Regular Rewards Trump Big Bonuses

78% of UK workers would not work significantly harder in exchange for a bonus equivalent to 10% of their annual salary.

However, 1 in 5 workers would be motivated to work harder for regular rewards – such as weekly or monthly treats.

The ‘Push the Button Report’ by One4all Rewards questioned 1,000 UK workers about what motivates them in the workplace. The study found that, while rewards and incentives are often effective for maintaining morale and attracting staff, simply handing out lumps of cash is not an effective way of increasing staff effort.

Even incentives equivalent to 25% of annual salaries were found not to motivate more than 59% of workers. Similarly, a 10% pay rise would only result in 22% of workers working harder.

These findings suggest that incentivising staff to work harder is about much more than bumping up their bank balances. It suggests that the 64% of UK employers who are currently awarding incentives and bonuses need to design and distribute them carefully, in order to achieve tangible increases in staff output and motivation across the entire workforce.

For those businesses looking at alternatives to financial incentives, the report findings identified several effective options, including regular rewards or benefits that make salaries go further.

For example, covering employees’ monthly costs – such as pension contributions, health insurance, savings on travel or food – would result in an increase in output for 18% of employees.