Workforce Management Community Center: Benefits & Compensation

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Benefits & Compensation
Exchange ideas about health plans, retirement, work/life benefits, and employee assistance. (Please note that this forum is dedicated to workforce-management professionals only, and not for employees.)

Workforce Management Community Center Forum Index � � Benefits & Compensation � � Service Award Program

Author	Service Award Program
ppfeiffer Joined: Nov 25, 2003 Posts: 2	Posted: 2004-01-23 08:25 I would appreciate your suggestions/thoughts concerning the lack of a Service Award. We have a Service Recognition process but we don't give our employees an award. However, we do recognize them at a monthly luncheon and we have a cake or the equivalent for the anniversaries for the given month. Most of our long term employees, with 15 or more years of tenure, are very unhappy that we don't give them an actual award. We are a small, privately held 27-year-old technology company who considers our employees as our greatest asset. We try to provide our employees an excellent benefit package (not limited to medical benefits) including: -tuition reimbursement -fully equipped kitchens the following provided at no cost to the employee: tea, coffee, lemonade, wide selection of soft drinks, hot chocolate, crackers for soup, ketchup, mustard, salad dressings, etc... -monthly luncheons -vacation starting at 2 weeks per year up to 4 weeks per year -6 sick days a year -6 holidays a year and � day on Christmas Eve -A comp. bank that we can take in time off or request a cash distribution (paid at 100%) -Christmas gifts for $200.00 -choice of turkey or ham for Christmas (they are 20 pounds or larger) -free dinners to show our appreciation for extra effort -occasional ice cream treats, just because -two company outings per year during our regular business hours -two after hours company functions per year for employees and their family and/or friends -movie tickets for birthdays -health insurance, employees pay $2.00 per month and we contribute 50% toward dependent coverage -life insurance, we pay 100% -long and short term disability, we recently moved to a gross up policy (we gross up everyone salary to cover the premium) -401-K we match up to 2% of earnings. An additional discretionary contribution, we usually contribute 10% of their Gross salary -401-K fees, we paid 100% -access to a financial advisor -Cafeteria Plan including medical, dependent day care and insurance premiums -dental insurance, we don't contribute toward the premium -I'm sure there are other small items that I'm not thinking about. We believe it is better to show appreciation every day or when milestones are completed or after completing major projects instead of rewarding people for their staying power. We have suggested the standard service plaque, pin or the equivalent this isn't acceptable. We look forward to your comments.
karenkuhn Joined: Mar 06, 2002 Posts: 1	Posted: 2004-02-03 04:52 I'm not sure if I have an answer to your question. BUT, I can tell you I just gave out YoS awards at our company meeting last week, and they are very well received at our company. One of the employees had a huge number hanging around her neck representing the number of years she had been an employee here, in anticipation of receiving her clock in front of the entire company. People look forward to this award and recognition.
hrbth Joined: Oct 24, 2002 Posts: 1501	Posted: 2004-02-03 06:26 Your long term employees want service awards IN ADDITION to all that other stuff (and it's A LOT!!!) that they're getting? Wow are they spoiled!!! And in a time when employed people are lucky to have jobs, period (with NO perqs). Why don't you ask all the employees to vote on a perq to give up so that the few long term ones can have their clocks (or pens or watches or whatever). Also, you should let your long-termers know that the vast majority of employees don't even get 25% of what they're getting already - and prove it with stats! Whew, I'm still reeling over this! I'm glad these people aren't my employees! Yow!
taraph Joined: Feb 03, 2004 Posts: 1	Posted: 2004-02-03 08:24 I'm not sure if the person right before me is being sarcastic or not. I can't quite decide. But, I will say that you definitely are giving more than is required. I do, however, think that valuing your employees includes valuing those that have been here a little longer and just giving them a little "extra love" to say thanks. Afterall, they are saving you quite a bit in recruitment and replacement costs. And, you do have to remember that although the job market is slow right now, employees will remember what you do now when the job market improves, and it will make the different if you have a large outgoing group, or if you can retain your talent. What about if you determined a certain number of years (depending on what is better than average), at my work 10 years is pretty extraordinary. The at the luncheon, present those people who are past that with a letter from the President that is personalized (their direct Manager has to help), so the President is actually recognizing someone. We also get $100 for every year we've worked here starting on the 2nd anniversary, and it does keep people. If an employee is thinking of leaving, and they remember that they are getting this letter and check, it makes them want to stay. It depends on what your tenure is like, if you have lots of people with more than 10 years, that may not work. What about just giving them one extra day off, it really costs very little out of the budget and could make a big difference. of course, you have to determine your cut off point. One other idea is to have a drawing at the end of every year with all of the employees who have been there longer than your cut off, 10 years in my case, where there is a trip drawn for one lucky winner. Or even just a long weekend stay at a local hotel, or a spa day, or something like that. Or, just a few smaller prizes (although I don't recommend company merchandise), like a massage, a shopping gift certificate, dinner and a movie, or something like that. One other perk that may have more staying power than any of the others would be to add a "benefit" for just those tenured people, such as one extra day off a year, or pay part of their dental benefits, or they would probably really appreciate a 3% contribution to 401k instead of the 2% you are already doing. Anything that is motivating to stay beyond that cutoff point and the employee benefits from all year long. Maybe some combination of the above can help you, although I'm sure your employees are very aware and grateful for what they're getting, they also want to know that you are grateful to them for being there for so long.
wstrohmeyer Joined: Feb 03, 2004 Posts: 1	Posted: 2004-02-03 08:24 Whenever you provide "gifts" that are not anchored in performance I think you run into an "entitlement" attitude and enough is never enough. So items like service awards, gifts at the holidays, birthday recognitions all are tied to events and not performance and smacks of a paternalistic treatment model. I believe most adults want to "earn" recognition and rewards based on their contribution/performance and leave holiday gits/birthday recognition events to their friends and family members and not have these company based. Therefore service awards end up reinforcing time and not contribution and generally the recipients overtime become dissatisfied with any type of "gift" recognition.
darmail Joined: Nov 25, 2003 Posts: 16	Posted: 2004-02-03 10:15 In today's corporate world, it is becoming more the norm to treat employees as "resources". 20 -30 years ago, all places of business used to have something called an "employment office". Today, it has evolved into the "human resources department". This corporate buzzword, one of many, was institututed to dehumanize the workplace. Instead of an employee, you're dealing with a 'resource'. All the extra perks that you have offered your employees are truly generous, compared to many other places. The dollar cost may seem high up front, but the dividends pay off big down the road. Employees who dedicate 10, 20, 30 or more years to one company shopuld be recognized and rewarded. It helps foster a sense of accomplishment that is individual in itself. It rewards loyalty. Your older employees have a vast wealth of information and knowledgew concerning your particular business than younger employees do. And the yoounger employees have been taught to change jobs every 5 years or so (portability). I work for a larger corporation, and we have a small catalog to choose service anniversary gifts from, depending on years of service. For my 25th year, I had quite a large selection, from jewelry to appliances to sporting goods. Among the choices I had, one was a 27 inch TV, the other was a 22 speed mountain/trail bike . I wanted the TV, but my wife told me to get the bike. I still got a pin/tie-tac, and a certificate. It may seem extravagant to some, but it's a personal commendation awarded to a specific individual. It's a nice feeling, it gives a sense of personal accomplishment
chuber Joined: Oct 07, 2003 Posts: 4	Posted: 2004-02-03 14:39 I wonder if you are missing the point. Perhaps the employees are very proud of their work and connection with your company and want to have a tangible "thing" to show the world. I once worked for a retailer with a very strong culture. We all looked forward to getting our first service award, not because of the "thing" or what it cost, but because it was something that we wore with pride, like a team jacket. Another place I worked, where morale was low and there wasn't much trust in the administration, employees were given the same type of awards but I didn't see much excitement about the awards or many people displaying them proudly. I was going to resist joining the comments on your benefits, but as you can see, I didn't. While your list is fine, there is nothing there that would entice me to come to work for you or stay if I was already there. I've worked in retail, insurance, higher ed, and government and always had as good or better "big ticket" (insurance, paid time off, retirement) benefits than you list. As I said in the beginning, perhaps what your employees are asking for is a way to display their pride in their organization.
sginsburgh Joined: Feb 04, 2004 Posts: 1	Posted: 2004-02-04 12:49 I would offer to make a company charitable contribution in the name of the employee to the charity of the employee's choice. This would provide recognition and choice, support your culture of longevity and paternalism, but get out of the give me more syndrome. No one truly wants recognition for just being, in reality, older. In this case the money spent would be used productively by the charity.
ppfeiffer Joined: Nov 25, 2003 Posts: 2	Posted: 2004-02-05 06:52 Thank you everyone! I thought I would give you an update. We recently had a meeting with our long term employees and asked them what they would be willing to give up so they could have a pin or plaque. They were very puzzled why we would want to give them a pin or plaque when they expected additional pay, time off or a trip. They were also puzzled why we would expect them to give up a benefit since it is our responsibility to provide a substantial award to honor their service commitment. We explained our philosophy. We want to provide sustainable benefits. Therefore, if we give them additional pay or time off or a trip we would need to assure this treatment for all employees and we would delete benefits. We did agree to set up a recognition program for pins, plaques or the equivalent. We also gave them a copy of the replies to our posting. We asked them to give us guidance to resolve this problem. After a couple of days we met and they had a different outlook on their benefit package. Just as a side note, our employees don't want service tokens that will end up in the trash and they want to continue with the current service celebration. Again, Thank you for your responses, they helped to resolve this conflict.
hrbth Joined: Oct 24, 2002 Posts: 1501	Posted: 2004-02-05 07:33 I bet they had a different view about their benefits! (And no, I wasn't being even a teeny bit sarcastic in my previous response.) That said, I applaud them for being able to see the light and for finally being so understanding. Good for them, and good for you for resolving the issue.
bujaba Joined: Jun 17, 2003 Posts: 2	Posted: 2004-04-06 10:13 My company utilizes a vendor to provide gift selections for various anniversary milestones with the company - 5 years through 40 years. I've noted a huge markup to the gift selections and believe we can provide an AMEX gift card that is worth more than their gift selections from the old vendor and still run at a lower cost to the company. However, the employees are very traditional - can I ask you for some recommendations on how to propose/communicate this change to the employee service awards. Thanks.