It’s more than handing out promotional polo shirts. Many companies have discovered the value of employee incentive programs. Employees and staff who feel appreciated and recognized are more loyal and more hardworking. They produce higher quality efforts and can be your best ambassadors and publicity. Your employees will recognize a half-hearted incentive program, though. In order to be effective, though, an employee incentive program must meet three criteria:

1.It must reward real accomplishments.

2.It must be applied consistently.

3.It must offer tangible rewards as well as recognition.

Those “tangible rewards" can often take the form of “company swag" – hats, t-shirts and polo shirts embroidered or printed with your company’s logo are a great way of reinforcing the team spirit and the pride in being a member of the team. Keep in mind, though, that the rewards should be commensurate with the accomplishment, and they should offer real value. Here are some suggestions for effectively using promotional polo shirts, t-shirts and other company apparel as rewards and incentives.

Reward Achievement with Special Notice

Choose an achievable goal for your employees. It could be as simple as reaching six month’s service, or 100% attendance for a year, or it could reward outstanding performance. Many companies have something like an “Inner Circle Club" or “Diamond Sellers Club" for those employees who post high sales or achieve high customer satisfaction ratings. Those sorts of achievements deserve special recognition and a reward. Awarding each employee who achieves it with a promotional polo shirt that bears the company logo and the special distinction (Inner Circle Club) reinforces the sense of accomplishment with tangible reward that they can wear with pride.

Reward Special Service

If your company takes part in a charitable event or holds a conference, outfitting the members of your staff who attend in matching company polo shirts is a great way to make them stand out from the crowd. It offers great publicity for your business, exposure for your company name, and leaves each participant with a souvenir of the event that they can wear for years to come.

Scale Rewards to Achievements

The rewards that you give should be commensurate with the effort it takes to reach the goal. Thus, it should be harder to earn a polo shirt than it is to earn a company cap, and easier than it is to earn a jacket with the company logo. The rewards and the goals should be planned in advance, and the reward should be associated with recognition. Thus, a shirt that marks an employee as a member of the “Heavy Hitters Club" is more effective than a shirt without the group association.

Mix Tangible Rewards with Intangibles

One of the keys to a successful incentive program is that it consists of more than tangible rewards. Be sure to intersperse the handouts with increased opportunities for communication, informal recognition and the occasional company outing or lunchtime pizza party.

You’ll find many ideas for employee incentive awards at YesGifts.co.uk, one of the UK’s oldest and most successful suppliers of promotional items.