One of the most striking findings of our recent research into how organisations reward loyalty wasn’t the fact that long service is now recognised after five years for over half of employers. Nor was it the fact the majority of employers still give these awards.
No, what really surprised me was the extent that when it comes to recognising loyalty, so many employers seem just to go through the motions rather than make the most of an opportunity to give sincere thanks to their employees.
What I am talking about is the third of employers who admit their employees don’t know when they are eligible for awards. Or the two thirds of businesses who say when long service awards are given, they aren’t celebrated in the business. And then there is the 39% of employers who say they don’t give a personal thanks to employees for their service when they give an award.
At a time when the prevailing conversations are about a deficit in employee engagement deficit, lacklustre levels of employee motivation and the lack of trust workers have for their employers, this is even more surprising.
Rewarding loyalty has to be one of the most straightforward ways to show employees your appreciation for their hard work and dedication.
Doing it in the right way — a way that maximises the feel good factor for the employee and the impact for the business — is straightforward too.
Employers who do this well recognise the power of communications. A thank you in person from a manager and a personal note from a senior member of the business cost very little but underscore how you value loyalty. So too does a clear understanding among employees about how loyalty is rewarded in your organisation.
Then there is the reward itself. Here there are two golden rules. Never give cash – as this is soon forgotten – and always give employees a choice of reward as this makes it more memorable. There are plenty of easy ways of doing this for your business without creating extra admin.
Last of all, you need to make sure you have a well-oiled machine to administer and keep track of who needs rewarding when. That means ensuring your line managers and senior managers are aware when awards are due and that those awards actually get to the employee at the right time.
None of this is difficult, but it does require some thought and planning. With our survey finding that half of organisations haven’t reviewed the way they deliver employee service awards in the last five years and another half saying they don’t plan to in the next five years, this is another area to focus on.
Long service awards may not feel like the most exciting part of the recognition mix but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve fresh thinking and reinvigoration: something that many employers could do with applying to their schemes according to our survey results.
Andy Philpott is sales and marketing director at Edenred – you can access more insights on our knowledge hub – www.edenred.co.uk/ehub/
Follow us on twitter – @edenreduk or @andy_philpott
