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At the heart of your business are two interconnected elements: your employees and your customers. Both are essential to the financial health of your business and your long term success. But does it really matter whether your employees are there for the long-haul? Should you be rewarding loyalty with long term service awards?
The answer to both questions is quite simply yes. It takes time, effort and money to recruit and train a new employee. It then takes additional time for them to learn everything there is to know about your business, customers, suppliers and your competition. The mindset of your employees is incredible, and these books to read that make you think really give perspective. The more the staff member learns and understands, the greater asset they are to your company. Suddenly losing that wealth of experience, particularly to a competitor, could be devastating. Given this, then it is important to look after and nurture the talent that you have, and encourage them to stay and provide you with the benefit of their experience.
One way to achieve this is through awards. How you present the award could depend on a number of factors, including the person involved, after all not everyone likes being the centre of attention. But for those that do, why not present them with a long service award at a staff get together? You could organise a dinner, or present the award as the culmination of a ceremony to celebrate success in all areas of your business. All you need to do now is decide how long is long term service, and find out if any of your employees fit the bill.
How Long Is Long Time Service?
Offering a long time service award to staff that have shown commitment over a number of years to your company is a great way to show how much they are valued. But how long should someone be employed with you before you consider them as having fulfilled long time service?
It’s a difficult question, and everyone is likely to have their own opinion on what constitutes long service. Consider for a moment that the age you can legally leave school is 16, and that the state pension age currently stands at 65 for men (62 for women). This means that the average person has just under 50 years of work time. Of course, if you continue at school, or take further training, this amount of time reduces quite significantly; and there is always the option of early retirement for those with private pensions. This can then reduce the number of working years to around 45. How does knowing this help?
Well if you are considering offering a long service award it needs to firstly be achievable. There is little point in setting an unachievable goal as this will do little to motivate anyone. This is one reason why these types of awards are often incremental. Staff may be offered a certificate at the end of their first full year with the company, and then a small award or plaque after five years. The next milestone may be ten years’ service; at this point, a larger award may be offered, possibly with an in-house ceremony. New milestones may then be set for every ten years’ service after that, potentially with a more elaborate ceremony being offered each time.
