If you haven’t made any New Year resolutions regarding your service awards programs, it’s never too late! Here are three great ideas for your consideration:
Don’t wait to recognize a good employee. Typically, service awards don’t kick in until an employee has been with a company for five years. At Award Concepts, our motto is, “Why be typical?” Especially for first-time employees fresh out of school, that first anniversary is a big deal. Mark the day with a small but thoughtful gift like a corporate-branded travel mug or good-quality pen. Or open up your gift program and let first-timers pick from a (slightly) limited selection of one-year gifts. It’s a great way to show your appreciation for their work and whet their appetite for that five-year anniversary gift.
- Show your appreciation every day – and encourage it company-wide. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to say, “Thanks, nice job!” Best of all, it costs you absolutely nothing! Start at the top by encouraging upper management to recognize a job well done. A personal note, a few minutes at someone’s desk or even an email to the team can get the ball rolling. Before long, middle management will start returning the favor among their employees…and peer recognition isn’t far behind. A culture of appreciation goes a long ways towards keeping people happy and on the job!
- Assess your current program. If it’s been a while, maybe it’s time to “have a little work done” on it! The benefits to updating your service awards program are twofold. First, eliminating some stale items and replacing them with more relevant and attractive choices will help motivate your employees to strive towards that next level of recognition. Second, rolling out a new program or revising a current one raises employee awareness and shows them that you’re interested in giving them the best.
If you want to implement any or all of these three ideas, seriously consider a fourth: Contact Award Concepts today! We’ve been successful in the business for over 30 years by staying on top of – and even setting (Badge ACcent to name one) – trends in the industry. Let a little of our success rub off on you this year.