There are many ways you can recognize excellent employee performance, and giving your staff something to strive for can help improve performance and morale. One way to do this is to set up an employee awards gift program. This option lets employees pick out their awards, and it also gives everyone a peak at what they can win based on their performance. Here are a few things you should know about setting up an employee awards gift program.

Create An Online Gift Site

You can work with an employee awards company to set up an online gift site. This site can live on your internal company website, or it can be hosted through a separate website with a secure login page. The site should show all of the gift options available, including the parameters for earning each one. Group the gift awards by achievement to create tiers of excellence your staff can aspire to. For example, employees reaching 110-percent of their sales goal might be eligible for tier one, while employees reaching 125-percent might be eligible for tier two. Knowing what is needed to gain access to each tier can serve as a motivator.

Select The Gift Options

There are many gift options you can make available for your employee awards program. They might include gift cards to stores and restaurants, brand-name electronics, or designer accessories. If you aren't sure what your employees might be interested in winning, consider hosting an office poll to gauge interest in different types of items.

Set Up A Delivery System

Will the awards be sent to the employees home or to the office? Decide this before you launch your program so you can ensure you have all of the most accurate information to deliver the items. If you'll be shipping to employee homes, you'll want to have your human resources department update the addresses for every employee. If the items will be sent to the office, be sure you have accurate information about each staff member's department and office location. In some cases, delivering to the office can be more exciting because the employees will have a chance to show off their prizes.

Be sure to send out a memo outlining all of the details for your new gift program, including what employees can do to earn an award. After all, you can't motivate your staff with gifts if they don't know how to earn them.