Financial Versus Non-Financial Incentives

Should your incentives or rewards be financial or non-financial? Both options make an action seem more purposeful but how do you choose the incentive option that is ideal for you. Rewards inspire an employee to continue the good work, a means of reinforcing a desired behavior, while incentives are a way to motivate someone to pursue an action.

Reward/Incentive Tip #1: Giving a swift gift like money may or may not be as appreciated as a gift that is personalized or customized for the individual recipients’ needs. Although financial rewards quantify the level of achievement (advanced level would be rewarded more money), a non financial reward can make the accolades more tangible and personal.

Reward/Incentive Tip #2: Remember that the ultimate goal is to inspire and motivate your employees through your incentive or reward so your program should definitely have achievement tiers (if applicable) in order to make accomplishments more measurable and visual for yourself and your employees. Make sure you create a program that ensures your employees don't concentrate TOO much on the metrics.

Reward/Incentive Tip #3: Giving incentives are calculated and should be part of a structured incentive plan. Depending on your budget, not every achievement can be rewarded so follow corporate core values and standards and create benchmarks for your reward program.