5 Tips for Implementing Effective Service Award Programs

 Service award programs are recognition strategies that businesses implement to celebrate employees’ milestones with the company. The days are long gone when companies would wait for an employee’s 25th year, or even 10th year, before they hand out an award. Today, most employers know that a service award program that is implemented correctly can go a long way in motivating employees and creating a happier, more productive workplace. And that they don’t have to wait for decades. Most companies begin recognizing years of service on an employee’s fifth year; and then on the 10th year, 15th year, 20th year and so on. Some even start as early as the third year.

Giving recognition like service awards to employees helps boost morale and improve employee performance. A study called “Incentives, Motivation and Workplace Performance: Research & Best Practices” found that correctly implemented recognition and incentive programs can increase performance by as much as 44%. The white paper “Motivation and Incentive Strategy: The Key to Making Your Workplace Exceptional,” on the other hand, cited higher employee engagement, reduced attrition, improved organizational performance and increases in profitability and shareholder return as some of the results of an award program that’s implemented and monitored correctly.


Here are some tips on implementing an effective service award program:

1. Recognize the employee’s years of service and contribution to the company, not just award. And make sure the celebration of these milestones is known in the entire company. Some companies opt for a dinner to celebrate service awards while some incorporate the awarding ceremony into a major company event such as an anniversary.

2. Service award programs are actually one of the best recognition programs because they’re uncomplicated, easy to understand and the process of the receiving them is straightforward and transparent. These are qualities make up a successful award program.

3. Whether you choose to hold the awarding as a separate event or as a part of another company event, you should work to make sure that the awarding is held consistently at a specific period or periods within the year.

4. As with most reward programs, awards recognizing years of service can include both formal and informal activities. These activities don’t have to bee too expensive. But you do need to communicate effectively the right messages for the award program to become a powerful motivator in the workplace. A service award should be in recognition of the employee’s contributions to the company and should not be seen as an award for showing up to work for a number of years. Emphasize the employee’s skills and commitment to excellence that has helped the company over the years. The celebration or event for the award should be a time to reinforce company pride and boost motivation and morale.

5. Service award programs should have both a public and private component. The public component is the awarding ceremony or dinner. The private component should have a more personal touch; a personal note from the company’s top executive, for example.

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