Offering rewards is a good way to attract the right staff, retain your best performers and encourage people to improve.
Financial rewards
As an employer you can offer financial rewards. There are numerous ways to structure an employee's pay based on:
- roles and responsibilities
- skills, knowledge and experience
- performance, involving profit sharing or bonuses
- commissions, paid solely on output.
As an employer you can offer non-financial rewards, such as fringe benefits and salary sacrifice.
Fringe benefits
Fringe benefits are offered on top of an employee's normal wage or salary. They can range from access to a car for private use and cheap loans, to health insurance and retirement benefits.
Salary sacrificing
Salary sacrifice involves the employee swapping wages for other benefits such as additional superannuation, loan repayments or child care fees.
Sacrificing usually has beneficial tax implications for the employee without costing the employer more than the standard wage or salary. It can be complicated to administer so obtain advice from your accountant or visit the
Australian Taxation Office website.
Recognition and promotion
The obvious non-financial reward is recognition and promotion. Other options include:
- extra leave
- Christmas and birthday gifts
- work-life balance benefits such as flexible working hours
- subsidised staff canteens
- gym membership
- subsidised goods or services.
There may be tax implications, so check with your accountant first.
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