How would you reward staff/how would you want to be rewarded?

[Florencenotflo]

Strange question but I'm not coming up with many answers.

I work in the public sector, I'm not very high paid. I have a small team of 6 people who all work really hard and are amazing at their jobs. How would you reward them or show them you appreciate them when you:

• have no budget to do or pay for anything. Christmas I sent them all a gift but I paid for these. I don't earn much more than them and with COL right now I can't afford much.

• I have no authority to give them additional time off as a reward.

• we all work from home so pre-covid I would have taken cakes/lunch bits into the office. Location and circumstances also means meet ups are tricky.

There are specific schemes at work to reward hard work, but this is designed for one off awards for something specific. I'm talking about just recognising the day to day hard work.

Help!

If you’ve no money to pay for anything then there’s not anything you can do. Even if you were to do something simple like baking you’d still need to fork out the money and time for ingredients, baking etc. If they’re being paid, and paid appropriately, then they shouldn’t need rewarded for doing a job they’re already receiving compensation for.

I don't mind paying small amounts of money, but things like sending them Amazon vouchers is going to be out of my remit.

They are being paid but I still think it's nice to know you're doing a good job? And that your hard work is appreciated?

Thank you goes a long way

Making sure you highlight any good thing that people have done - always put team members names on reports and presentations

@kelsaycobbles I think because what we do is kind of invisible (think like a background function that feeds another) there is no opportunity to put anyone's name to things.

I always tell them during their 1:1's that they are doing great and I thank them (of course).

Don't know if I'm looking for the impossible maybe 😂

Could you allow them to leave a few hours early, or come in a bit later? Not ALL on the same day- but maybe a friday or a set day for each to take some time back?

Or to each take an extra long lunch break?

Ideally giving them notice of the above options though- not just telling them on the day.

So drop a mail to senior manager describing how important the roles are and why they are great - we have a staff internal news feed that I would get them in

A personal thank you to each individual- maybe via a note written in a small card. I think you can still get small packs of maybe 5/6 cards for £1:50. Notelets?

for me, that means a lot more than a generic hand out of a bar of chocolate or the sharing of a box of sweets or the bland round Robin message on WhatsApp praising the team as a whole.

a personalised individual note means you’ve actually recognised that persons ability and worth to the team. Plus the fact that you’ve taken your time to write a sentence or two, means you value that individual, rather than a quick easy 30second WhatsApp message to all.

Advocate for them for better pay and a budget for bonuses.

A nice card with a personalised message about their hard work/contribution/successes/abilities/ ... It will take a bit of time to craft the right message for each, but a pack of notelets and a few stamps are a modest outlay.

First thing is to say thanks a lot and mean it, make them know you appreciate their efforts.

Second thing, if no funds, is to make the working environment as pleasant and stress free as possible, i.e. fair and even spread of workload, proper management of employee issues such as disagreements, unfair workloads, sick leave, grievance processes, rotas for unpopular work/hours, dealing with bullying at the first sign, proper/clear allocation of work instructions, proper/clear feedback, help them develop professionally, etc etc. All the things that a good manager should be doing, but sadly, lots don't!

I used to give my staff a card quite regularly and I always thanked them often too. We had a weekly meeting and I provided biscuits. Small things, but appreciated ( well, they said they were)

Not sure what your budget is, but could a £5 costa/Starbucks voucher each work?

We got one from work recently and it was well appreciated around the office!

A proper thank you and by being a good manager. Can you have collective relax instead of a team meeting one time. Managers are happy to step in to help if needed without being asked.

this! Sadly this should be the norm, but so often isn’t.