How to reward employees - in ways other than salary

[bubble2bubble]

We some great employees we would really, really like to keep. After some difficult times, including having to dismiss one of their colleagues for theft, we genuinely want them know they are valued, corny though that may sound.

We pay what we consider a decent salary and I keep an eye on what similar jobs are paying and make sure we stay ahead

We would like to do something else that doesn't involve hideous tax implications for them - are company cars now just not worth it? company mobiles? does gym membership have to be declared for tax?

I haven't asked our accountant yet, but wondered if any had any experience or ideas?

Company cars and mobiles do need declaring and are a taxable (and nic-able) benefit. Not sure about the gym - I think firms can offer this as a health benefit - I get a gym sub and work pt for an accountant.

So gym may be a possibility then, that could be good.

i think to be spoken to properly is really important x

DH's old work did a family fun day at a park with all sorts if free fun things, inflatables, face paintig and so on and I really appreciated it

A paid day off for their birthday? Free tea/coffee? Prize draw every month with a prize like a meal or hotel stay?

Most things that have monetary value are taxable.

We offer croissants at our Monday morning meeting, fruit during the week, we make a fuss of people's birthdays (cake and champagne), we have various fundraising events - cake sales etc, and a summer picnic with softball and booze. None of it costs masses but it all helps.

An extra day of holiday this year to celebrate our ten year anniversary seems to have made people pretty happy!

Do you have access to the CIPD website? There's tons of stuff on there about ways to reward employees without incurring huge costs.

Personally the things that have been the best perks for me (in the past and via dh's work now) were salary sacrifice schemes such as childcare vouchers but these do cost you during maternity/paternity leave. I also liked the enhanced product offers we used to get like top rate savings accounts and fees waived on other products when I worked at the bank (mortgages were never worth it with the benefit in kind regs). Dh's employer has negotiated special offers including cut price health and life cover, gym memberships, discounts at stores and one-off fire sales with big name brands. There are third parties who will run this sort of thing for you via a website and you just have to pay them a fee and give the staff logins.

If you don't already operate a pension scheme or share save scheme definitely think about it. Yes there are costs but they can encourage loyalty and the terms and conditions can inspire people to stay when they might otherwise have jumped ship.

Extra holiday always goes down well. An extra day off to say thank you makes a huge impact for very little cost if you can accommodate it operationally.

Whatever you decide to do make sure you communicate it well or it will be a waste of time and money.

Extra holiday is a nice idea, but it is taxable. An employer client of mine gets in therapists from time to time to give head/shoulder massages to the staff.

Decide whether you want to give a "one off" treat to your staff, or permanently improve their terms. Once you start giving a benefit regularly, you are likely to create a (legally enforceable) expectation that it will continue/be repeated, along with all sorts of other risks. I can expand on this if that's what you're thinking of.....

I assume you want to reward all your remaining staff, rather than a selection?

I went to a lecture recently by Lynne Copp who wrote this and she told an amazing story of a building society she consulted for which was having awful sickness rates which they believed were because their staff kept calling in sick as their children were sick. And their 'sickness' and absence policy wasn't working (was very dictatorial).

She said that the common mistake businesses make is that they treat their staff like they all want to take the piss rather than just the 3% that do.

They were about to spend £1m on a creche for their workers and she said that it would have very little impact on the problem and instead told them to introduce a policy of up to 3 "emergency" days to be taken when they needed to and they didn't need to justify it.

Building society management very perturbed - said people would just add it on their holiday etc etc (again, treating employees as slackers).

She said introduce it and if it costs you anything I will pay the costs.

One year later absence rates gone down by 85%, productivity up £3m, not ONE person had taken all three emergency days, some had taken 1, a few had taken 2.

Entirely changed the culture to a 'trusted' workforce.

Ok you probably already do this, but my first suggestion is tell them how valued they are and how you think they are doing a great job. It's amazing how much this motivates most people, and makes them more reluctant to leave. And it's totally free.

Small perks - give a bar of chocolate/other tiny reward when someone has done a great job. Go get ice creams when it's sunny. Put some money behind a local bar on a Thursday/Friday every so often. That kind of thing.

Things that make people's lives easier - for example our firm has membership of an emergency nanny agency that people can use when their usual childcare lets them down. Costs them less than employees taking the day off. Dry cleaning drop off/pick up service?

I also agree with Laurie's point about trusting your employees and treating them as grown ups - meaning, don't have harsh or inflexible HR policies.

Dh's work has a 'reward and recognition' scheme where they get a bonus for doing a great job on a particular project. I prefer this to any kind of 'in kind' bonus.

(my work's equivalent is that if we do a great job we get to keep our job :) )

Oh gosh great ideas here I am glad I asked - thanks all.
We do all the buying coffees, lunches occasional Saturday night meals etc and do try t o keep everyone involved and acknowledge their efforts in personal chats even if it is informal. Staff can buy everything we sell at cost price for themselves we also give clothing, free samples etc which they seem to like

Off to look at pension schemes though as that could be a good one and maybe some hotel vouchers would go down well over the summer..

A family day out at Alton towers or the like?

A family Christmas party, where the partners and dc's come to work in the afternoon for a buffet lunch/picnic. Through the time they see Father CHristmas and receive a gift, Christmas craft activities and an entertainer. This used to be really well received at DH's work until cutbacks and it was axed.
Also family fundays, summer bbqs and picnics.

The best thing to keep me loyal to an employer has always been flexibility. The ability to flex my hours over the day/week (meetings etc. permitting), such that as long as I do my hours, no-one minds if I turn up after 9am but take a half-length lunch break, enabling me to drop off at school in the morning, or to work late a couple of days in the week but leave at 1pm one day to see sports day... The idea from Laurie about emergency days is also great.

Ice creams and fun days (and I've had both of those in the past) are nice, but ongoing flexibility made me grateful on a daily basis that I worked for such a 'good' employer. I now work on a freelance basis because my last employer was so unflexible - they drove me away because of their rigidness. If you in a business that can offer that flexibility, it is the best thing you can do, IMHO.

I agree. The reason I'm at my current job is because, within reason, they are flexible. I can, to some extent, work from home so on days when I need to get the electrician in or days when DD is ill I can work from home instead of taking a day off. The fact that I can leave early if I have a childcare failure without comment or criticism is also welcome.

I once worked for a firm that offered 3 'Mental Health' days per year. They were a bit like duvet days in that they were an acknowledgement that occasionally it all gets too much and sometimes you just can't manage to get in and function normally. They were a great safety valve and the boss swore sickness absence went down as a result.

I used to work for a company who arranged an annual Christmas gift - a crate of wine. 2 bottles of white, 2 bottles of red and 2 bottles of champagne. People used to go crazy for it. We used a company called Turner Price who were really good.

FYI I am pretty sure that as a business you can give your staff gifts up to the value of £75 tax free per year. Check the amount though because I could have it wrong.

I was watching Breakfast just before Christmas and they were broadcasting from Heathrow where they interviewed one man and asked where he was going, he worked for a company and basically every year they were taken somewhere abroad for the night in europe, it was a suprise, they were told what sort of weather to expect and that was it. Could work here aswell?

Our company offer extra schemes that they pay in bonus bonds credit cards that you can use in certain stores and online, last one was for £1200 and they can be ordered online.

www.bonusbonds.co.uk

Sorry it's www.bonusbonds.com

oh ffs

Early Friday finish
More than stat holidays
Flexible working

...are some of the things I wish we had here. Although it is the best company I've worked for those things would make it perfect.

Personal development - paying for something tht's work related, or just something they fancy doing.

Holiday isn't a taxable benefit by the way.

If you can justify business use, a company mobile/laptop/iPad wouldn't be taxable either.

My husband's old firm used to send us on short-haul holidays every year. It was delightful and very, very much appreciated . I'm liking the wine crate idea lizzy, that would also go down well over here .