My employees are loyal and hard-working. I already pay top level salaries which I don't want to increase any further. What other options are available to reward them?

When unemployment is low, employee incentivisation grows in importance.

Share schemes, which give the employee a stake in the future success of the business, are popular. For owner-managed businesses, the enterprise management incentive scheme is particularly suitable and is not too expensive to implement.

You can also reward your employees by offering a flexible benefits package, which provides a menu of benefits for the employee to choose from. They may include:

• allowing an employee to purchase extra days holiday, or even sell back to the business some of their holiday entitlement - subject to minimum holiday entitlement regulations


• providing vouchers to help with the weekly shopping or with the cost of childcare


• allowing a more flexible working pattern, for example finishing work at lunch time on a Friday.

Flexible benefit structures need not be expensive to implement and can greatly increase employee commitment and motivation. However, schemes must suit the business. It is no use all employees leaving at lunchtime on a Friday if there is no one left to answer the phones!