You’d be hard-pressed to find a single person who would turn down extra spending money — even if that person already received a hefty salary. The fact of the matter is, giving your employees a small bonus every so often does wonders for morale.
According to Bob Nelson in “1001 Ways to Reward Employees,” a recent survey revealed that 95 percent of American workers considered a cash bonus a positive and meaningful incentive. While bonus cash or cash substitutes (i.e., coupons) are often used to pay bills, they give employees flexibility in deciding how to use the reward. As Nelson explained, the chance of satisfaction increases since the employee has flexibility in how to use the reward.
Not all bonuses have to be a straight up cash to be effective. Nelson offered up 8 additional types of cash bonuses that can be just as effective for boosting morale:
- Offer a cash bonus with taxes prepaid;
- Send a $20, $50, or $100 bill to a spouse with a thank-you note for his or her support during the employee’s overtime;
- Give employees who recruit new workers a cash bonus;
- Buy the person a gift certificate;
- Pay for the tutoring of an employee’s child;
- Pay an employee’s parking or traffic ticket;
- Pay an employee’s mortgage for one month; or
- Pay for a house-cleaning service for an employee’s home.
