If all you do is wave money in front of employees every month, that gets boring!  Money as a motivator sounds good, but we all know from past raises and bonuses that money by itself isn't enough.  How many times have you yourself gone the extra mile for recognition from your boss or for that company jacket!

Non-cash incentives have 4 major advantages over cash:

memory value

trophy value

flexibility

less cost for more leverage

Non-cash incentives or promotional products are a must to inspire employees for any company today.  The employees need to be acknowledged for their loyalty, service, or other outstanding features.

Recognition is one example of a non-cash incentive that can motivate staff.  These can be items such as plaques, pins, or awards such as jewelry. These can be used to recognize someone’s great performance or to honor someone for years of loyal service.  Many companies have an Awards Dinner to present the gift in front of all their employees.  To further enhance the award, a plaque displaying the names is hung in their lobby for all visitors and employees to see year-round.

Practical incentives - for example, employees that meet certain goals each month get quality items with the company logo, such as insulated lunch bags, large coffee mugs, or water bottles that can be used at home and/or work. A $5.00 or $10.00 investment will last a couple of years and is sure to be seen by three to ten people daily.  It’s amazing the pride employees have to carry that mug around the office with the caption “Sales Person of the Month” in front of his or her co-workers.

The item doesn’t always have to have a logo or cost much.  Food, such as chocolate, is always appreciated.  Imagine you’re an employee who just found out your company was bought out and you are worried about your job.  You come into work the next day to find a gold-wrapped chocolate dollar sign on your desk with a card stating “You are worth your weight in gold...”.  For the few dollars that cost, you may have just saved a valuable employee from seeking other employment.

Money saving programs can be used to inspire as well.  One company gave each employee an acrylic paperweight with a globe floating inside and etched with the caption “recycle”.  This program was used to promote the savings the company would receive by a recycling program.  A percentage of the money saved for the first year was to be shared by all the participating employees.  The bonuses were presented clipped on marble memo holders that could be used on the desk long after the bonus was spent.

Another objective for many companies is to promote safety, thus saving money on compensation and downtime.  For example, employees could win gifts for submitting safety methods, and have different levels of gifts according to the time of incident-free behavior.  One company used a contest with playing cards to start off the program.  The best 52 ideas were printed on the face of a deck of playing cards with the employees’ names and distributed to all those who wanted to participate.  The teams were then given injuries according to their risk factors and the winning teams were awarded gifts.  On the average, promotions like this stop the majority of lost-time injuries and decrease absenteeism by 40% or more.

Another way to motivate is a sales contest.  In fact, a Baylor University study of month-long sales contests in retail establishments indicated that contests, reinforced by periodic distribution of ad specialties like jackets, pins with service awards, etc., were cost-effective and outperformed non-stimulated contests by as much as 50%.

What makes any award sought after? - the recognition is more important than the item itself.  Each employee has a different perception of a cash bonus value, and no matter what that is, generally, the cash is spent on bills and so, is forgotten in a very short time.  A gift that took time and related to the reason for receiving it will carry much more weight and be remembered long after.

What are you doing with incentives to help your staff improve performance, reward achievements, and create an inspirational environment?