Choosing Which Brands to Include in Your Employee Reward Program
Implementing a rewards program can have great benefits for an organisation, but before you can jump in, you need to think about how it will integrate into your unique workplace. While there are many steps involved in designing and implementing an employee rewards program, one of the most important ones is choosing the right brands for your program. This can greatly affect the success of the program and the difference it makes for your employees. So, where do you start?
Talk to your staff
Whether this is the entire workforce, or reaching out to leaders to collate ideas, understanding what your staff want from their rewards program is essential. There is no point in offering discounts or points towards women’s fashion if this isn’t something your staff would use or feel is a great reward for their hard work! Find out what they consider to be a great reward or how they would want to reward their peers and even what brands they love (or don’t!) to get an idea of what would make them feel valued.
Variety is the spice of life
People like choice. And we don’t mean thousands of unique products, but rather a good variety of categories. This serves two purposes: your employees know they have lots to choose from, and there is something for everyone’s tastes. Even if only a few people love camping, a gift card to an outdoors store might be the best way to reward them or someone else may have a loved one who would appreciate the gift card instead. And for those who always head to the same section, seeing lots of different types of rewards shows you care about what your staff care about, which can lead to increased loyalty.
Quality over quantity
While variety is important, too much choice can be overwhelming – particularly when matched with brands or products that lack quality. This is why it is important to focus on choosing brands that employees will consider high value. These could be brands everyone knows and loves, or really drilling down to what your workforce particularly likes, bringing us back to our first point of talking to your staff about what they want or would like in a rewards program.
Balance popular with local
It’s important for staff to recognise the brands in your rewards program, but it can also be just as important to select Australian businesses. While global brands will be recognisable, going local means reward recipients know they can use whatever they are given or choose (depending on how your system works) but also shows how you as a company support local (and sometimes small) businesses.
When choosing brands to include in your employee reward program, the main things to remember are:
- Find out what your staff like
- Have a variety of categories and industries
- Choose brands employees will value and recognise
- Choose a balance of local, small businesses, with well known, global businesses
And finally, talk to a rewards program provider (like us)! They have lots of data around what brands people love when it comes to being rewarded in the workplace and can help you with your selection to ensure your program is a huge success.