When coming up with a total rewards plan for your organization, make sure you consider several things. You want to make sure that you are offering your employees things that they really want. A great way to find out what this might be is to conduct an employee survey, assess your company culture, and find out what makes your employees happy. Not all rewards will motivate all employees in a similar way, but by examining the workforce you are employing, and taking a survey of what makes them feel valued, you can make the right steps in the coming year so that you are reaping the best results for your total rewards plan. Loyalty from employees will save you time and money on turnovers, and will also improve your company morale. So it’s a win-win if you can learn to speak your employees’ language in terms of what they need out of their workplace.

Remember these simple steps when formulating your next big total rewards approach.

• Rewards don’t have to be monetary, and rewards don’t have to go according to a set schedule.
  • Days off after big deadlines
  • Catered lunches during time-sensitive projects
  • Tickets to local sporting events
  • Remote work
  • Lunch with the CEO
• Meet the needs of YOUR employees
  • Generational differences – Baby Boomers have a strong sense of work loyalty, where Millennials might focus more on short-term goals. Make sure you’re aware of where your employees fit into the bigger scheme of things.
  • Life cycle of your organization – are you an established organization or a start-up looking to shake things up?
  • Location, culture, product, services all play a part in this as well – if you’re a natural pet food company, you might want to consider allowing dogs in the workplace (with guidelines of course!)
• Make smart financial decisions when coming up with your total rewards plan.
• Consider establishing an employee focus group to discuss rewards and what is and is not working – creating a game plan for moving forward so that you don’t have to start from ground zero every time you want to implement changes in your organization is a great time saver moving forward.