| A company’s longest serving employees are most in need of recognition but can be the hardest group to incentivise. We take a look at the challenges of effective long service awards.
Advice from Unmissable
A service reward has to be attainable for all staff – distinct from performance related rewards which in many instances are only attainable for the minority, and can be de-motivating for the majority of the workforce.
To attain the maximum motivational value from any reward, in the first instance profile the target audience, so that the gifts/rewards given are relevant and tap into the imagination, inspiration and aspirations of the recipients.  It will also show an employer in good light if it is seen that thought and effort have gone into the rewards and gifts.
Knowing your target audience will also help those with tight motivation and reward programme budgets, ensuring that money is appropriately spent on rewards that will be relevant and not shut away in a draw.
For example a mobile phone call centre which may be biased towards 18-30 year olds, will be more interested in young, fun things to do and the latest gadgets, for example, or tickets to football matches and rugby games.
Staff in a hardware company might more likely be biased to men of a wide age range so sport rewards such as a golf day, again tickets to a sporting fixture, and family and lifestyle rewards would be more appropriate.
For those workforces which are more female, such as travel companies or high-street retailers, then rewards such as beauty and pamper treats, tickets to pop concerts and dining out, as well as family days out work very well. All these options would be voucher able and therefore easy to manage.
Travel, has always been a key motivational tool. This is an area where many people have recently had to make personal cutbacks, so its appeal as a reward category has been greatly enhanced. Holidays, weekend breaks and adventure/experience days have a wide appeal. Experiences and small luxuries such as beauty and spa treatments for women, days out at UK attractions for families, mountain bikes and TVs for guys are effective and popular rewards.
The great thing about holidays, experiences and luxury goods when used as motivational incentives is that the memory will always last longer than cash and they also have a great ‘brag value’ attached to them.
Traditional cash perks, bonuses and career promotions play a major role to motivate, reward and retain staff, but with current economic conditions these have taken a severe hit recently. Cash rewards do show lack of imaginations from the employers. Cash does motivate but, all too often, once it reaches the recipient it is spent on essentials.
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