15 non-monetary rewards that will motivate your employees

1. Flexible working

This has shown to be one of the most popular non-financial incentives out there. As a reward, offer your employees the opportunity to work from home or switch their hours around if they don’t already have the option. This incentive has some great health and wellbeing benefits as well as lifestyle benefits for employees.

Of course, many businesses are offering this as part of a hybrid working approach and more and more employers are becoming flexible with their working approach.

However, this level of flexibility can be adjusted for employees as a great non-monetary reward option.

2. Give employees time to work on their own projects

As we enter the era of flexible benefits, it’s important to think about how you can diversify your offering, and supporting employees in their own endeavours is perfect. Some companies offer this as a standard part of employment, however it’s also a great non-monetary reward to include in your rewards platform.

People are motivated by the things they’re passionate about, and employees appreciate the opportunity to work on their own projects, making this one of the best non-financial rewards to motivate employees.

A popular example of this is at Google, where employees are encouraged to use 20% of their time on personal projects. Often employees spend the time developing solutions to support their work or the business.

3. Time flexibility

Why not reward employees by giving them an extra day’s annual leave or a longer lunch break?

You could reward employees by letting them leave an hour early or giving them half a day off. However, your choice to do this should depend on the type of your business and its needs.

Some good ideas are an earlier finish on a Friday, later start on a Monday or simply some extra time to take off whenever the employee decides would certainly be well received rewards. With 4-day working weeks becoming more accepted in various industries, and in demand among employees, implementing time flexibility can help satisfy employees but also let you test whether this incentive is right for your business.

4. Allow time to do volunteer work

There are a number of benefits that come from employees getting involved in volunteering. Employees are rewarded with a welcome break out of the office and a charitable cause reaps the benefits of extra volunteers. It’s also great for the company’s image and CSR!

Many companies have started offering this as a non-financial incentive, and give employees the option to choose who they volunteer for. It’s a great way to make this reward even more personal with employees choosing charities and organisations that they care about.

5. Host one-on-one meetings

A great non-monetary reward that fosters communication in the workplace is hosting one-on-one meetings with employees. These meetings can have a mixture of purposes, but the main one should be asking them how you can support their growth. 

It’s a great opportunity to get some constructive feedback on the way the business operates while helping an employee improve and show appreciation for their hard work.

Of course, meetings like this are common for many and used as part of performance reviews, for example. However, lunch with a senior figure in the business, for example, could be a good reward and could be beneficial for everyone involved.

6. Allow employees to show appreciation for each other

To become a supportive organisation, you need to show it firsthand to your employees. A perfect way to do this is by using employee recognition software which allows employees to give each other shout outs. 

This fosters a culture of appreciation and support in your organisation that is perfect for employee motivation and engagement. There are some things that financial benefits can’t provide, but these can easily be found through employee appreciation and recognition. 

Another way to show appreciation is through ECards which can be done on your employee benefits platform. Find out more.

8. Let everyone know who you’re rewarding and what you’re rewarding them with

The shift towards hybrid and remote working have made it more important than ever for companies to utilise their digital internal communication channels.

This is important not just to keep everyone connected and in the loop, but also for reward and recognition too.

A centralised reward and recognition platform can help with this, giving your business a place for all your company rewards, so your team can see who’s been rewarded and what for.

9. Give your employees the opportunity to attend educational or wellbeing events/workshops

Many companies do this already, but letting your employees take a day off to attend an event or workshop that could benefit them is a great non-monetary reward.

Themed days away from the workplace like this are becoming more common. A popular recent example was Channel 4’s ‘Wellbeing Day’, where staff were given a day away from work to focus on their wellbeing.

These initiatives can be really rewarding and beneficial, particularly for teams who’ve been busy working on big projects.

10. Recognise your employees on social media

With social being our main form of online communication, and more and more employees creating personal brands, supporting them on social media is perfect for them and your business. It’s a great way to not only show your employees you care, but your followers on social media too.

Recognising employees for personal achievements is a great non-monetary reward too. Consider writing a blog on their career journey or interview them about it. This would make for a great piece of content for your social media and allows your employee to feel valued. 

11. Send collaborative messages from all employees

A handwritten “thank you” letter is a great non-financial incentive, but why not go one step further and get everyone involved?

Maybe one of your employees has gone so far out of their way that it’s recognised by all their co-workers, like helping someone through a difficult time or offering their skills and expertise without being asked.

If so, get everyone to write something positive about that person either in a card, on a piece of paper or electronically. Gather everyone’s comments together and present it to the person! It could be a card or it could be a framed picture. You could even create a little video to go out on social media to show everyone’s appreciation!

12. Ask your employees what benefits they’d like

It’s one thing deciding how to reward your employees, but why not ask them what non-monetary rewards they’d like? Would your employees prefer a company organised games night as a reward or extra time off? Would they prefer the opportunity to work from home rather than have a social media post? What are their hobbies and interests?

One of the most effective forms of reward is one that is personal, which means it needs to means something to the individual. Individualising your rewards can make a huge difference and shows employees just how much you care.

Ask yourself: If your employees could choose their top 3 rewards within a certain budget, what would they be? This will help generate some useful ideas for non-financial incentives. 

13. Set up a mentorship programme

When an employee has performed so well that they’ve been chosen to be rewarded, a mentorship programme can not only be a great non-monetary reward but also a great way to utilise and build on the talents of the employee.

It could be a mentor within the business, possibly a manager or C-suite executive. Alternatively, you could set up a mentorship programme with a mentor outside the business.

This is great as the employee gets a unique and invaluable insight that can springboard their career. They also bring their learnings into your businesses making their contribution even more valuable. 

14. Give employees their birthday off work

This is a great, personalised non-monetary reward! It’s simple and easy to implement and can be handed out quickly.

It could also be extended to birthdays of the employee’s loved ones too. Rewarding an employee with a day off on their child’s birthday, for example, is a really great gesture to build loyalty, trust, and become an employer of choice.

15. Employee of the month/quarter

A classic non-monetary reward is rewarding employees monthly or quarterly. This can be done through employee of the month schemes and can make a real difference to the motivation of your employees. If an employee is rewarded for their hard work, their colleagues might want to be as well.

However, with this reward, it is important to avoid delving too deep into a culture of competition, as this could reduce collaboration among employees. You don’t want employees fighting, or even worse sabotaging, each other with the aim of getting ahead. 

Overall, this reward is not only important for the employee being rewarded but it’s a company-wide show of appreciation that the rest of your team will appreciate too. It’s also a simple, yet effective reward to hand out.