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My client was facing a small challenge at her workplace. she works for a big firm a reputed brand, but not a paymaster and she was seeing a trend of attrition in her team. She wanted to do something about it. She went and spoke to the senior leaders spoke to HR, spoke to the compensation and benefits team to see if something can be done to increase the salary range for her employees because the outside market was giving 30, 40, 50, 60 percent more and taking this good people and they were leaving.

She tried her best but because of the company policies and because of the fact that this company is not a paymaster, nothing was done. She was frustrated and she was wondering if there is something that she can do in her power and authority so that she can retain her people and i asked her one question - this is a question that i ask many people. I give two scenarios and today i'm asking you this question as well. I give you two scenarios:

Let us say you are a good employee, you work hard and you are a very good performer. Your manager appreciates you for the hard work and wants to recognize you. Your manager comes to you, appreciates your hard work and now there are two scenarios:

Scenario one - your manager appreciates your hard work and gives you a coupon, a coupon of 100 to 150 dollars which you can use online and buy anything that you want. You can use this coupon online buy anything that you want.

That's scenario one.

Scenario two:

Your manager comes and appreciates your hard work and he gives you a dinner voucher and he says - thank you for all the hard work. I appreciate your hard work and I appreciate that your family is supportive of what you're doing. I want you to go out and spend an evening with your family and your loved ones and have dinner together.

Which out of the two options would you prefer, the first one or the second one?

I have asked this question to many people, and consistently i have got one answer. You know the answer and with that, I'm giving an example that even if you're working in a organization where you know, because of constraints you cannot increase the salary of your team members but there are certain things that you can do in your power and authority to help them feel a sense of belongingness, for them to feel motivated and for them to see the big picture of how you can help their careers and how they can help the organization.

So in certain scenarios where you are facing challenges of rewards and recognition, think outside the box, think creatively and you have some very good solutions.