Rewarding Your Staff

[Golddisk]

Lets face it, it is difficult, if not in most cases impossible, for small websites to pay their staff. Forums have an even harder time doing so in my opinion. Even if you can afford to pay your staff small amounts, it may eventually put them into a mindset where they realize "wow, all this work, and I'm only getting $5 a month?" The intention the owner has is noble, but it really devalues the work your staff team puts in. That is why many owners of small sites and forums try to find other reward systems for their staff.

Some of the most popular ones I have heard of are competitions, giveaways, offering free hosting or a domain, or something along those lines.

What, if anything, do you offer to your staff? Has it been an effective way to motivate them and/or attract new staff members?

 

[JewishPoptart89]

I'm constantly trying to think of ways to help the staff of my forum including this one. If the site doesn't have a steady income, money is pretty out of the option, so I resort to a few things:

• Like you said, free hosting and a couple domains (usually two)
• "Shares" in the website
• Support in their own ventures
  • Meaning if they let's say start their own forum, I'm always there to lend a helping hand with support, or sometimes even an initial investment.
• I've also had 2 staff only giveaways that consisted of some nice JBL headsets and one with a $50 Best Buy gift card.

There are many ways to support your staff and you need to do them. They are the backbone of your community!

 

[angie828]

I think that it is nice when there are contest, such as which staff member can post the most threads or posts in a month. I like the idea of sending them a gift card!

 

[Kaynil]

At first, I thought weird we had another thread on Staff Rewards, but I realise now the other is giving ideas while this one ask our opinion on what we already do to reward them.

I am interested in this topic because I want to get the ball rolling again with my community. While the staff is kind of around, the forum si not very active and I want to spark interest, but I think it is key to unite my team and make them feel how much of a difference it means to me having them by my side.

The big challenge to me is rewarding the staff in a way that doesn't put them above the normal member because everyone is important. This is why I have been slow to implement things like Member of the Month, which can work as an incentive to some but also give away the wrong idea with other people. I need the reward not to feel this is a constant competition so I am looking more for a way to reward the staff for being active and not just one of the bunch.

I really like the supporting their own projects and I want to spark more contact among us, because I think that's part of the demotivation, drifting away to school, work, etc and not keeping in touch. I find hard to get them all together outside the forums though, but i was thinking in trying to find something in common we could do it online together from time to time. Like a biweekly night together or something.

 

[JewishPoptart89]

At first, I thought weird we had another thread on Staff Rewards, but I realise now the other is giving ideas while this one ask our opinion on what we already do to reward them.

I am interested in this topic because I want to get the ball rolling again with my community. While the staff is kind of around, the forum si not very active and I want to spark interest, but I think it is key to unite my team and make them feel how much of a difference it means to me having them by my side.

The big challenge to me is rewarding the staff in a way that doesn't put them above the normal member because everyone is important. This is why I have been slow to implement things like Member of the Month, which can work as an incentive to some but also give away the wrong idea with other people. I need the reward not to feel this is a constant competition so I am looking more for a way to reward the staff for being active and not just one of the bunch.

I really like the supporting their own projects and I want to spark more contact among us, because I think that's part of the demotivation, drifting away to school, work, etc and not keeping in touch. I find hard to get them all together outside the forums though, but i was thinking in trying to find something in common we could do it online together from time to time. Like a biweekly night together or something.

I've found that implementing things like member of the month and more perks to different members helps out. It give them an objective to be either more active or whatever the reason they are being rewarded for. Yea it's a bit sneaky, but it helps! Plus, it makes the member that gets the reward more likely to stick around for awhile.

 

[Kaynil]

I've found that implementing things like member of the month and more perks to different members helps out. It give them an objective to be either more active or whatever the reason they are being rewarded for. Yea it's a bit sneaky, but it helps! Plus, it makes the member that gets the reward more likely to stick around for awhile.

I've been on the receiving end of MotM and it definitely is a great feeling for the person, especially when they don't expect it. However, I also have had members against the idea and people saying that members that try to get the MotM and constantly don't make it find themselves demotivated, I've seen people distrusting the system to choose or the reasoning and people thinking member X deserved it better, which is invitation for drama I am not exactly eager to get.

Making a staff of the month, I fear, would be more polarising, as all the staff is voluntary work and it could be seen as picking favourites, as being fewer people to choose from, the same few would probably end up getting the spot often and potentially making the rest feel like their efforts are less appreciated.

Perhaps I should just approach them bluntly and ask what is what they would like instead of trying to guess on my own what makes a good reward, haha.

 

[Shole]

Same. I love to reward my staff with money, but if it's not good if the forum doesn't make any revenue, then I of course result to forum points, help with their forums and so on.

 

[JennyorAlice]

They get all the same perks that the V.I.P.'s do but they don't have to use their forum currency to purchase the membership.

I'm also considering adding a "staff of the month" award to the forum.

I am considering other options to reward staff members at this time...

 

[David S]

I think it is really important that you reward the staff otherwise they probably won't work for you. You have to make sure the rewards are good, so they can keep working and be motivated. I used to reward them with a VIP membership also a staff of the month so they can get commended for their efforts. I often let them have free advertising for their sites like affiliates and other things that would be purchased in forum currency.