Advantages of rewarding and investing in staff
There are many compelling reasons to offer staff improved compensation and benefits:
Employee Satisfaction
Rewarding employees increases satisfaction by making them feel valued and motivated.
Retention
Rewarding employees improves retention by making them feel valued and more likely to stay.
Recruitment
Rewarding employees helps recruitment by attracting staff to a valued workplace.
Cost Savings
Rewarding employees can reduce costs by improving retention and lowering turnover.
Compare short-term and long-term impacts
Decide if you want to give a one-time benefit or keep investing in your employees. Certain choices will help your employees and business more in the long run than others. For example, you could pay for your employees' school one time. Even though this only affects your budget once, it helps your employee in the long run.
The ideas that have a long-term impact could help you more than the ideas that have a short-term impact. This means you could see benefits in the future if you invest in your staff in these ways. Use the tool below to see what effect different choices can have on you and your employees.
| Potential Impacts of Options on Staff Retention | Short-term impact | Long-term impact | |
| One-time Investment | Bonuses/Rewards Teacher classroom supply stipends/reimbursement | Professional development assistance Tuition reimbursement | |
| Repeated Investment | Temporary pay increase | Paid time off Free/reduced cost child care benefit for staff Health insurance/assistance with premiums Retirement contributions | |
After choosing a plan to help your employees, see how it'll affect your budget. The plan you thought was best for your employees may not work with your budget or long-term goals. For example, paying for school might not work with your budget but, paying for a lower-cost training course would. Use the tool below to see how your choices could affect your budget.
| Cost to support employees | Short-term impact | Long-term impact |
| Expensive investment | Temporary pay increase Bonus/reward | Health insurance or assistance with premiums |
| Less expensive investment | Teacher classroom supply stipends or reimbursement | Paid time off Free or reduced cost child care for staff Professional development assistance |
Enhanced compensation and benefits
To learn more about offering benefits, ways to reduce your employees' child care costs, or issue temporary pay increases and bonuses to your employees, visit the Benefits and pay resources section.
Other low-cost way to support staff
You might have staff who pay for supplies for students or for the classroom with their own money. Consider giving your staff a one-time payment to cover the cost of classroom supplies or purchase new supplies to make the classroom a fun place for both staff and children. Staff who want to get reimbursed should provide the original receipt for their purchases.
Disclaimer
The information contained here is for educational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal, tax, or financial advice.