Believe it or not but there is such a thing as bad employee benefits. Employers try so hard to ensure that their employee benefits package is an all encompassing one, that they begin to offer benefits which their staff don’t really want, are counterintuitive to their task and actually serve to demotivate and decrease engagement levels at the workplace.

It’s not about the quantity of the benefits as much as it is about the quality and desirability of the rewards.  Benefits and rewards need to be a well thought out effort which should help make their lives easier instead of more stressful.

Every tiny reward can help motivate employees

But rewards which are given without doing much research seem completely pointless to employees. Dishing out rewards without any prior reasoning behind is a great way of devaluing them and provides no incentive for employees to work hard whatsoever. Employers need to give a purpose to the reward so it can help motivate workers to go that extra mile.

Not all rewards will suit everyone

People have different personalities, tastes and desires. A single one size fits all rewards will not work for every employee. What may work for one person might just fail for another. For this purpose it helps to research on the preferences of all your staff to find rewards that can actually help to increase their engagement and motivation. This is truer now more so than ever before because workers from different generations with vastly different preferences are employed at the workplace.

Pointless benefits

Some benefits seem to go against well established policies and boundaries at the workplace. For instance, “bring your pet to workday” might make you look like a jovial employer to some employees, others might not share the same sentiment. Pets can invoke allergic reactions (or even primal fears!) in some people. Offering free food might just work against your own wellness plan, especially if the food is beer or a couple of burgers. Conducting research is key to the success of your rewards plan.

Reward everyone

Sometimes employers reward only a select few departments in their workplace, such as the sales group. This might resonate negatively with the rest of the work staff and create the feeling of alienation. It is important to understand that everyone at the office contributes their part to the company’s bottom line.

Recognizing the hard work and effort of all employees who tend to go above and beyond what is required of them is critical to the well being of the company. Sometimes all it takes to recognize someone’s hard work is to thank them for their efforts, other times this recognition has to manifest itself into an actual party to celebrate their achievements.

Rewards which precede bad news

In order to keep the negativity at the work place in check, some employers give out quirky rewards such as free food or beer. This usually precedes negative news such as staff layoffs or bonus cuts. So next time you pull off the same move on your employees, they know what to expect, and instead of uplifting their moods, it will only serve to dampen them.