2 Expert Insights

Hi,

Your question is about rewarding employees without breaking your budget. I wrote 2 blogs on the subject after working with a variety for organizations.  They are here:

http://www.mylifeintegrated.com/blog/3-ways-to-increase-employee-morale-and-maintain-employee-rewards-even-with-budget-cuts

and here:
http://www.mylifeintegrated.com/blog/motivating-employees-use-what-worked-in-college

-Michelle Geromel-Devine

Here are some thoughts happy to expand on these over the phone if you would like:

Verbal acknowledgement is one of the strongest forms of recognition and is completely free. But it can be hard to do. Try this.  Ask one of your team members, "Can you help me out. Who are two people who have done something that you really appreciate?"  They will name a couple. Then you go to those people, individually. In conversation share, "Oh, by the way, Bob said he really appreciated how you handed the Recalculation module."   Then later ask them the same question  "Can you help me out. Who are two people who have done something that you really appreciate?"  It is a pyramid scheme of appreciation.

It has the additional benefit of building bonds not just one but both ways; between you and the person appreciated, the appreciator and the appreciated. Try it!