Creative rewards

How do you keep the workplace happy, healthy and productive? Compensation and benefits play an important role in that equation, but sometimes it’s the little things that count.

According to Bill Ryan, president of Master Consulting Group, building a culture that works for your company requires innovative actions, such as developing creative rewards and opportunities for your team.

Ryan offers a few examples.

1. Write handwritten notes to employees who go above and beyond.

2. Sponsor free or discounted passes to a local attraction.

3. Organize a “management car wash,” where managers wash the employees’ cars.

4. Bring homemade cookies into the office.

5. Cook breakfast for the crew once in a while.

6. Create contests at staff meetings to engage employees in the goal of the meeting.

7. Put together an inexpensive goodie bag as a reward for outstanding service.

8. Send your employee of the month to a matinee movie.

9. Conduct an ugly tie contest.

10. Offer lunch-break chair massages from a mobile massage therapist.

Whatever direction you opt to take, showing employees you care can translate into a motivated, happy work force. And that, in turn, can translate into a highly productive one. SOURCE: Master Consulting Group, (216) 591-0088