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Most companies know that in order for their businesses to flourish, they should take care of one of their most important assets – their people. Keeping employee motivation high is key in building an environment where employees look forward to coming to work and excelling at their jobs.

According to the seminal HR text “Contented Cows Give More Milk” by Bill Callette and Richard Hadden, businesses that address employee motivation – and not just the bottom line – have better net income, revenue and stock performance than companies that don’t.

Here are some ways to keep employees highly motivated:

1. Create a comprehensive and effective reward system. The keywords here are “comprehensive” and “effective.” Companies that have managed to keep employee motivation high did not stop at creating a reward system. They created a reward system that involved the entire business and engaged the employees. For most companies, particularly the big ones with quite a number of employees, this is done through an online platform that integrates training, recognition and rewards. The company has to effectively communicate the objectives and processes of the reward system; and should deliver the message that the entire process is transparent, fair and consistent. In addition, the reward system’s goals should not only involve the entire company but it should also be aligned with the company’s main goals.

2. Consider programs similar to Employee of the Week or Month or Year, Spot Recognition, Peer Recognition, Years of Service, Birthday/Special Occasion Awards and Employee Referrals.

3. Always aim for long-term projects and goals. Reward programs that are designed to run longer have a better chance of producing better results. Programs that cover at a least a year showed higher performance increase than those that cover six months or less.

4. The reward system should also have a good training program in place. Training, which includes monitoring of performance and feedback, is an important component of an effective reward system. The training should be an education effort and something that is meant to empower employees to help them reach their goals. The company’s role in training is providing support, feedback and setting of expectations and goals to reach. Training and goal-setting can help employees unite towards achieving common benchmarks. They can also help make majority of the workforce emotionally engaged.

5. Don’t just concentrate on rewards for groups; make sure that the company also celebrates individual accomplishments.

6. Always add a personal touch to the rewards. The recognition, for example, should have a public component with the reward being made known to the entire company, typically with a simple program or as part of a regular company activity like anniversaries. Both there should also be a private component, preferably with a top official personally congratulating the top achievers or sending a personal congratulatory note. Non-cash rewards also have more value if they are customized or more suited to the employees’ preferences.

7. Another way to keep employee motivation high is to find ways to make the workplace functional, comfortable and flexible so that employees will actually enjoy being at the office.