Employee Recognition Gifts That Make an Impact
It’s not enough to churn out service awards without a second thought. Employees are intuitive and want to feel valued. By improving your service awards, you’ll increase staff satisfaction, which in turn leads to a healthier company culture, and ultimately, higher profits.
We define recognition as exhibiting staff appreciation with a token of gratitude. While employee recognition can be celebrated for various reasons, “years of service” awards in particular honor the specific work anniversary of a team member. This commemoration used to be very transactional, with a simple certificate or plaque. However, nowadays they honor human connections and create a sense of belonging to celebrate the major milestone with substance.
To best recognize a year of service award, follow these five main steps.
1. Empower Managers to Create the Experience
Managers know their employees best. There’s no specific formula for creating the perfect employee appreciation experience, as the details will vary depending on your company’s budget and culture. Most of all, managers should craft an experience that is in line with their business values and staff needs.
2. Remember 5 Years Are Different Than 25Years
It’s the years that count. How you honor a work anniversary will depend on the person’s time with the company. During the early years, they’ll be learning and settling in, so recognize how they’ve successfully integrated into the climate. After a decade or more, their distinguished contributions are what should be highlighted instead.
3. Involve and Connect People
Like other acknowledgment gifts and incentives, years of service awards should foster a sense of belonging and community. As a manager, it’s your job to lead your team to feel positive and appreciated. The most effective way to do so in the contemporary workforce is through social recognition, which is a social platform where staff can communicate easily and instantly.
4. Honor Extraordinary Events
Don’t just throw a party to celebrate a numeric anniversary and call it a day. To make service awards count, highlight the employee’s significant accomplishments. Putting in some extra effort will help them to feel truly seen.
5. Extend the Appreciation Experience
By combining service awards with other programs, your staff will feel more appreciated. Instead of waiting for a milestone to hit, offer smaller gifts more frequently to keep them motivated and valued.
The Benefits of Recognition
Recognition goes so much deeper than “employee of the month” or throwing an impersonal celebration of tenure. A little extra effort will go a long way when it comes to employee appreciation. Some rewards you’ll reap by practicing effective recognition techniques include:
l Fostering a positive company culture
l Enabling peer-to-peer communication
l Making every employee feel seen
l Retaining top talent
l Increasing performance
l Boosting profits
l Providing tax benefits
Contact Marketing Innovators Today
For the best guidance on strategic years of service awards, as well as other employee recognition solutions that can be customized to meet your unique demands, choose Marketing Innovators. We’ve been helping companies form strong human connections that boost business value for more than 40 years.
Our team offers the most cutting-edge business solutions to elevate your workplace. We’ll help you establish and maintain a healthy and happy company culture by creating the human connections that great employees thrive on. To learn more about our top-quality business solutions, give us a call today.
