5 Thoughtful and Unique Employee Recognition Gifts
A few years ago a friend of mine was recognized for building up an account to a million dollars. He was telling me about how proud he was to have accomplished this and being the nosy recognition specialist that I am, I asked, “So…what did you get?” I had visions dancing in my head of some fancy swag or bottles of wine or maybe even a beautiful custom acrylic award. (Hint hint!) But instead I heard, “Oh, one of those little league plaque things. You know the ones you get for participation?”
Ouch.
While he was still proud of his work, the recognition (or lack thereof) left a sour taste in his mouth. And being in the business of awards, I was upset for him. I wanted to know who worked on this award program. Who had not taken the time to think of how the recipient would feel when they got the award? Would the recipient really feel that their hard work and outstanding results were truly recognized and appreciated? Whether it’s making that sales goal, celebrating years of service or recognizing exceptional work, it is definitely worth it to invest time and thought to acknowledge the contributions of your employees. You can make your design fun and unique and it doesn’t have to be complex. But whatever you do, don’t be thoughtless about it! Simplicity is not a bad thing, but thoughtlessness is.
To get your Employee Recognition Gifts program jump started take a peek at some of our favourites.
1. Milestone Year – Wurth Bottle
Wurth was celebrating their 45 year anniversary and had developed an amazing logo. It depicted all the products that they had a hand in producing and distributing. They wanted to create a unique gift for their top customers and employees, and they were blown away by our 3D printing capabilities. We took our 0.5L Hot & Cold ONE bottle and printed a raised version of their new logo to create a special one of a kind piece!
2. Unicorns are Special and YES, They Do Exist
Frontline Education had just been acquired by a new company and wanted to create a special tombstone to recognize the staff that had worked hard to make it happen. They came to us with their great unicorn logo and we worked with them to come up with something fun! Their final piece was custom cut to the logo’s edges with the acrylic bottom specially coloured to their brand colour. The results were magical!
3. VA Hospital
This one was a fun one to do! The hospital administration team wanted to have a striking way to recognize individual staff members’ stellar commitment and service to patients and other staff. They wanted to have a rotating trophy that could move from desk to desk on a weekly basis to distinguish good work. To keep with the theme we took the caduceus and embedded it in a large faceted top piece. We also digitally printed the military crests on the base. A special plate was put in place so a nameplate could be swapped out regularly. The initial request was for “something fun and tacky” but we’re still pretty proud of our work!
4. Bayer Leaf
Bayer Canada had hit a major sales goal and wanted to celebrate by gifting all their long standing employees and VIPs with a one of a kind piece. What is more iconic or unique to Canada than the maple leaf? We had a great time collecting the leaves and creating this simple but beautiful piece. Learn more about our maple leaf collecting projects here.
5. Stemcell Awards
We love to play with colour here at Clearmount, so we were very happy when Stemcell wanted to as well! They wanted to create a Years of Service Program to commemorate employees who had reached the 10 and 20-year mark. Stemcell had several companies under their umbrella and wanted to show off the branding for each. We created PMS matched tints in blue, orange and green to personalize the awards even further. Because simple doesn’t have to equal boring!