50 Fun Ways to Reward Your Staff

The economy remains shaky. Discretionary budgets are tight, and employees are working harder than ever – often with little recognition or reward. However, there are many ways besides bonuses/raises to tell employees that you value their efforts, care about their happiness and wish to retain them long-term within your company.

Especially in large urban areas like Brooklyn where I live, your options for how to entertain employees are by no means limited to professional corporate event entertainers, NYC! Below are 50 fun and simple ways to say “thank you” to your staff for a job well done:

1. Bring in a masseuse to provide free massages for a day

2. Arrange for a beautician to provide free color analysis
3. Give staff iPod shuffles front-loaded with fun songs
4. Arrange for a happy hour
5. Have senior staff barbeque for the company
6. Organize a picnic
7. Give gift certificates to the local movie theatre
8. Organize a staff softball game
9. Organize a baseball, football or other pro sport outing
10. Get block tickets to a Broadway show
11. Sponsor a shopping spree at a local electronics store
12. Surprise everyone by letting them out at noon
13. Rent a professional karaoke machine for an evening
14. Take everyone to an amazing restaurant (or have them cater)
15. Arrange for a celebrity appearance at the office
16. Take the team on a paintball trip
17. Rent a bus and spend the afternoon in wine country
18. Take everyone to a water or amusement park
19. Have an ice cream party (or make-your-own ice cream party)
20. Visit Dave & Buster’s
21. Arrange for a private tour of a famous building, site or neighborhood nearby
22. Take the team for a cooking lesson
23. Give away concert tickets
24. Grant everyone an extra vacation day
25. Announce the implementation of Summer Fridays
26. Relax the dress code
27. Hire a DJ and throw a dance party
28. Rent some tables, hire dealers and have a casino night
29. Bring the guys to a local cigar shop and let them go to town
30. Throw an office costume party
31. Schedule an employee talent show
32. Arrange a staff storytelling contest
33. Leave car wash vouchers on all of the windshields in the office parking lot
34. Give everyone hats, mittens, scarves and other apparel at the start of 4th quarter
35. Secure staff subscriptions to online/print newspapers & magazines
36. Hire a comedian to come perform at the office for an hour
37. Sponsor an employee band
38. Organize a company-wide “field day”
39. Bring in a sushi expert to give a maki rolling lesson
40. Rent a party boat for an hour or two
41. Raid the local Toys R Us and have a board game night
42. Hire actors to present an office murder mystery
43. Visit a shooting range
44. Bring in a Wii and let people play on the giant screen in the conference room
45. Take everyone and their families to the circus, aquarium or other kid-friendly activity
46. Rent out some bowling lanes
47. Organize a guided food tour of an ethnic neighborhood
48. Give employees digital cameras and a list of “photo scavenger hunt” items
49. Hide prizes throughout the office, and let people search for them
50. Raffle off an iPad, MacBook or something else of real tangible value

When it comes to rewarding your staff, surely you can find SOMETHING which falls within your budget  – if not one of the ideas listed above, than perhaps something else.

Can you think of any others?