Each wave of the COVID-19 pandemic changes health concerns and regulations, but one thing is certain: Remote work will be around for some time. Employees enjoy the better work/life balance and save time commuting. Businesses can reduce their overhead costs by renting smaller office spaces and purchasing less equipment. One thing that remote work complicates, though, is rewarding your teams. What employee rewards ideas will work for a widely distributed workforce?
It’s important that employee rewards don’t simply fall through the cracks in this new hybrid work environment. Business leaders must keep remote workers engaged so they feel like part of the team. When they do, those workers are more productive and less likely to leave the company. With some creative employee rewards ideas, it’s easy to boost team morale and ensure success — no matter where they’re working from. Here are two examples of how you can reward both in-office and remote staff members.
Many employees have had the experience of being rewarded with a team party, whether it’s to celebrate an achievement, welcome new members, or mark a company milestone. For office-based workers, a team celebration is as simple as ordering some food and gathering to spend some time socializing. But not for a team that is partly or fully remote.
Luckily, videoconferencing platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet have made it much easier to connect face-to-face. All you need is lunch! Send each remote employee a reward in the form of an e-gift card for a food delivery service such as DoorDash, Grubhub, or Uber Eats. Let them order their own meal and then everyone can get online to eat and celebrate together.
Many remote workers feel isolated without regular contact with their team members. They may not have even met their colleagues in person. And those missing connections go beyond work-related interactions. A key piece of teams working well together includes finding common ground and getting to know one another as people, not just employees. The better they know each other, the better they’ll work together. That means greater productivity for the business.
One way to do this is by hosting a series of lunch-and-learns — but not about work topics. Have a weekend yoga instructor on your team? Or someone who paints in their free time? Offer them a $50 digital reward of their choice to share their talent with the team far and wide. It’s a fun way for everyone to recharge a little, get to know the team better, and learn a new skill.
These are just two of the many, many ways you can use digital employee rewards to engage remote workers and facilitate team unity. But the more incentives you implement, the more administrative time it takes to distribute them. That’s where a digital rewards management platform like Rybbon can help.
Read our case study to learn how Langley Federal Credit Union used Rybbon to save time and hassle while keeping remote employees engaged during the pandemic!
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
