How to Reward Higher-Up Employees at Your Business

Everyone, no matter who they are or what position they hold in a company, likes to be appreciated. In the case of a company, appreciation is often shown through incentives, benefits, and rewards. While it certainly isn’t the case in every business, sometimes it can be easy to get a little too caught up in rewarding those employees who are lower on the ladder at the expense of some of your employees who are higher up. They deserve to be rewarded for all their hard work too, so what can you do to reward them?

Create an Additional Retirement Plan

Saving for retirement is (or should be) a priority for everyone. It’s not always easy to do that by yourself, however, which is part of why businesses that offer retirement benefits can be seen as more attractive to work for. If you want to do a little extra for your higher-up employees, you might consider creating an additional retirement plan for them. When it comes to saving for retirement, short of saving so much that you put yourself in a bind in the present, you’d be hard pressed to say you’ve saved too much. You can still offer them the 401(k) plan if you include that as a part of your benefit. You might also consider offering a cash balance plan on top of that.

Give Them Equity

Depending on how your business is organized, you might consider offering your higher-up employees equity in your business as a way to reward them. This essentially makes them the owner of a percentage of your company. It isn’t an option that makes sense for every business, in part because not every structure supports trading in stocks. A C-corp lets you provide stock options to employees. LLCs, however, cannot issue shares of stock.

Give Them Gifts

Whether it’s for a job especially well done, for holidays, or for other special occasions, gifts can be a great way to reward your higher-up employees for their hard work. You have a couple of ways you can go about this. There’s always the generic gifts that can be nice but don’t require much thought behind them. Then there are the gifts that your employees will really appreciate because you took the time to think about what might make a good gift for them personally. There’s a time and a place for both options, so consider your choices carefully.

It’s always a good idea to reward your employees for their hard work, no matter what their position within your business. Don’t make the mistake of forgetting to reward those who are higher up for all their hard work and efforts. What rewards make the most sense will depend on the situation your business is in. Take that into account along with your employees’ preferences so you can reward them in meaningful ways.

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