Are your employees looking to make a mass exodus because they haven’t gotten a bonus or a raise? Are you struggling to keep them employed and the checks from bouncing and there simply isn’t any money left over for a raise or bonus? How to motivate employees when you don’t have cash is a question that many business owners struggle with.
There are other ways to “thank” employees and recognize them for a job well done even if there isn’t additional cash in the bank account with which to do that. You can use these incentives for staff, vendors and contractors alike.
How To Motivate Employees When You Don’t Have Cash
- A long weekend. If you have an employee — or several employees that go above and beyond, offer them an additional day off to make it a long weekend. Let them choose if they want Friday or Monday and let them enjy a three day weekend.
- Provide flex time options. This may be tricky if you need to cover a store front or phones for a certain number of hours a day, but if you have employees who can work with one another to make it work, offer flex time. Let employees work four ten hour days or come in earlier and leave earlier or come in later and leave later. As long as the business is covered for customer service, this is a very attractive perk.
- “Thank you!” Send a company wide email thanking an employee. Hang a “Thank you” sign in a space where everyone can see. Add details to the “thank you” so the staff knows why their coworker was singled out.
- Let them take time off work to volunteer. If the company or the individual has a pet non profit to which they’d like to give back, offer time to let them do that.
- Let them attend networking or trade events to get new training or the chance to learn a new skill. Alleviate boredom and let them learn a new skill and they may be happier and more satisfied at work.
Plan a company picnic. Have everyone bring a dish to pass and get out of the office for an afternoon. If you have the space outside, invest in a picnic table and let employees eat lunch out of doors as a change of scenery.
What can you do to incentivize employees without spending cash that you simply don’t have?