Globally, most corporate service anniversary and employee loyalty programs recognize, and at some level reward, their employee’s loyalty at milestone years of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 years.
The problem is, for a large demographic of the work force, the work contract has changed. Employees are more interested in making a contribution and being involved in things from day one, and certainly in years 1, 2 and 3.
Why is it that companies recognize the milestones, but every senior executive I talk to is more concerned about keeping their people 3 months, 6 months and 18 months? In my opinion, employees no longer trade job security for loyalty.
Even in today’s tough global economy, the vast majority of employees want to produce good results, learn skills that will improve their opportunities in the future and get recognized for producing good results.
This means they will leave a secure organization for one that meets these needs. The companies who get it and consistently make the list of the best places to work or most admired companies don’t just wait for milestone years. The best companies catch their people doing things right day-today, minute-by-minute. All the time. Just stop for a minute and think about it logically. Which organization would you want to be a part of; one that recognizes moment to moment, day to day; or one that waits for every 5 years to demonstrate how important you are? In our work helping organizations get great, we don’t think its an either / or proposition.
We help companies recognize, reward and celebrate the cumulative effect of an employee’s productive, loyal service.
Lori is the VP of Recognition for CSI International Inc. She has a MBA with a minor in Human Resources, is a Certified Recognition Professional and member of the SHRM blog squad. Prior to joining CSI STARS, she worked at Mercer Human Resource Consulting and Youthography, a youth market research agency. Connect with CSI STARS on LinkedIn to learn how we cultivate a workforce that loves coming to work.
