With the current COVID-19 scenario, employees are struggling with stress-management while working from home, and low in motivation. Several proceedings have been forced to change due to social distancing, however what keeps the staff driven stays the same. It is due to this reason that digital incentives during COVID-19 can help elevate employee’s morale and improve their productivity, or at least keep it balanced during times of crisis. Awarding rewards and bonuses are proven approaches of increasing employee satisfaction through better employee engagement.

However, managers might question how to provide such incentives during the lock-down. It is due to this reason that digital incentives can be a great option. They are cost and time efficient, trackable, and easy to maintain thanks to technological advancements. Hence, if managers or Human Resource representatives are concerned about low employee outputs and morale due to the crisis, these employee benefit programmes can help prevent this.

The most common type of digital incentives is discount and promo codes or coupons. Employees still need to purchase items, therefore, a promo code of an item they have been wanting to get for a long time or one that they will like is a great example of a good digital incentive. They are also easy to purchase and well-priced. Additionally, a loyalty programme with companies offering these discounts will reduce costs and open the company up to new freebies or price-cuts.  Innovative online platforms have been created where employees can send or appoint their peers for “rewards” for jobs well done which can be used to buy an array of different items. If companies are not confident about which promo codes to gift their employees, several online companies specialise in identifying and creating the best packages based on the companies.

Digital Incentives During COVID-19 can be successful without the purchase of items too. Building an appraisal culture in the company is the easiest and cheapest way to incentivize the workforce. This can be done through sending employees messages for good work done, or even uploading “high performing” employee’s achievements on the platform. The employees will benefit from their colleague’s praises and improve their visibility to other parts of the workforce. Although this may require considerable time and effort from the leader’s side, it guarantees employees admiration and loyalty to the company’s values.

Overall, making sure the incentives are personal and truly acknowledge the employee’s work is the priority. Such efforts will go a long way to reinforce the workforce’s confidence in their leaders and show that they are invested in helping the employees recover from the brunt of the crisis.

References:

1. Digitization of Rewards Leads To Better Business Outcomes, June 19, 2019, HRTechnologist.