• Incentive programs can increase employee motivationaward ribbons2 image by Clarence Alford from Fotolia.com
  
  When morale is low in a workplace, an incentive program can raise spirits without raising salaries. Incentive programs reward people for a variety of positive behaviors, and can be used for a specific group or for the whole company. For best results, present a reward that will be most meaningful to your employees.
  
  

Sales

• If your business relies heavily on the efforts of salespeople, a sales incentive program can be an enormous motivator that benefits both the company and individual employees. For sales, cash incentives are often the most effective. Offer a commission, a fixed bonus for landing a new client, or an annual raise that matches a sales increase. In addition to cash, recognize employees publicly to give them additional motivation.
  
  

Health

• Healthy employees are more likely to be happy and productive. If your workers suffer from low morale, a poor attitude, declining health, or simply need a pick-me-up, consider a health incentive program. Offer to pay for gym memberships, increase lunch hours to allow midday workouts, or create a reward system for weight loss or other fitness goals. Instead of offering cash, make rewards gift cards for sporting goods stores, healthy restaurants, or fitness spas. To spur interest in the program, consider bringing in an office health consultant to give lunchtime talks about working fitness into the workday, creating nutritious meals, or weight loss.
  
  

Community Involvement

• For companies that would like to improve their image in the community or simply want to make a positive impact, a community incentive program can benefit both employees and the local area. Offer a matching program for employees who are raising money for a good cause, or allow a certain period of work hours to be used for volunteering efforts. Also, consider providing incentives to motivate employees to volunteer for civic efforts. These could include gift cards, event tickets or paid time off. To increase the visibility of the program, recognize top volunteers at a staff meeting or party, and inform other workers about upcoming opportunities to lend a hand.
  
  

Travel

• If your company has the budget for it, a travel incentive can be a major motivator for employees; the prospect of a free trip and resort stay can inspire creativity and hard work. Because the reward is so large, make a travel incentive program a year-long affair, and make it available to all employees. You can use this type of program to inspire employees to do well at all aspects of their jobs by simply calling it a reward for "overall excellence" instead of focusing on one area. Alternatively, you can boost efforts in one sector of the business that is lacking
  
  

Expression

• Giving your employees more say in their work assignments is an inexpensive motivational tool, according to sendcoffee.com, a website that offers tips on worker incentives. . Find out what procedures workers think could be changed for efficiency, productivity, or ease and see if it's possible to make those changes. Give your employees more freedom in their work environment and make changes only when real problems begin, sendcoffee.com advises.