It might seem obvious, but rewarding employees for reaching service milestones in your company is the simplest way to encourage a stable workforce and keep staff attrition to a minimum.
And there has been a lot of innovation in Service Awards in the last few years.
Traditionally, Service Awards involved companies buying a stock of gifts (carriage clocks, anyone?! ), and presenting them to employees reaching 20 years’ service. This traditional type of service award is still underpinned by Revenue’s Tax Relief for Long Service (see below) .
However , we are seeing a much more dynamic approach being taken by many companies looking to revamp their Service Awards for more impactful employee recognition. Here are 6 ways that companies we talk to are looking to modernise their Service Awards-
First, The idea of waiting (in vain!) for employees to reach the 20 year milestone before thanking them for their service is a bit comical today. Most companies have already introduced milestones to celebrate 5, 10, and 15 years’ service. And we are increasingly talking to companies who are looking to mark 1 , 2 and 3 year anniversaries, perhaps not with the expensive trophy gifts, but with something!
Second, all companies we speak to are looking to get away from them having to source their own gifts, and deal with stock, deliveries and returns. Apart from the resource required to manage this, i f anything goes wrong, i t can turn what should be a positive for the company into a severe negative.
Third, companies are looking to introduce more choice and more excitement in the rewards being offered – typically having a tiered catalogue of rewards that employees themselves can choose from, instead of having it decided by the company.
Fourth, companies are realising that if the reward offered is too low in perceived value, it can actually be a cause for disappointment rather than motivation. Typically we find that a reward valued at under €50 really doesn’t do much for the typical employee (and closer to €100 we would recommend as the ideal reward starting point ).
Some companies are incorporating their Service Awards into their overall employee reward points programmes, meaning that they can add any service reward points to other reward points received to spend on more significant items.
Fifth, recognition is equally as important as the reward itself , so a personal thank you from the senior manager or MD can turn a service award into a memorable event for the employee. This can be in the form of a personal letter or email , a personal visit to their work stat on, a shout out at a company get-together, or even a phone call .
And finally, in addition to the Tax Relief for (traditional) Long Service Awards of 20 years+, many companies are instead are using the Small Benefit Scheme to finance the award as it has far less restrictions in terms of service length and reward type.
Taking many of the points above, Allgo has developed a Service Award system that employees find more engaging and companies find more impactful. Visit our Service Awards page to find out more or contact us today for a demo of the system
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