Alternative rewards can help keep employees happy

People in human resources jobs can help to keep workers happy by coming up with alternative ways of rewarding good performance when pay rises are not available, a new study has found.

Salary freezes have been one of the features of the recession and the Confederation of British Industry recently warned workers to expect another year without a pay rise in 2010.

Research conducted by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) found that there are plenty of alternative incentives to cash that employees would appreciate.

However, it seems added responsibility is not among them.

A survey of employees found that only 37 per cent would appreciate being given a promotion that is not accompanied by a salary increase.

The numbers who would vale being fast tracked for promotion or given additional training were higher, at 67 per cent and 62 per cent respectively, but in the absence of a pay rise gifts are apparently more welcome than work-related incentives.

A £100 cash bonus was the most popular option, with 90 per cent of people saying they would appreciate it, ahead of £100 worth of gift vouchers (89 per cent), extra holiday entitlement (89 per cent) and electronic gifts such as a digital camera or iPod (80 per cent).

Jon Terry, head of reward at PwC, said the results showed how important it is for human resources functions to think of effective ways to thank staff for their hard work in the current climate.

"With bonus pools shrinking and many workers' wages frozen, employers need to find lower-cost, tailored ways of showing their staff that good performance is always appreciated," he added.

Updated: 23 December 2009.
Categories: human-resources, market-and-industry-news.