How To Reward Employees Who Reach Learning Goals

If you are struggling to think of non monetary rewards for employees who reach their learning goals, you aren’t alone. While it is easy to think of ways to reward employees that include things like raises and promotions. However, that isn’t always possible for companies who have smaller budgets. Sometimes, it may benefit you to reward employees who reach their learning goals with monetary rewards. You need to find a good balance so that your employees don’t just expect something.

At Trakstar, we try to reward our employees in different ways. Whether we give them special treats (like cookies or lunch) or we give them shout outs in a special Slack channel, we always try to give credit where credit is due.

Non Monetary Rewards For Employees

Finding a good way to reward employees or creating a reward system for employees and motivation inducers is difficult. We have a few different ideas to reward employees without breaking the bank.

>>> Click here to download our Employee Appreciation Ideas Worksheet. <<<<

Handwritten Notes

One of the easiest non-monetary rewards for employees is a simple handwritten note. This may not seem like something employees want, but it shows that you are paying attention to what they do – enough that you’ll sit down and write a note. This is an incentive that works for remote employees and people working in person. You can mail them a letter (we don’t get snail-mail all that often anymore) or drop a card on their desk.

Why does this work? It shows that you took a few seconds and thought about them. It feels personal and special, even if you do it for everyone who reaches their learning goals. Be sure to vary what you say so that it feels special for everyone.

Offer Time Off 

If you are trying to think of ways to reward employees without money, offering time off is going to be one of your most successful motivators. A great way to incentivize employees to complete learning and training is to utilize remote training. Schedule a few hours of training that is all relevant to what they do and then offer the rest of the day off. 

You can also use an accrual system: for so many hours put into learning and training, they’ll get early Fridays or a day off. If you have a department or company-wide training, try to find a way to give them all days off, even if it means splitting it up throughout the year.

Hold Certification Ceremonies

Are you holding training sessions for employees working towards certain certifications? We see this a lot in healthcare learning management systems and real estate LMS programs. If you are asking yourself how to reward employees without money, think about Tinkerbell, who needs attention and applause to survive. Rewards and recognition for employees go hand-in-hand. Additionally, it works twice for you: you’ll get to reward employees while encouraging others to complete their training.

Give Them Shout Outs on Social Media

Give employees who reach their learning goals a quick shoutout on your company’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn accounts. Why? They’ll be able to share it with their friends and families (who doesn’t want their mom to see that they are doing well?).

Monetary Rewards and Incentives for Employees Who Reach Learning Goals

Sometimes, the best rewards and incentives for employees will cost some money. You don’t have to break the bank, and you can set the rewards far off in the distance so that you aren’t constantly expensing rewards for employees to motivate them to do something that is a part of their jobs.

However, there are some rewards for employees that don’t cost a lot of money but still seem like you too put in the effort.

Create A Point Reward Program For Employees

Want to encourage ongoing training and learning? Build a point system into your LMS so that they get a certain number of points for completing training.

Maybe they can use their points to get early Fridays, have their choice of a day off, or get new supplies. They will then be competing for rewards and special offers, so they are likely to complete training and use it. Just make sure that everyone understands the reward system for employees from the moment they are hired – include it as part of their onboarding process.

Think Smaller – Like Coffee or Lunch

When people think about spending money to reward employees for reaching their learning goals, they think about huge expenses. It doesn’t have to be that way! Bring in a coffee bar or a food truck for a few hours. These aren’t as expensive as you’d expect and they support local businesses.

If you have remote employees, use a meal delivery system and load a certain amount of money. This method works great to accommodate different time zones, diets, allergies, and religions in the workplace as well.

Spoil Them With A Spa

Have a long day of training and learning for your entire company? Bring in some pampering! Give your employees massages, facials, or even manicures to help ease their aching muscles and brains after all that training. 

One thing to think about: not everyone is going to be incentivized by people touching them. If you are considering something like this, it may be a good idea to send out an engagement survey to see if people are comfortable with it.

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