fantastic way to build loyalty, improve productivity, and show you care about their personal work-life balance and wellbeing. Many people benefit from working non-traditional work hours – instead of the classic 9 – 5, many people will appreciate the flexibility to work 7 – 3 or 10 – 6, whether this is because they have kids who finish school at 3, they like to get to yoga at 5 on Wednesdays or they work better when they’ve had a lie-in.
Rewarding your hard workers with this level of trust goes a long way.
Grant them extra days of annual leave
For an employee who goes above and beyond, extra days of rest and recuperation will go a long way to ensuring they’re happy in their place of work. If you have a workaholic employee who is finally taking a couple of weeks off to go on holiday, grant them an extra day or two of annual leave to say thank you for all their hard work. Pair this with a gift they can use while they’re away, like a voucher for a meal, a brand new suitcase, or even pay for their fast-track through security!
Taking time away from work is essential for employee wellbeing – working constantly with no substantial time away isn’t sustainable and leads to employee burnout.
Grant your team time off for personal development
In a similar vein to our last suggestion, this one is all about supporting your employees to have time away from projects and deadlines to focus on themselves, keeping them stimulated and engaged. Personal development should be an ongoing thing in any team, but sometimes a conscious effort is needed to allow employees to truly focus on it amidst a busy work schedule.
Find out how your employee wishes to use the time and if there are any skills they’d particularly like to exercise. They may wish to attend a training course or spend some time working on a personal project.
Pay for their favourite music service
Music is a huge part of many WFH routines. Where an office environment comes with ambient sounds and conversation, working from home can get very quiet. Many people turn to a carefully curated playlist in this case, whether they need music which gets them energised, helps them focus, or keeps them entertained whilst they work.
Music streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify come with a monthly fee. If you have an employee who you know loves listening to music throughout the day and deserves a reward, consider offering to pay for their subscription – either for a set period like six months or for as long as they work with you. It’s a way of making them feel seen and appreciated.
Celebrate wins outside of work
A strong work-life balance is essential for any hardworking team. As an employer, you should always encourage this – it is so easy to get caught up in work with other hobbies falling to the wayside. Celebrating wins outside of work shows you’re invested in your employees and their lives.
Did a team member recently run a marathon? Send them a card and a care package to help them recover and celebrate their achievement. For an employee who is part of a football team, get them a voucher for some new kit – such as boots or a bag. Other achievements could include buying a house or their child’s first day of school – just make sure you don’t overstep any boundaries that may have been set by your employees.
Commend them in person
Giving positive feedback to your employees is quick and easy even when they’re remote – a message on Slack here, a quick Zoom call there. But this often doesn’t feel as meaningful as an in-person meeting, especially when someone has gone above and beyond. If you don’t live too far away from each other, travel to meet your employee near their home for a coffee or lunch so you can thank them in person.
Sacrificing some time out of your day to do so will show your employee that you appreciate them and their work.
Buy them food
We’ve all fallen victim to the endless cycle of meal planning, buying groceries, cooking dinner, eating, and repeating. If you have an employee who’s been working particularly hard lately, or some members of the team who have just finished a big project, get them a voucher for a food delivery app like Deliveroo, Just Eat or Uber Eats, or even a local restaurant. Eating out or getting a takeaway is expensive nowadays! You could also get a subscription box for an employee who’s running out of recipes but still prefers to cook.
Celebrate anniversaries and birthdays
In an office environment, the celebration of occasions such as birthdays feels natural – someone brings in a cake, there’s a card passed around for everyone to sign, and you all sing ‘happy birthday’. It requires a conscious effort to properly celebrate in a remote team, so make sure you put a bit of time into forward planning for everyone’s birthdays or other celebrations like work anniversaries. Make them feel special by sending them a gift or even a cake, as well as a card.
Offer personalised rewards
One of the best ways to reward your employees is to ask them what they’d love to receive, or otherwise finding out through conversation and getting to know them. This may include a new pair of headphones, concert tickets for a band they love, or something you wouldn’t have otherwise thought of!
Gifting your employees according to their wants and needs will mean a lot more to them than buying them generic gifts which they won’t enjoy.
Host an awards ceremony
Awards ceremonies are huge celebrations and a chance for the entire company to come together, no matter their location. It might be more challenging for international companies to have one big ceremony, but if your employees are just dotted around the UK, it can be much more realistic for everyone to come together. Choose a central location and pay for transport, whether someone needs to fly down from Scotland or get the train up from Southampton.
This chance to bring everyone together builds team spirit and rapport, with people who are always talking virtually getting to spend some time letting loose together. Treat them to a big party with food and drinks and a ceremony where you’ll reward your top players, whether they’re individuals or teams. Present winners with personalised engraved awards – something they’ll be able to keep forever.
Reward your employees with crystal awards
As the UK’s leading manufacturer of 3D crystal, we’re recognised as a world leader with two decades worth of experience in creating crystal plaques of unbeatable quality. Our huge range of crystal awards, trophies and gifts includes a wide variety of designs to suit all budgets, tastes and occasions. If you can’t find exactly what you have in mind, we offer a made-to-order service where we can create niche designs unique to you.
We make all of our glass awards from clear and flawless optical quality crystal and use innovative, precise 3D laser engraving techniques which allow us to achieve an exceptional level of detail. Let us know what you need and when you need it, and we’ll do the rest. We ship worldwide and offer a same-day courier service for UK orders. Every plaque will be supplied in a high-quality, satin-lined presentation gift box.
Ready to get started?
Contact the Laser Crystal team for further information, to receive a quote or if you’d like a sample. Alternatively, pop us a call on 01202 675000 and we’ll be happy to chat with you about your colour printing crystal award project!