[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by ///d

Employee appreciation gifts?

I work for the gubberment

Don't you get to retire with a pension after like a couple weeks?

I always hear gubbernment people who are retired and they are like infants.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by 2000cs

I used to think cash was the best reward/recognition, but I learned that people value stuff more than the exact amount of money to buy it. For example, people value a day off as if it is worth thousands of dollars, but it is just a $200 or so for most. A flat screen tv is always a big draw if there is an employee drawing or raffle, even though they are $500ish. You’d think they were $2000.

Like the lamp in A Christmas Story, stuff seems to carry something beyond its cash value.

Only if it’s the right thing though. Standardized gifts are inevitably going to leave some wishing for something else.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by rebekahb

It really isn't a difficult concept to come up with something that isn't cheap and thoughtless.

Exactly why I pushed for the framed thank-you letters signed by the President and Board Chair to be included with each service award.

One thing that I learned from buying motorsports trophies/awards is that picture frames are a buck or two at the dollar store, and printing out some event pictures of a season champion's car in a corner with a caption and logo show some thought to go along with the usual champion jacket or shirt. Cheap, thoughtful, and personalized for the win.....

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

Don't you get to retire with a pension after like a couple weeks?

I always hear gubbernment people who are retired and they are like infants.

I put in 21 years at our local state university and yes, I got a pension. And, I paid into that pension, right off the top of my paycheck. 40%, I think it was.

My annual job reviews during my 21 years were always meeting and exceeding expectations. Never got a gift or anything. My "gold watch" at retirement is they "generously" let me keep my email address, plus gave me a free emeritus parking permit.

Tight wads.

[Blue87]

I believe they hand out a certificate or pin every 10 years...pretty boring.

[Dang3r]

Mine does,

10Y
25Y
30Y
35Y

[///d]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

Don't you get to retire with a pension after like a couple weeks?

I always hear gubbernment people who are retired and they are like infants.

Thats because you can "retire" after x amount of years.

Federal is weird and theres a bunch of "if this then that" and I don't fully understand it all. From my understanding you can "retire" from federal service after 5 years, but you can't collect until age 62.

If I put in 20 years I can "retire" at age 47, but I cant collect until age 60. If I put in 30 years I can collect at 57. Most people shoot for 30 years because then they can retire at their minimum retirement age. So a lot of people will say they are federally retired because they put 20 or 30 years in, even though they aren't at retirement age yet.

Military service is similar, except you have to put in 20 years to qualify for retirement, and then you can collect at 60. I have 5 years to go to get my 20 year letter. If I'm not sitting extra comfy in a spot I enjoy, or we aren't deploying anywhere, then I'm hanging it up and growing my beard

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

I put in 21 years at our local state university
.
.
.
plus gave me a free emeritus parking permit.

Were you faculty or staff/admin? Was there a union? I've never seen emeritus status given to non-faculty anywhere in academia.....

[BMWGUYinCO]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Two decades ago, I chaired an employee committee. One of my accomplishments was going to HR and getting them to include a 5-year award, which wound up being a nice pen. The first year they were awarded, one of my co-workers who heard me discussing the awards went up to the podium to receive his award...opened the box in front of everyone...and used the pen to sign a pre-printed resignation letter that he promptly handed to the HR director who was announcing the names! The whole affair made me regret going to HR and pushing for the 5-year award.

I have a similar story, and this is also a subject near to me. When I got my first VP of IT role at a financial services company, I made it a point to visit the heads of every dept. to ask them how I could help. The HR VP asked me if I could find a new onboarding/offboarding software since they had a very high turnover rate in the company. I said I would, but I asked why there was a high T/O rate and they said the annual surveys showed that people were leaving because they didn't feel acknowledged.

Long story short - instead I found a Rewards & Recognition program and after we implemented it, we went from 20% T/O down to just 2%.

A few takeaways that I learned from the program:

• While people might say they prefer a cash reward, studies show it goes into their bank account and dissolves into routine bill paying, so there's nothing tangible to show for the service award.
• When you give a tangible item, the employee is reminded of their service every time they look at it.
• The reward has to be meaningful and of value.
• Managers should be trained on how to publically acknowledge employee's work efforts and/or anniversaries when presenting the award.
• It has to be done in a meaningful way with effort put forth into the write up.
• Meaningful and public acknolwedgement also motivates other team members.
• You should tie all of the Rewards & Recognition into the companies' values and strategic objectives so that you are rewarding the right kind of behaviors.
• Anniversary milestones should also be made to reflect the company's value into their staff.

Anyways, the program was a huge success and despite being in different jobs over the years, I still refer to this book for reminders on how to motivate my team: The Carrot Principle.

[///d]

Originally Posted by BMWGUYinCO

I have a similar story, and this is also a subject near to me. When I got my first VP of IT role at a financial services company, I made it a point to visit the heads of every dept. to ask them how I could help. The HR VP asked me if I could find a new onboarding/offboarding software since they had a very high turnover rate in the company. I said I would, but I asked why there was a high T/O rate and they said the annual surveys showed that people were leaving because they didn't feel acknowledged.

Long story short - instead I found a Rewards & Recognition program and after we implemented it, we went from 20% T/O down to just 2%.

A few takeaways that I learned from the program:

• While people might say they prefer a cash reward, studies show it goes into their bank account and dissolves into routine bill paying, so there's nothing tangible to show for the service award.
• When you give a tangible item, the employee is reminded of their service every time they look at it.
• The reward has to be meaningful and of value.
• Managers should be trained on how to publically acknowledge employee's work efforts and/or anniversaries when presenting the award.
• It has to be done in a meaningful way with effort put forth into the write up.
• Meaningful and public acknolwedgement also motivates other team members.
• You should tie all of the Rewards & Recognition into the companies' values and strategic objectives so that you are rewarding the right kind of behaviors.
• Anniversary milestones should also be made to reflect the company's value into their staff.

Anyways, the program was a huge success and despite being in different jobs over the years, I still refer to this book for reminders on how to motivate my team: The Carrot Principle.

This is a big issue with IT on the federal side, at least in my state. Overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated. We lose people to the civilian side all the time because the pay is higher with less stress.

[BMWGUYinCO]

Originally Posted by ///d

This is a big issue with IT on the federal side, at least in my state. Overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated. We lose people to the civilian side all the time because the pay is higher with less stress.

Urg, I don't think even an R&R program will help with severe base compensation issues.

[///d]

Originally Posted by BMWGUYinCO

Urg, I don't think even an R&R program will help with severe base compensation issues.

Probably not, but I do know quite a few folks that started looking elsewhere simply because they felt under appreciated, or because management was not willing to find ways to work through bonuses and incentives for dual status employees (someone who is both military and federal technician).

[jmack]

I got a Yeti beer coozy for for my 5y.

[Entropy89]

My previous company had a similar gift website for 5 year increment milestones. My current company has a "wow you've been here a while" pat on the back.

[rebekahb]

Originally Posted by Blue87

I believe they hand out a certificate or pin every 10 years...pretty boring.

Yup, agree.

[rebekahb]

Originally Posted by BMWGUYinCO

I have a similar story, and this is also a subject near to me. When I got my first VP of IT role at a financial services company, I made it a point to visit the heads of every dept. to ask them how I could help. The HR VP asked me if I could find a new onboarding/offboarding software since they had a very high turnover rate in the company. I said I would, but I asked why there was a high T/O rate and they said the annual surveys showed that people were leaving because they didn't feel acknowledged.

Long story short - instead I found a Rewards & Recognition program and after we implemented it, we went from 20% T/O down to just 2%.

A few takeaways that I learned from the program:

• While people might say they prefer a cash reward, studies show it goes into their bank account and dissolves into routine bill paying, so there's nothing tangible to show for the service award.
• When you give a tangible item, the employee is reminded of their service every time they look at it.
• The reward has to be meaningful and of value.
• Managers should be trained on how to publically acknowledge employee's work efforts and/or anniversaries when presenting the award.
• It has to be done in a meaningful way with effort put forth into the write up.
• Meaningful and public acknolwedgement also motivates other team members.
• You should tie all of the Rewards & Recognition into the companies' values and strategic objectives so that you are rewarding the right kind of behaviors.
• Anniversary milestones should also be made to reflect the company's value into their staff.

Anyways, the program was a huge success and despite being in different jobs over the years, I still refer to this book for reminders on how to motivate my team: The Carrot Principle.

Congrats on stepping up and implementing a successful plan!

[rebekahb]

Originally Posted by jmack

I got a Yeti beer coozy for for my 5y.

I hope you've been able to get some use out of it. We got Yeti backpack coolers for Christmas. It's sad when a manager doesn't know his team. Maybe 1-2 of us could use them. We are avid boaters so we have coolers squirting out of our ears. At least he actually did something though.

Originally Posted by Entropy89

My previous company had a similar gift website for 5 year increment milestones. My current company has a "wow you've been here a while" pat on the back.

I didn't get anything either. I'm actually surprised I'm still here after 10 years

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Were you faculty or staff/admin? Was there a union? I've never seen emeritus status given to non-faculty anywhere in academia.....

I am listed as staff emeritus on the university website and on my emeritus ID.

And yes, we had a union.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by ///d

This is a big issue with IT on the federal side, at least in my state. Overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated. We lose people to the civilian side all the time because the pay is higher with less stress.

Sounds like a step up for me! Have a URL for job postings? Coming from the non-profit arena, overworked is the norm. Underpaid, well, 33% of the market rate is common. At least we're appreciated, and our President even says hi to me by name whenever I see him out and about.

In all seriousness, I have a list of 8 offboards and 15 onboards to process tomorrow...out of ~600 total employees. My calendar has scheduled offboardings two weeks out for people who were kind enough to give proper notice and not just walk away. I only deal with adding/removing network access and the required audit trail, and can only imagine what our HR department is going through between hiring, background checks, and exit interviews.....

[vreihen16]

Speaking of employee appreciation, we have an employee holiday luncheon every December and an employee BBQ every summer. Both are during work hours.

The holiday luncheon is pretty elaborate, with carving stations and free beer/wine (and drives home for those who imbibe too much). It used to be a semi-formal dinner for employees and their spouses in the past, but the employee numbers out-grew the available space as we grew. (We more or less have to do it in-house, because our attendance would exceed most local wedding and large event venues which are already at a premium during the holiday party season.) This is where the years of service awards are handed out, in front of everyone.

The summer BBQ is a newer thing. No beer/wine, and the VP's staff the grills and do the cooking (under the watchful eyes of the event caterers). This is where non-anniversary employee recognitions are handed out, again in front of everyone. I somehow got drafted into being the emcee of this event for the last 5 years or so, and get to introduce the HR director, VP's, and President who all give quick thank-you speeches and awards out.

We also used to have TGIF events in April and October every year for a while, but those stopped happening because COVID. They started at the end of the work day, and included free beer/wine along with finger foods. Each had a different theme, and the caterers provided appropriate snacks for things like a Hawaii/luau or foods of Africa themes. These events took place in different locations around the facility, and one time even at the President's house because why not? (The theme of that one was a fraternity kegger, IIRC.)

Gotta give everyone credit for trying to keep us under-paid minions happy.....

[cmyx6go]

I’m ashamed to say I never thought of gifts for milestones. I will discuss with my brother. That being said, we have very low turnover. People come and stay. I have many 10, 20, even 30 year employees.

I/we treat people the way I want to be treated. In my life before being a business owner, I had shitty bosses and good ones.

We give out anniversary awards - framed certificates- during our employee appreciation events. We do this every summer. It varies, but is normally a BBQ, or catered event during work hours. One year we had a dunk tank, that was fun. We Roast certain players and also give out silly awards. We do holidays parties every year. Everyone is reviewed and gets raises annually. We buy everyone lunch once a month, give employees gifts for life events ( marriage, child birth) and I personally give holiday gifts to those employees I deal with directly. Based on the year’s earnings, we come up with $X to be bonused to those that don’t have formal bonus programs. Just last week we gave everyone an extra paycheck as we had a good end to Q2 and wanted to share now as most could use it.

During the holidays we choose a few different gifts for employees and customers and give employees a choice of which they prefer.

It’s very humbling to have employees coming into my office crying and thanking me for the extra money, gifts, appreciation or just the job in general.

[vreihen16]

Interesting that nobody has mentioned employee ball pits, free cafeterias, and dozens of nap pods with sound-cancelling speakers that Silicon Valley uses to recruit/retain employees.....