You might have isolation, Zoom fatigue, and non-stop quota pressure on a remote sales team. Remote work gets lonely. Small rewards can improve motivation and help your team feel part of something, even if you’re in pajama bottoms and a blazer.
These five reward areas lift spirits and drive results. They include online experience packages that delight your team. They also offer tech upgrades and office improvements that give better tools. You can give wellness subscriptions and mental support to recharge. Peer recognition platforms spread praise among team members. Time-based rewards add extra freedom for your sales staff. You’re all staring at those silent screens, so which one needs the biggest boost? Where does your crew feel most unseen?
Online experience packages give your team moments they’ll remember long after the call ends. Screen time shouldn’t feel like a chore. Your crew moves from one online meeting to the next, so why not treat them to experiences that spark real excitement? You won’t find those memories in any spreadsheet.
Here are some creative concepts to get started!
Digital Experience Packages
You can miss out on those casual water-cooler conversations and impromptu lunch celebrations when you work remotely. The distance can feel very real. Online experiences can help fill that gap and bring some of those moments back to you. Surveys show that remote employees feel most appreciated when rewards feel personal instead of one-size-fits-all. Giving your team something that speaks to their interests goes a long way.
Depending on the situation, online gift cards can lack the emotional spark you want rewards to have. Most employees forget how they used a gift card within a few weeks. Shared experiences can spark stories and laughter that’ll stick with people for years. Plus, you can snap a quick screenshot afterward and keep the smiles on record for the whole team.
Teams are getting creative. Some businesses set up virtual chef sessions where you can cook together from different places. A mid-sized tech sales team swapped their usual quarterly bonus for an online escape room challenge. They said they felt more connected than they had in months. Why should you wait to bring your team closer?
You should adapt your online experiences for every time zone and any accessibility needs. Some organizations build “Choose Your Adventure” catalogs so top performers can pick an experience that fits their interests. People light up when you remember what matters to them. That move works way better than assuming everyone wants the same reward – it shows that you give them a choice, and the choice matters.
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Try creating experience levels that your team can unlock throughout the year, and let each new tier build excitement and keep people motivated. Plus, those memories from the shared experiences last much longer than the quick excitement of a cash bonus. Our brains are wired to treasure experiences together, so give your team something to look forward to instead of a one-time payout.
Tech And Office Upgrades
You can see your remote sales team putting in long hours with gear that doesn’t fit their needs. They might pitch six-figure deals while balancing on a wobbly kitchen chair under poor lighting – how can anyone stay focused in that mess? That setup doesn’t do much to help them succeed.
When you upgrade their gear, your team’s results can improve. The reps use their equipment about 40 hours each week, so the small differences add up fast. The math makes sense. The right tools make the work more pleasant and show your team that you value what they do. That message matters. That extra comfort shows up in call energy, response time, and even how often people turn their cameras on.
I saw one rep turn her demos around after she got a small lighting kit. Her confidence shot up once clients could see her more clearly, and her close rate followed. Prospects said the brighter image felt more trustworthy.
Some businesses use this idea in their reward programs. Top performers earn points to pick gear upgrades that improve how they work. That benefit creates excitement far better than another bonus check. Maybe you set up an online catalog where reps redeem performance points, stocked with standing desks, noise-canceling headphones, or 4K webcams. The catalog itself turns into a talking point on team calls.
Good CRM software boosts efficiency across the board. Its shared workspaces let your team swap documents in real time, no matter where they sit, keeping everyone in sync while each person works from a preferred spot. Keep budgets in mind as you set cost limits for upgrades and create tiers based on performance or tenure to be sure the program treats everyone fairly, even the new hires who might already have premium gear.
Wellness Subscriptions And Mental Support
People burn out nearly 20% more when they work from home compared to the office, simply because the boundaries blur. The drain is real. That extra burnout can hurt your numbers and your team morale. The gap pushes wellness programs to the top of your list for any remote sales team. Businesses are already doing just that.
You’ve seen businesses hand out Peloton and Headspace subscriptions or even mail healthy snack boxes straight to a rep’s door. Zoom even gives each employee a quarterly wellness allowance to spend as they like – on gym memberships, meditation apps, or a new yoga mat. These moves aren’t random at all. They fill the gap you miss without an office environment.
Even your strongest reps can burn out without warning. I saw it happen with a top performer who looked unstoppable until she quietly hit a wall. The meditation app her company paid for became her reset. That schedule kept her on the team instead of walking away during a tough quarter.
You shouldn’t give everyone the same wellness package. Your reps have different goals – some want fitness classes, while others look for mental health support. Each path to balance is personal. Why let anyone miss a chance to get what works for them? Give your team a menu of options so each person can choose what fits their needs. These could be yoga classes, nutrition coaching, mindfulness sessions, or ergonomic equipment. Let them pick the options that match their goals – this flexibility shows you’re paying attention to each person’s situation and what matters to them.
You tend to see a good return when you invest in wellness, and the numbers back it up. Johnson & Johnson saved $2.71 for every dollar they spent on employee wellness. Other firms report fewer sick days in their workforce. They also see better attendance and a more upbeat team vibe. Lower turnover starts to pay back your investment, and you get more focus and energy from your sales group. That payback shows up in the hard numbers and in everyday momentum.
Wellness subscriptions replace the natural breaks and office banter you miss at home – and keep your energy up all day.
Peer Recognition Platforms With Rewards
Employee engagement jumps up by 28 percent when peer recognition becomes part of your company culture. Your teammates will even pick up on the work that managers miss. That boost ripples through productivity and morale, and they spot the small wins that slip under the radar.
A few platforms make peer recognition easy to use. Bonusly and Nectar let team members award points to each other. Those points add up and can turn into gift cards or rewards. LinkedIn Spotlight focuses on public shout-outs.
Recognition feels real when it catches people by surprise. Say someone quiet stays late to help a colleague nail a client demo – the next morning, they wake up riding a tall, unexpected stream of warm appreciation from their teammates across the company. Everyone craves a little acknowledgment, so make room for moments like that.
You’ll need clear categories for your awards to keep things fair. Cover sales wins and team-building actions – this stops the same outgoing people from winning every time. Keep the whole process transparent so everyone sees how points are assigned and which rewards are available. Without clear guidelines, you might spark confusion or resentment. When you turn those points into something tangible, it creates a real emotional link to the work. It proves your effort gets seen even when you’re working remotely.
Being recognized after a long night of prospecting calls turns effort into pride, so why wait to give your team that lift?
Time-Based Rewards And Flexibility
You see that time beats money as a sales resource – remote teams feel the trade-off. Studies show 80% of employees value flexible schedules over most other benefits.
Businesses are rolling out new ways to reward top performers with time off. Some have introduced “Reward Days,” where people who hit their goals earn extra days off with no strings attached. Even quick breaks help. Let your team unplug completely without feeling guilty about their vacation days. The message is clear – hand back precious hours and watch morale climb.
Your sales group can stretch the Summer Fridays idea year-round. Cut the workday short whenever the team nails its targets. Those pauses keep burnout at a distance. That simple tweak signals trust and respect, which people remember long after a gift card.
One tech sales crew tried a No-Meeting Wednesday after hitting its quarterly goal. The experiment cost nothing but a calendar block. The day felt more rewarding than the cash bonus they also earned. The silence can be so refreshing. Your team can reach out to prospects or recharge their mental batteries during that quiet window. Consider what your people would value more – an extra $200 or the chance to leave early and catch their child’s baseball game?
Make sure workloads don’t pile up while folks are away – breaks shouldn’t feel like punishment. Nothing kills motivation faster than coming back to double the work you left behind. Protected focus days serve as strong rewards too. Block a few hours or a full day so your stars can work without interruptions – on their highest-value activities – and watch productivity climb. Tie the block to their personal goals for even bigger wins.
Level Up Your Incentives and Rewards
You see real motivation when you tap into online experiences, tech upgrades, wellness benefits, peer recognition, and flexible time. Programs that pair helpful rewards with genuine praise show people you value them.
Give your incentives a fresh spin by piloting one new idea and setting clear goals before you start. We’ve all been there before. Check in – any reward can lose its appeal if you never switch things up.
You can show real appreciation and make your top closer feel seen. What does that look like for your team?
At Level 6, we help you build mixed incentive programs – branded debit cards, recognition hubs, and custom sales rewards – that fit your team’s needs. Our platform keeps everything in one place and is easy to tweak as results roll in. The right blend keeps energy high and numbers climbing.
Reach out for a free demo and watch morale and ROI rise!
So, now that you’ve finished reading this article, did you have any questions about rewards for remote employees, what we can do for your company at Level 6, or anything else we discussed? If so, we’re always happy to help however we can. Please feel free to reach out at any time with your questions, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible with answers!
Additionally, if you’re just looking for further information on employee rewards programs, we highly recommend checking out our other published articles here on our website! We’ve been putting out at least one article a week for years now, so the amount of knowledge available to you entirely for free is massive! Our articles cover topics including employee rewards programs, sales incentives, channel partners, and much more. Check them out today; you’re bound to find an article or two with information useful to your particular situation.
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.
