Remote-first businesses can grow when their teams feel more connected and motivated, no matter where they work! You can overcome obstacles like isolation and lack of in-person camaraderie by putting the right incentive strategies in place.
These incentives can change your remote workforce’s performance for the better. These six great strategies will improve engagement and also help retention.
From personalized rewards to building a stronger sense of community, you can apply these strategies to your team. Your success can depend on what your team’s needs are and you can really energize your remote team by customizing these incentives.
Let’s dig right in and talk about these!
Gift Cards And Monetary Incentives
Remote work fundamentally changes how you need to try to find and reward your employees. Online rewards like some gift cards can help to create immediate excitement and get your remote teams motivated in their work. You can send out these types of benefits to your team members no matter where they work.
Your remote employees will love some personalized gift cards that can match their interests. A Spotify subscription hits the right note for team members who love music. Your food enthusiasts will jump at DoorDash credits. Personal and thoughtful touches often produce better results compared to generic gift cards from big retailers.
Your remote team responds more to receiving regular small rewards than to sudden bonuses that are large. A $25 gift card sent right after wrapping up a hard project connects better than making them wait around for something bigger months later. Quick recognition helps your team closely connect their achievements with your appreciation.
Your team might like credits for online learning apps, wellness programs or even home office equipment. These kinds of rewards show understanding of remote work needs and also actively make your team’s work experience better.
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Remote employees also like having some extra options for their rewards. Virtual Visa cards and credits in popular stores give your team the ability to choose what works for them. This kind of freedom means even more when your staff works across different locations or has needs that are always changing.
Businesses also use rewards as a way to help build stronger connections in their remote teams. When you give public praise during virtual meetings combined with online rewards, it naturally works to improve team spirit.
The timing matters whenever you hand out rewards to your team. Recognition that’s delivered right after their achievements – while the success is still fresh – often can give you some authentic motivation and engagement across the entire distributed team.
Wellness And Health Incentives
Remote work completely revolutionizes the way that you can support employee wellness in your business. You’ll need to move past the standard office benefits and create some true virtual options that’ll make results on your team’s well-being.
Your remote team will grow with the help of some online wellness activities that naturally bring everyone together. Virtual yoga sessions can run throughout the day alongside meditation breaks that help your employees decompress. Your team members will like competing in online fitness challenges that welcome them to get moving and connect with their colleagues.
Mental health support sits at the center of remote work culture. Your team needs access to virtual therapy sessions or premium meditation apps. Regular workshops can give your employees strategies for handling the pressures that come with working from home.
Monthly or annual wellness stipends put more control into your employees’ hands. Your team members can choose what they need most, whether that’s new workout equipment, a standing desk or nutritious meal deliveries sent straight to their door.
The social parts of wellness shouldn’t be ignored in your remote setup. Virtual coffee meetups and book discussions can help fight off isolation while allowing team bonds to form more naturally. Your employees should always have options to choose from and the freedom to participate in ways that feel the most comfortable for them.
A successful remote wellness program will adjust to your team’s needs. Your team’s wellness work should go past physical health problems.
Your team will gain plenty from money management workshops that cut back on financial stress. Life coaching sessions can help them find the right balance between their work and personal lives.
Remote businesses integrate wellness right into the workflow. Your team can take quick meditation breaks between calls to refocus. Even fun virtual cooking classes will bring everyone together while promoting better eating habits. Group stretching sessions before bigger meetings can help energize everyone and create shared moments of connection.
Time Off And Flexible Work
You’ll have some control over your own schedule with remote work and it also lets you balance your life and your work on your own terms. Remote employees actually like scheduling freedom over the fancy office benefits.
The latest data shows why flexible schedules matter. Your productivity can jump by almost 40% when you choose your own work hours instead of following a strict schedule. This scheduling freedom helps you manage your tasks and feel better about your job.
Remote work shields you from non-stop office disruptions. You’ll save as much as roughly 62 hours each year by staying away from the common workplace interruptions. You can tune into your tasks and stay focused without any random desk drop-ins or overly chatty coworkers.
Your stress levels can probably drop by half compared to traditional office workers. You’re more likely to stay loyal to a company and feel connected to your work. Running errands, catching up on sleep, or managing school pickups can become much easier when you control your own schedule.
Your team has to stay aligned on everyone’s availability. However, most businesses find that employee freedom brings more positives than problems. Studies have shown that 8 out of 10 workers feel greater loyalty toward businesses giving flexible work options.
The ability to manage your own time can completely change your work life. You can manage personal tasks during slower periods and have demanding work when you’re feeling most productive. This keeps you energized and helps you stay away from burnout. Remote workers even manage to accomplish their old 8-hour office workload in just 6 flexible hours.
Home Office Stipends And Equipment
Remote work has made a big change to the strategy for your office equipment and your workspace setup. Businesses now realize that their teams can perform better when they work from more personalized and comfortable home offices. That’s why more businesses now give you some home office stipends so you can create your own workspace.
The equipment that you choose can affect your work quality and your comfort. Your back will thank you for investing in an ergonomic chair – plus you’ll have higher energy levels during those long workdays.
Stand desks let you move around more instead of sitting all day – this naturally helps with your focus and general health. A reliable pair of noise-canceling headphones helps you stay concentrated, even with the kids running around or the neighbor’s dog still barking. Remote businesses understand that everyone needs different items for their home office.
You might need multiple monitors to manage tough tasks, your coworker could be more productive with a laptop stand and a separate keyboard. Modern businesses give their teams flexibility through stipend programs and it lets you pick what works for your situation. These stipends usually range from $250 to $3,000 every year.
Some businesses fall short by setting rules that are overly restrictive or giving stipend amounts that are inadequate. Your productivity and your comfort will suffer when you can’t access the right tools. The best programs trust you to choose the equipment that matches your work style. They also understand that different job roles and living situations need different setups and services.
Modern businesses support their remote teams through well-planned stipend programs. Your focus, your comfort and your engagement will naturally improve when you can create a workspace that fits your own preferences.
Remote work can actually seem pretty lonely at times. That’s why businesses are creative with virtual team activities that help to bring people together. Your remote team needs some opportunities to bond and to have fun even when everyone is working in different time zones.
You can join on some virtual game nights to connect with your coworkers. Your team might participate in online escape rooms or compete in virtual trivia contests. You’ll be able to find shared interests and develop real friendships with your colleagues through these activities.
You’ll see new sides of your teammates when everyone is having fun instead of only talking about work. Businesses now even give you virtual cooking classes and DIY workshops too. You can learn to make pasta from scratch or create terrariums with your whole team over Zoom. These shared experiences give everyone memorable stories to tell about and they create long-term memories that’ll bring the team closer together.
In-person retreats help remote teams with some careful planning. Face-to-face meetings once or twice a year let you build deeper connections with your colleagues and you’ll finally be able to get those high-fives and share meals together. You can have spontaneous conversations that just don’t happen online!
These real-life interactions make working together virtually feel much easier afterward. The main thing is to keep these activities casual and voluntary. Your company should stay away from mandatory fun or forced bonding exercises.
Organizations now let teams pick any activities that excite them the most. They give you a combination of laid-back happy hours, skill-focused workshops, and interactive games throughout the year. Remote employees say team activities helped them to feel less isolated during harder times.
Regular social connections improve your job satisfaction and your mental health. People who feel close to their coworkers stay motivated and put in their best work. You need to invest some time and effort in order to build these kinds of relationships. Stronger team spirit and better results make the effort worth it.
Recognition And Learning Opportunities
Remote workers need to feel connected to your team and to the company culture. An easy thank-you note can create some real connections, and your remote staff will proudly display these personal touches in their home offices.
Handwritten notes do make a long-term impression that online messages just can’t match. Your remote employees will see how much you value their contributions when you take the time to mail out a physical card.
These kinds of gestures can mean even more to your remote team because they don’t have those face-to-face celebrations. Your commitment to their careers can become clear when you give them access to online courses or virtual mentorship programs to help them grow their careers from home. You should take time to review your learning programs.
Too many training options might overwhelm your remote staff. It’s better to have some relevant courses or a few dedicated mentors instead of throwing every available resource their way.
Strong connections across distances come from well-planned virtual mentoring. Your remote employees will feel supported when they have regular video conversations and clear goals. Mentor pairs can develop friendships that last long after the program ends.
Easy recognition works the best sometimes. Your remote workers light up when they see a quick video message from leadership showing some appreciation. They just want to know they’re making a difference in the company’s success.
Successful remote businesses make their appreciation more personal. When you learn about what motivates each employee, you can customize recognition in real ways.
Some team members grow with public praise during meetings. But others like private messages of thanks instead. Small gestures can create big results with distributed teams. You can show attention to individual preferences when you send a gift card for your remote worker’s favorite coffee shop.
When Should You Mix Incentives?
Remote work dictates the need for new approaches to employee rewards, and different types of incentives combined can give you some of the best results. Your teams will stay more involved and motivated when you blend wellness programs with gift cards and recognition. A few businesses are now seeing strong results, with some reporting that 70% of their employees actively participate when multiple reward types are combined.
You can see better results by thinking outside the box with your incentive combinations. Think about pairing up fitness challenges with gift card rewards and adding public recognition to team meetings – this kind of strategy works because your employees aren’t all motivated by the same things.
Some of your team members will love to be recognized in front of others. But others might like something more tangible. Multiple incentives working together can also address common remote work challenges head-on. Your isolated employees will feel more connected when you combine virtual team celebrations with personal achievement rewards.
Team video calls become way more engaging and real when you include moments for peer recognition and quick wellness check-ins. That helps you build some stronger bonds between your remote team members. You shouldn’t go overboard by throwing too many incentives at your team all at once. Multiple reward programs running at the same time can actually make each one less effective.
Finding what works for your team can help. Your sales department might need something completely different from what your tech team would like. Your teams might want quick rewards like bonuses, or they could be more interested in long-term opportunities like professional development funds.
Social recognition makes a big difference in remote work environments. Businesses now combine traditional rewards with virtual celebrations and team activities. Just to give one example, you might pair performance bonuses with public recognition during virtual meetings – this helps your remote workers feel seen and liked, even when they’re miles apart from their colleagues.
Level Up Your Incentives and Rewards
Remote work continues to evolve and your incentive programs should evolve too. When you find something that works, it might need some changes tomorrow, so you’ll want to stay flexible with your reward strategy.
Your team members will be more involved and productive when you let them pick out the benefits that actually matter to them. The right combination of incentives can brighten up your workplace. You’ll see positive results when you take the time to know what makes your employees tick – whether that’s flexible time off, opportunities to learn different skills, or some wellness packages. Your remote teams will respond in different ways to benefits, so it’s worth finding out what makes each person feel appreciated.
You’ll get better results through regular feedback when you adjust items as you go along, and your incentive programs are authentic. Your team’s needs will naturally change as your company continues to grow, so you should be ready to adapt your strategy.
At Level 6, we help businesses grow through custom-designed incentive programs. Our services cover everything from improving sales performance to creating happier and more motivated employees. We have branded debit cards, employee recognition options, and sales incentives that fit what your business needs. Our custom programs deliver measurable results for businesses just like yours.
We can share some ideas about how we’ve helped successful businesses grow their ROI and sales numbers. Book your free demo today!
Claudine is the Chief Relationship Officer at Level 6. She holds a master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology. Her experience includes working as a certified conflict mediator for the United States Postal Service, a human performance analyst for Accenture, an Academic Dean, and a College Director. She is currently an adjunct Professor of Psychology at Southern New Hampshire University. With over 20 years of experience, she joined Level 6 to guide clients seeking effective ways to change behavior and, ultimately, their bottom line.
