Boosting Morale on a Budget: A Proven Recipe for Motivating and Rewarding your Team

By Inga Rose, Founder and CEO, Reference Medicine

In my recent post, “Building a Dream: Six Lessons from Reference Medicine’s First Three Years”,  the last “lesson” I included was to remember to have fun. To celebrate achievements. To take lots of moments to recognize and acknowledge how far you’ve come and everything you’ve learned. That sense of fun and celebration is not just important for founders to embrace – but for us to share with the incredible people we work with every day.

And one of the ways we do that at Reference Medicine is through our milestone celebration boxes.

Early on in our journey as a company, we were going through a real struggle to get on our feet – most startups know this phase all too well. There were moments of doubt, frustration, and sheer exhaustion, not just for me, but for the entire team. 

We. Were. Spent. 

(And on top of it, our bank account was nearly all spent, too!!)

To keep the business going, we needed to realize some ambitious goals. While looking around at a tired team, I knew that I needed to do something to keep the energy up and keep the team motivated to push forward while running on fumes. 

So, I decided to try something new. At our next scrum, I announced that everyone would receive a reward when we crossed the finish line on our next goal – and I only told them that the reward would be related to “Vitamin D Replenishment” to help us celebrate our achievement. I consistently rallied the team towards our goal, with the occasional Se7en movie reference – “What’s in the box?!!!!” – being shared across the team over those few weeks.

Behind the scenes, I spent about $200 and pulled together a Vitamin D Replenishment gift box for each of our team members. It had a branded water bottle, sunscreen, sunglasses, and a voucher for an afternoon off, with one condition: the team had to post a photo of how they spent their time on our Slack channel. 

A few hard-working weeks passed, and then the day came when we hit our goal. We gathered in our lab conference room, with remote team members on Zoom, and everyone opened up their boxes in unison. 

And oh boy, it was a hit! 

From that moment on, milestone boxes have been a company staple – keeping us motivated and reminding us to have fun along the way.

Here is how it works: First, we decide as a team on a goal that we are working toward. Our goals are hefty and require contributions from every area of the business – things like product launches, obtaining lab accreditations, big customer success milestones, or business performance records. These aren’t your everyday, show up to work and things naturally happen kind of goals. Most importantly, we make sure that achieving a goal like this is only possible with every team member’s involvement, so it’s truly a collective win. 

Once the goal is set, we assign a theme. When we hit a goal, we open our milestone box.

Now, I recognize that a curated box of goodies may not be everyone’s cup of tea, nor something that any organization can simply adopt. However, these boxes are more than just celebratory tokens; they are the culmination of 15+ years of leadership experience. Years of learning what motivates employees (and what doesn’t) and the fundamental understanding that everyone is different and feels rewarded or motivated by different things. 

I often think of it like different “love languages” for career motivation. Some people are motivated by monetary incentives, some by passion and purpose, some by feeling connected to a team (aka “work family”), some by getting an acknowledgment of how awesome they are. These boxes aren’t just boxes – they are a collection of mini-motivators from each category, so that every team member and their unique language is covered. 

Want to give something like this a try? Incorporate these six ingredients into your rewards program:

1. A clear goal and an expected outcome: Just like with traditional bonus systems, set expectations up front about exactly what you want to achieve and exactly what you will receive if you achieve it. Everyone moves together toward the same outcome, and everyone knows there will be a reward.  

2. An element of surprise: Who doesn’t love surprises? And what a great way to bind the entire team together in a fun way by watching them try to guess what’s in the box. We always include simple but meaningful gifts that you wouldn’t normally buy for yourself, and that everyone is thankful to receive. 

3. Public praise and acknowledgment: We intentionally take a pause to gather as a team for the unboxings to recognize our specific achievement. Everyone celebrates together and this camaraderie naturally leads to reminiscing and praises given across the team – from one person to another as well as from team to team.

4. Company pride: Giving branded gifts to the team members is a practical way to demonstrate our pride and reiterate our collective mission.  Plus our work family gets to show off their swag to others, which is great for company awareness.  

5. An opportunity to connect: Sharing photos of our first afternoon off for the Vitamin D replenishment box was deliberate – an easy and FREE way for people to learn more about each other and to spark conversation about non-work topics. So whether it’s a Zoom happy hour or individuals sharing their photos and stories to Slack, it opens dialogues amongst the team that might not otherwise happen. 

6. The gift of time: There is nothing more valuable and more appreciated than time. I’ve heard many times over the years, “Don’t give me a raise, I would rather have more time off.”  We offer half days, but even an extended lunch hour or one hour early departure every once in a while can be special and appreciated. 

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For me, the milestone celebration boxes also hit all my creative feels. Much like for gift-giving at holidays, I genuinely enjoy planning each theme, listening to the team’s anticipation, and throwing out a teaser here and there. The appreciation heard around the room – and the progress on our business objectives – that’s simply priceless.

While not everyone who reads this will institute milestone boxes at their company, my hope is that you will walk away inspired to create a thoughtful reward program for the valuable team you work with. All you need is a little creativity, the right ingredients for success, and a little passion to delight. I promise it will pay off in ways you never imagined.

Craving more inspiration?

• "Pop, pop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is”  – you can only imagine the guesses we got with this one! The box had a bottle of prosecco, a make-your-own-mimosa set, an insulated tumbler, potato chips and an invitation to a Zoom happy hour.
• "Relax and Reset" - Each team member got a packet of tea with a branded cup, a candle equipped with reset energy, and a voucher for a morning off.

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