Yesterday we ran a great session at an organization to challenge their current thinking about long-service awards. I loved it because the group were so participative and open to ideas. Before the session, we asked the group to come up with 3 words to describe long-service awards and it was lovely to see such positive words used…

LOYALTY, COMMITMENT, VALUED, DEDICATION, RECOGNITION, APPRECIATION, RESPECT, FAMILY, SPECIAL, EARNED

In lots of companies, people have lost sight of why they are doing it. Programmes are inherited and there is no real understanding of why it was created in the first place. Yesterday, we hope we got the thinking back on track. We hope we got everyone thinking about the objectives of ‘celebrating careers’ and brought it back to the simple truth that career celebrations give us a unique one-of-a-kind opportunity to focus on an individual and their entire history of contributions rather than any one single event.

When we listen to someone being appreciated, we internalize it. We want some of that for ourselves. Sharing stories from the workplace gives us all something to aim for, something that is easy for us to understand. It turns career achievers into role models. Last week I listened to my lovely colleague James reach his 5 year milestone and it still makes me smile now. People were invited to speak from across the business and it was lovely to see how proud James felt. It was funny, it was real and it was genuine. I want some of that too!

This is not the golden nugget to talent retention or anything else, however, as part of your overall recognition and communication strategy, it reflects the value you as an organization place on your people and the contributions they have made over the years. It reminds people that they work in a great team, that they love their company (hopefully!) and that what they do gets noticed.

Have a think about what you do for long-service and why? It may be time to challenge the legacy and re-define your own objectives…bring it back to your people and how much you value them! Get some people together from across the business today and I guarantee you will find some inspiring stories of amazing recognition moments that are happening across your business as we speak…think about how you can create more through the simple re-framing of long-service awards and the image of a carriage clock to the powerful message that ‘we celebrate you’!