Why Give Employee Service Awards?
Are employee service awards still valued
by Generations X & Y?
For baby boomers and traditionalists, employee service awards were an important part of the employee recognition mix. Employee service awards allowed organizations the opportunity to celebrate employee’s longevity and loyalty with the company. It also allowed the company to acknowledge their successful retention of employees for long periods of time. Corporate employee recognition awards are from a time when such awards were highly coveted as public acknowledgment of services performed in astonishing circumstances. Most service awards are for years of service, organizational service awards (Best Place to Work) or solid performance awards.
The times, they are a-changing. For many businesses, this means a shift from service and recognition award programs for employees to employee recognition gifts. These run the gamut from watches to gift cards and everything in between, which are perfectly lovely things to receive but do little to celebrate an employee’s place in a company or the company’s role in providing a fulfilling place for its employees to spend their weekdays.
So, it’s hardly surprising that some have questioned if these employee service award programs are still relevant today or should be put out to pasture.
A simple employee poll can show what employees truly value
A recent interaction with a long time client… we were alerted that a very long term employee service award program would be coming to an end shortly. We were told that the stock we had in hand would be phased out and once it was done, they would be moving to a newer corporate employee gift program made up of gift cards. As you can imagine, we were disappointed by this turn of events, but there was nothing we could do about it. Then we received the second call a few weeks later advising that we should forget the first call, the program was still in place. They had polled the employees and no one wanted to see the program end, both young and old. So, the employee service Lucite awards production is back in full swing. This shows that employees are still engaged with the more traditional aspects of the employee service awards, even Generations X and Y’s.
At Clearmount, we’ve found that lovingly crafted, customized awards to celebrate employee service never go out of style. When a business puts an effort into creating an employee recognition program that celebrates both the company’s culture and the loyalty and achievements of their employees, everybody is happy with the end result. Sometimes it just takes some out-of-the-box thinking to come up with something fresh and new that will be relevant in today’s times.
An award that incorporates interactivity and long-term personalization can be the ticket to distinction
Earlier this year, we were approached to create an award for an automotive company using their product as the main focus. We worked with them to create a unique, fun employee service recognition program that showcased an iconic piece of their product while also incorporating an interactive element to the award program. The result was an entirely unique award that the client would be proud to award to their employees. A large nut mounted on a simple Lucite base allows room for the employee to add a “bolt” every time a personal goal or achievement was celebrated. This award scheme is especially effective as it leaves even more room for personalization. Different colored or sized bolts could represent various achievements, meaning although every employee started off with the same piece, the final result would be an extremely personal piece for each individual.
Employee awards – a physical representation of a relationship between the employee and organization
Playful and different or elegant and traditional – the level to which we can customize employee services awards for a company’s employee recognition program sets Clearmount apart. Giving an employee gift, although lovely, will more likely to be assimilated into your employee’s life and lose its meaning. Instead, our pieces become a physical representation of a relationship that is well worth acknowledging between the employee and the organization.