Employee rewards in modern organizations have been evolving over the years. Organizations have tried everything from trophies, company-branded merchandise, durables, electronics, holiday packages, gift vouchers, and even cash. So, what is the best form of employee rewards?
As you might have guessed by now, there is no single right answer to this question! The answer is ‘it depends’.
It depends on various factors ranging from the industry type to employee seniority level right down to individual employee preferences.
Given the complexity, organizations are faced with the daunting task of choosing the type of reward to give their employees.
However, a couple of options seem to make sense more than others. Rather than figuring out what employees would want, it would seem better to leave the choice to the employees themselves.
Given this, cash, digital currency, or popular gift vouchers would be the best options.
Employees can use these rewards to get what they want rather than what the HR/ management thinks they want.
These work out far better than traditional company-branded merchandise or consumer durables.
How do intangible rewards work out? It’s a good idea given the overuse of the other kinds of rewards.
Coffee/ dinner with the CEO, sponsored conferences and training programs, etc. can be great non-monetary rewards.
We believe these types of rewards could get into the mainstream going forward.
Coupled with the social recognition from colleagues, employees would find these rewards more meaningful than others.
However, organizations need to understand the needs and preferences of their employees before deciding on the best form of employee rewards.
Lead author: Sagar Chaudhuri, the Co-Founder and CEO of HiFives. He is an HR Tech Evangelist with over 25 years of corporate and entrepreneurship experience. In the past, Sagar has worked with companies such as Genpact, Infosys, and ICICI Bank, in leadership roles. He has an engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Lucknow. Connect on LinkedIn
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