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Winning Incentive Tactics

Incentives should be an integral part of every organization’s HR policy. Now is the time to ensure you have a plan in place to carry out your organization’s incentive tactics with employee incentive ideas you can repeat every month rather than remember once a year.

Big or small, incentives are a reminder that individuals are valued by the organization and that achievements are applauded.

Compensation, benefits and career opportunities are the most significant elements of employee retention. But a well-thought-out incentives policy, backed by repeatable incentive tactics can help every organization meet its objectives.

Gift cards · Prepaid cards · Merchandise · Funds delivery · Local cards

incentive plan
WORKPLACE CHALLENGES

Many employees report feeling disconnected from their organization’s mission and that their organization doesn’t care about them.

Incentives are vital to help drive employee engagement, loyalty and job performance.

Showing gratitude to employees on a regular basis can provide a big return. Source: Gallup – 7 Workplace Challenges for 2025.

Managers’ blind spots

According to Gallup’s 2025 measure of employee engagement, “Feedback and Recognition” are two of the biggest blind spots that mangers have.

There were substantial differences in how managers and employees reported the frequency of management interaction. “For example, 50% of managers strongly agree they are giving feedback to their direct reports every week, while only 20% of individual contributors strongly agree their manager does so.”(Gallup)

Setting up an internal incentives program with an assortment of incentive tactics can help remind managers of the importance of employee feedback and make incentives rewarding and memorable.

WHERE TO BEGIN

Start the year right!

Employee recognition is crucial to the success of every organization.

Motivating employees has evolved. A simple “good job” in an online meeting or limiting your recognition to annual performance reviews is no longer enough to keep employees engaged and inspired.

It’s time to take action and make a bold statement.

Pairing recognition with rewards and incentives is a proven way to drive motivation. Now is the perfect time to put in place incentive tactics and implement an employee engagement incentive strategy that will energize and inspire your team throughout the year.

KEEP IT GOING

Motivate employees

Setting specific goals to provide rewards to employees, coupled to concrete plans and incentive tactics for each month of the year ensures that you keep motivating and rewarding employees.

Remote working and long holiday breaks magnify a feeling of isolation and lack of engagement among employees.

Add in the ease of quitting and that means you’ve got to work extra hard to inspire and motivate employees.

Organizations must actively inspire and retain their talent. A structured plan for rewards and recognition can foster a stronger connection to the organization.

Empower managers to nominate and include their people in incentive programs. Direct, positive feedback from a manager, when coupled with an incentive is more memorable than just praise alone.

PUT IT ON PAPER

Put Incentive Tactics On Paper

01

Divide the year into periods

Developing a structured incentive plan with specific incentive tactics is a practical way to maintain consistent recognition.

Divide the year into manageable periods – monthly, quarterly, etc. – and set aside some “surprise” periods.

02

Choose a goal and a reward

Then it’s a simple matter of choosing a goal and an incentive reward.

03

Mix objective and subjective goals

It’s always a good idea to plan a mix of goals that are measured by clear objective metrics (by-the-numbers) as well as those that are decided on by the subjective evaluation of management or employees (i.e. best team player or most improved).

04

Add fun events everyone can join

Add in the celebration of fun events – like pizza breaks or donut days – that on-site and remote employees can participate in. These incentive tactics remind managers and HR to focus on employees.

MIX IT UP!

Mix It Up! Employee incentive ideas for every kind of contribution

There are dozens of reasons to recognize employees and show gratitude to them.

Some employees won’t win goal-based or performance incentives but it’s important to also reward them occasionally.

A good mix of incentives to offer employees may include:

Individual achievements

Rewards for individual employee achievements.

Quality of life

Quality of life incentives.

Group recognition

Group recognition, celebrating company-wide or department goals.

Departmental contribution

Rewards for contributing to a department.

Just for fun

Incentives that are just for fun.

Charitable incentives

Charitable incentives are also suitable for all.

Organizational milestones

Organizational milestones.

Anniversary recognition

Anniversary recognition.

Incorporate variety into your employee incentives

Diversify the types of rewards you offer and think about including a mix of incentive tactics to appeal to different preferences and needs:

  • Monetary Rewards: Bonuses, gift cards, or profit-sharing.
  • Merchandise and logo wear selections.
  • Recognition-Based Rewards: Public acknowledgment, certificates, or personalized notes.
  • Experiential Rewards: Paid trips, event tickets, or learning opportunities.
  • Lifestyle Incentives: Wellness programs, extra time off, or work-from-home flexibility.

Include Everyone

Ensure that all employees have opportunities to participate in the program, regardless of their role or performance level:

  • Teamwide Rewards: Celebrate collective achievements, such as exceeding department or company goals.
  • Random Acts of Appreciation: Provide occasional, surprise rewards to employees who may not always win goal-based incentives.
  • Milestone Recognition: Acknowledge work anniversaries, personal milestones, or contributions over time.
Young woman holding a gift card given as a holiday incentive
recipient choice

Choose the right incentives

The TruCentive incentive fulfillment and reward delivery platform delivers rewards and incentives in ways that delight your recipients.

“Recipients Choice” allows a high degree of flexibility in incentive selection by the recipient when flexible incentives are offered.

Recipients Choice lets you curate a group of cards and let your recipient choose which one works best for them.

Advanced editing capabilities allow you to create stunning experiences, with the flexibility to send more than gift cards. You have full control over your incentive, message, and delivery.

Select from 3,000+ gift card options, plus financial instruments and 85,000+ Local Card Options.

You can create programs with specific, fun themes: Coffee, Tech, Pizza, or delivery: Doordash, GrubHub & Uber Eats. Mix merchant gift cards, funds delivery, and pre-paid cards to give recipients an unparalleled choice in incentives.

Eliminate waste

TruCentive cuts incentive waste by returning all unclaimed deliveries to your account.

A huge 20.5% of digital awards, gifts, and incentives went unclaimed in 2022.

Because TruCentive generates your participants’ selection “on-demand,” funds are automatically returned if they don’t act within your set timeframe.

Not all gift cards get claimed, and you are needlessly paying for unclaimed deliveries if you purchase gift cards directly or use a “Free” gift card or Visa card delivery service.

TruCentive charges a small delivery fee and returns 100% of unclaimed deliveries to your account.

eliminate waste
incentive automation
LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY

Use Incentive Automation

Incentive automation provides a more professional and personalized gift experience for both recipients and administrators.

Incentive automation leverages technology to simplify the creation, management, and execution of incentive programs. By automating what has typically been a motley collection of manual and fragmented process, organizations can now offer a more professional and cost-effective incentive experience.

Streamlining the incentive process addresses the inefficiencies and fragmentation common in traditional manual incentive processes, making incentive programs not only more successful but also significantly more cost-effective.

Showing Gratitude

Showing gratitude to employees using incentive automation is the most straightforward and effective method to enhance team and individual performance.

Incentive automation makes recognition simple. Incentive automation makes setting up and managing your ongoing incentive tactics and ongoing recognition and appreciation process repeatable.

Consistency and memorability are important to building programs that are essential for fostering a positive work environment.

MANUAL OR AUTOMATED

Employee incentive ideas delivered by hand, or by incentive automation

Buying gift cards directly

TruCentive incentive automation

You pay for deliveries that are never claimed

A motley collection of manual and fragmented process

100% of unclaimed deliveries returned to your account

Recipient selection generated on demand

Recipients choose from a curated group of cards

Send more than gift cards, with full control of the message

Repeatable recognition, set up once

A professional, personalized gift experience

GET STARTED

Learn how easy an effective incentive program can be!

Put your employee incentive ideas on the calendar once and let incentive automation carry them for the rest of the year. Build the whole program in the campaign builder with your logo, your recipients and your incentive selections, then send. Unclaimed rewards are returned, always.

Related reading: motivating employees, 12 ways organizations use rewards and incentives.

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