How to Offer Incentives for Temporary Event Staff

Here’s one reality in event staffing: without proper motivation, even skilled temporary event staff can underperform. The good news is you don’t have to leave it to chance whether your staff will be motivated or not on your event day. You can offer the right incentives to keep your event staff motivated and performing at their best. By rewarding temporary event staff for their effort and results, you build a team that stays focused, delivers consistently, and makes every event a success.

In this post, we explore why incentives matter and provide a practical 10-step guide on how to offer incentives for temporary event staff.

Why Incentives Matter for Temporary Event Staff

Incentives for your event crew are essential for boosting performance, improving job satisfaction, and encouraging retention. Let’s take a closer look at why and how incentives make these happen. 

1. Incentives Boost Employee Performance 

According to a study, there is a strong link between performance incentives and employee performance. The finding shows that financial rewards in the form of performance bonuses motivated employees to work harder and reach their performance targets.

When staff know their performance directly impacts their rewards, they focus on accuracy and efficiency. Incentives also signal genuine appreciation, showing that each contribution matters and further boosting motivation to perform at their best. On top of that, measurable rewards promote consistency, ensuring high effort and quality are maintained from start to finish rather than fading midway.

2. Incentives Improve Job Satisfaction 

In a study, workers interviewed said they are satisfied with their jobs, and that factors such as salary, incentives, and recognition play an important role in creating that sense of satisfaction in the workplace.

Incentives show employees that their efforts genuinely count, directly boosting job satisfaction. Incentives also help strengthen financial security and peace of mind. In addition, they can offer meaningful support that enriches the workplace experience and keeps team morale high.

3. Incentives Encourage Retention

Did you know that incentives strongly influence employee retention in SMEs? In event staffing, incentives may bring about the same benefits. By recognizing temporary event staff and rewarding their extra effort, you leave a lasting impression that working with your team is more rewarding than elsewhere, increasing the chances they come back for future events.

Want to learn more about keeping your event staff coming back? Check out this post.

How to Offer Incentives for Temporary Event Staff: Step-by-Step Guide 

Offering incentives to temporary event staff isn’t just about attaching a price to their work. It takes careful planning to ensure it’s fair for both your staff’s effort and your resources. Below, we break down how to offer incentives effectively for temporary event staff.

1. Define Your Objective and KPIs 

According to a report, incentive programs can increase performance by 25 to 44%, but only when they are designed to address both performance factors and human motivation. In addition, the study notes that most organizations lack the knowledge or will to build properly constructed programs that yield desired results. If you belong to the same kind of organizations and don’t know where to start in creating your incentives program, we've got you. Your first step should be defining your objective and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Defining the objective and KPIs sets a clear foundation for your incentive program. The objective is the specific goal you want to achieve from offering incentives. Examples of objectives you can set for your incentive program are to improve punctuality, raise productivity, or increase staff engagement. 

Meanwhile, KPIs are the measurable indicators that track progress toward your objective. For example, for the objective to improve punctuality, your KPI could be the percentage of scheduled shifts where staff arrive on time. With clear KPIs, you can ensure that everybody in your event team understands the specific behaviors or results that lead to rewards.

2. Decide Eligibility and Conditions to Earn Incentives 

Once your objective and KPIs are clear, the next step is deciding eligibility and the conditions to earn incentives. Eligibility defines who can participate in the program, while the conditions determine who actually receives the reward. 

Continuing with our example above, if your objective is to improve punctuality and your KPI is the percentage of scheduled shifts where staff arrive on time, the eligibility and conditions for earning incentives could be structured like this: all temporary event staff scheduled to work during the event season are eligible. To qualify for the reward, staff must arrive on time for at least 90% of their scheduled shifts. Those who meet this condition would receive a financial bonus or a non-monetary reward, such as priority scheduling for future events.

3. Choose the Incentive Mix 

Your incentive mix is the combination of rewards your staff receive when they meet the conditions of your incentive program. These rewards can be financial, non-financial, or focused on recognition and development.

Financial incentives are monetary rewards such as shift-completion bonuses, attendance streak bonuses, or referral bonuses. In contrast, non-financial incentives are those that do not directly offer monetary benefits. These can include free meals, ride-share credits, and priority rebooking for preferred shifts. For recognition and development incentives, certificates, fast-tracking to higher-paid roles, or training vouchers are typically offered.

When deciding on the incentive mix for your temporary event staff, make sure it fairly reflects their contributions and aligns with your objectives. The incentives cost should also stay within your budget to ensure the program is sustainable, deliverable, and does not create financial strain for your event.

4. Set Incentive Timing and Frequency

When and how often staff receive incentives is just as important as the incentive itself. Consistent and predictable incentive payout timing helps temporary event staff stay motivated and builds trust in your program. Decide whether rewards will be given immediately, per shift, or at the end of the event.

5. Share the Program Clearly and Confirm That Everyone Gets It

Even the best-designed incentive program won’t be effective if event staff don’t understand how it works. Make sure your event staff clearly understand what your incentive program is, why it exists, and how they can earn it. 

Explain the objectives, eligibility, and conditions in simple, straightforward terms during pre-event briefings. Outline what rewards are offered and when they will be given. You can also use multiple channels, email, messaging apps, or staff portals to share the information so no one is left out. 

6. Motivate Staff to Reach Their Incentive Goals

Keep staff engaged and motivated throughout the event by showing them how their daily performance links to the incentive. You can do this with regular reminders, positive feedback, and supportive leadership that encourages them to stay on track and give their best.

7. Inform Staff When They’ve Met the Conditions and Earned Their Incentive

Once the event is over and you know which staff met the incentive conditions, it’s time to share the results. Inform each qualifying staff member privately, clearly, and promptly to confirm they earned the reward and avoid any confusion.

8. Celebrate and Announce Which Staff Qualified for the Incentives

In addition to private confirmations, make sure to share the good news with the rest of the team and other relevant event staff. Public recognition boosts morale, motivates others, and helps build a positive team culture.

9. Deliver Incentives as Promised 

Don’t just be the manager who creates exceptional incentive programs and recognizes hardworking employees, be one who delivers on what was promised. Provide the incentives accurately and on time to maintain event staff trust and your credibility, unless there are any special requests or changes that need to be addressed.

10. Ensure Incentives Are Properly Recorded

Finish your incentives program on a strong note by recording every reward properly. Doing so helps you track financial flow, ensure accurate payouts, and maintain full transparency. The data you gather can also help you to measure effectiveness and improve future reward strategies, keeping your team motivated over time.

Plan Incentives and Manage Your Event Staff Seamlessly With StaffConnect

You can plan your incentives program with pen and paper, but there is a smarter way. With StaffConnect, you get a system designed to make planning faster and clearer. Its communication features, such as live chat and automatic reminders, help your team stay aligned, avoid confusion, and keep everyone updated in real time.

StaffConnect does more than streamline communication. It also supports other critical parts of event planning. You can onboard staff quickly, integrate calendars, access automated staff recommendations, manage schedules with ease, centralize data, handle payroll, and conduct surveys in one platform. It brings everything together so you can run your events more efficiently. Book your demo today here to learn more.