The benefits of a customer rewards program are numerous. A rewards program makes it easy for customers to earn points, gain access to unique offerings, receive discounts, and more – all with the swipe of a card. It’s a no-brainer for brands who want to incentivize frequent purchases and encourage loyalty.
What if you applied the principles of customer engagement used when creating a rewards program for your employees? Rewarding employees is a critical way to build your company’s reputation as an employer and keep your employees engaged with your business.
Disengagement Is a Real Problem
It used to be common for companies to offer various recognitions for employees. These employee kudos ranged from employee-of-the-month shoutouts or thoughtful thank you note to gift certificates on a service anniversary. Today’s employees are growing more disengaged with their employers which means it’s that much more important to find ways to excite and delight employees beyond the aforementioned tactics.
Are your employees unhappy? That type of disengagement is expensive. Low morale can increase turnover rates, which costs money. It can also lead to a drop in productivity. One survey found that unhappy workers cost companies an estimated $550 billion per year in the U.S.
How Can Mirroring a Customer Rewards Program Build Employee Engagement?
An employee incentive program helps encourage people to achieve goals. For example, customer loyalty programs don’t simply offer a free meal or discount after a certain number of purchases. Rather, they help build habits in customers to get them to come back time and time again. They also help the customer see the brand in a positive light because of the incentives they’re being rewarded with.
Apply that same logic to rewards programs for employees. If your employees use your product or service, that presents the perfect opportunity for you to create an employee rewards program and offer them what you’d offer customers (or perhaps better in some instances!).
What are the benefits of employee rewards programs?
Creating employee rewards programs have numerous benefits for both the employee and employer including:
- Improving recruitment – employees like to work where they are appreciated
- Increasing employee productivity
- Boosting employee attendance
- Encouraging employees to be more invested in your company
Every program is different, but you can tailor it to deliver the types of rewards or benefits your employees are most interested in. This type of rewards program applies to any type of retail, food, or other business.
How to Create Employee-Friendly Customer Rewards Programs
Let’s talk through how you can create an employee-friendly customer rewards program. Building customer loyalty and employee loyalty work in the same way. First, take time to consider what your employees would appreciate most. Next, remember this key point:
There’s one key thing to remember as you begin this process.
Ensure that you strike a balance between rewarding your employees for their day-to-day work and rewarding them via an employee rewards program. The two need to be different enough for employees to readily engage with a rewards program.
It’s essential to create a program that’s tailored to your employees. Company rewards programs that are designed with the employees in mind are more effective and tend to be used more readily. Most importantly, the rewards you select should directly benefit your employees. Not sure what they’d want (that’s okay!)? Ask them. Start with a survey to find out what really matters to them. Is it access to special products? Discounts? Cashback incentives?
You don’t have to create a complicated program or invest a lot of time or management into it. Rather, consider simple things that people appreciate. For example, consider a referral incentive. If an employee refers a friend to work for you and you hire their friend, offer the employee a bonus or reward. If you’re having staffing issues, this could be a win-win for both you and your employees.
Consider a program that builds employee points via your chosen method of accruing the points (make this process easy and accessible for employees). Or create a discount program. If your employees are also your customers, this is an easy way to give back to them.
Building a Loyalty Program for Your Employees Isn’t Challenging
Consider the use of customer loyalty cards. These function in a similar way to rewards programs for your customers with cards they can use for any sort of features you want to build into it.
Check out how Juice Banking fits into the picture. It’s the #1 tool for worker benefits and rewards. It’s a fast and easy way to pay your employees without having to issue paper checks or cash for the rewards they earn. You provide your employees with a reloadable debit card. You fund the cards in real-time when they reach goals or objectives you’ve established in advance. You can even send a payment during off-hours or on a weekend if you need to.
This also allows you to easily pay out off-cycle payroll and bonuses in no time and in a way that your employees can instantly use and appreciate. You can even create a co-branded logo to build brand awareness.
And, of course, you can use the cards to serve as an easy-to-use tool to redeem cashback rewards, offer monetary gifts/bonuses, and more. In addition, you could choose to issue a “lifetime fan” card if your employee moves on to a new job and the split is amicable. They’ll be a customer – and fan – for life if they earn incredible rewards. Learn more by checking out our customer engagement and revenue growth blend, as well as our worker benefits and rewards at Juice Banking. Or get started right away!
