Everyday, people will carry out certain activities with the promise of a reward at the end. For example, simply completing a day of work will be rewarded with a pay cheque. In today’s competitive hiring environment, you will have seen that many employees are looking for more than simply their pay at the end of the month. 

That is why many employers are now using extrinsic rewards, as they are an excellent way of motivating staff and rewarding them for the work they do. Here is what is meant by the term ‘extrinsic rewards’, and how you can use them in your workplace.

What is meant by the term ‘extrinsic reward’?

What exactly does it mean to offer extrinsic rewards to your employees? The word ‘extrinsic’ denotes rewards that have a tangible element, and will come through external factors. In the workplace, that reward would come from someone other than the employee, most commonly a manager or owner of the business.

It’s worth noting that there are also intrinsic rewards for employees working with you, which conversely our rewards that come from within the employee themselves.

By focusing on extrinsic rewards, you are looking at the kind of rewards you can offer your employees that have tangible benefits for them. 

Also, using extrinsic rewards allows you to advertise how you motivate staff when you are hiring. These allow you to have concrete examples of what you do, which will make your company more appealing to apply for.

Examples of extrinsic rewards in the workplace

So, an extrinsic reward is a reward that you will be providing to your staff, explicitly to motivate them in their work. What would that look like for your business? Here are some common examples of extrinsic rewards being used in workplaces right now.

1. Offer great fringe benefits

These days, if somebody is considering playing for a job with a company, they will be looking at more than just the salary that they offer. They want to see that the company offers a good range of different perks, ones that they can put to good use if they work with you. 

Having such benefits available allows you to hire and keep some of the best talent out there. As an example, take someone who begins to work with you and then has children. If you are offering childcare reimbursement, then they can stay in their role and you get to hold on to that talent.

2. Good salary

While offering fringe benefits is a must now, of course somebody isn’t going to consider working with you if they do not feel the salary is worth it. As such, a good salary for each employee is essential.

On top of a good salary, you shouldn’t be afraid to compensate workers fairly, if they are going above and beyond in their work.

If staff see that good work is being rewarded with pay, then they will work harder for you as they will see their efforts are rewarded. This is something that’s worth budgeting for, as if you have the best talent on your team, you want to ensure they stay there.

3. Paid time off

Something else that pretty much every jobseeker is looking for right now, is a role with a reasonable amount of paid time off. This is especially true in the way of the pandemic, where staff got used to having more flexibility over their own work schedules. While you may not be able to offer a full work from home package, offering good paid time off will go a long way towards bringing the top workers into your team.

Remember that paid time off is any time off that you will compensate. That includes holidays, as well as any sick days, jury duty, bereavement, and so on.

4. Recognition for milestones

These days, it has become harder and harder to hold on to staff throughout their entire working career. People are not afraid to make the jump to other companies, if they feel they will be able to grow there. You of course need to be properly helping your staff grow and giving them the opportunities they want, so when they do stay with you you should be celebrating their milestones.

This obviously will include work anniversaries and achievements, but you can also include special occasions such as birthdays in this as well.  

A good way of doing this is having celebration hampers made for staff who reach these milestones. To make them meaningful, it’s a good idea to have data on employees preferences and allergies, as well as a calendar that keeps track of all of these milestones so you do not miss one. Delivering a hamper with a quick office celebration will go a long way.

5. Setting career goals

In the above points we noted that you need to be helping your staff reach their goals in their careers. A great way of doing so and offering a tangible reward, is to have regular goal setting meetings with each staff member, and use these to help them achieve their full potential.

The key here is to use the information in these meetings to really help your staff. For example, if somebody is aiming to get a promotion within a set time frame, you need to be working with them to understand what they need to do to gain it, and help them reach that goal.

6. Public recognition

In a survey with Quantum Workplace, more than 50% of employees surveyed said that they wanted public recognition for the achievements they made at work. As such, if you are looking for ways to reward staff for making certain achievements, then you will need to make these rewards public.

For example, if a team reaches a milestone, you can send out a company-wide email announcing it. Even having a traditional employee of the month structure in place will go a long way towards motivating staff to do their best.

7. Paid team activities

Having a team that is meshing well together and properly communicating is vital, but often with their workload they may not be able to fully foster those connections with their teammates. That’s why offering paid team activities outside of the workplace will go a long way towards motivating them.

There are lots of different ways that you can go about offering these activities, such as taking teams to play team building games, doing work in the community, or even doing something physical such as cycling. 

We at Surf Office offer team building retreats that are perfect for this. Depending on the location you pick, your team will take part in activities such as kayaking, biking, scavenger hunts, surfing, and much more. These are all great ways of bringing teams together and helping them foster those connections.

8. Improve work spaces

Your team is working from the same same space day after day, so it really needs to be built to accommodate their needs. So many owners tend to forget about this, when they are thinking about how to motivate their staff. That is why improving workspaces is an excellent way of motivating staff, and getting the best out of them. 

For example, take a look at the break room in your office or workplace. Is it somewhere that your staff can take a fully relaxing break in, before they get back to work? If not, you can start remodelling it and making it the best it can be. Talk to your staff, and see what it is they would want from a fully optimized space.

9. Travel incentives

Who wouldn’t like to take some time off work to visit a beautiful and exotic location? If you are really looking to motivate your staff, you can start offering reward trips. These are great for sales oriented businesses, where the top 10 sellers, for example, can be given an all exclusive trip. This does work better if you have staff working to quantifiable metrics, as that allows you to easily pick the top performers to be rewarded.

10. Bonuses

This is another classic extrinsic reward that your staff will appreciate. If you are offering bonuses tied to tasks, then it helps staff stay motivated on the job at hand. If you are consistent in offering these bonuses, then it will go a long way to keeping staff rewarded for what they do.

11. Promotions

Finally, if somebody leaves a role it is very common because they feel they cannot grow any further in that current role. If you want staff to stay motivated and stick with you, then offering promotions is the best way to go about it.

If you are looking to promote somebody into a role, be sure that you are checking every applicant out fairly. It’s so easy to lose precious talent from your company simply because they felt they were being looked over for a role that would be perfect for them.

12. Commuter benefits

The pandemic showed a lot of workers how much money they would save on travel if they worked from home full time. While some people are able to transition their role to a full time WFH position, others aren’t. If you aren’t able to offer WFH options, you can offer commuter benefits to your staff to offset that cost. 

Most typically these benefits would be compensation towards the cost of travel, whether that’s by car or public transport. Other companies may pay for parking costs, or for travel cards on certain forms of transportation. 

13. Stock options

Another interesting benefit you can offer your staff are stock options in your business. If your company is listed on the stock market, then offering staff the chance to own stock in their own company is highly motivating. After all, if they work towards bettering the company they work for, the value of that stock will rise too. 

14. Company provided insurance

One benefit that many staff members would appreciate would be insurance from their employer. Most typically, you will see companies offering health and life insurance for their staff as a benefit. 

Having these policies offer a lot of peace of mind to staff, as they know they are covered should they ever experience illness or other issues. Offering good insurance packages is a great way to motivate applicants to interview for open roles in your company, too. 

15. Company products or services

If your company sells goods or services to the public, then you can have benefits in place for your staff to enjoy them themselves. For example, in the hotel industry, staff can be offered the ability to book a certain amount of rooms a year for a cheaper rate. 

You will very commonly see this in retail stores too, where staff get a certain discount on the goods that they offer. This benefit is very simple to implement, and will give your staff an ongoing benefit that they can take advantage of as they work for you. 

These are just some of the ways that you can offer extrinsic rewards to your employees. By offering such rewards, you will be motivating your staff to do their best. It will also help you recognize and hold on to the best talent within your company, so offering extrinsic rewards is vital to your business.