An award of service recognises a long-standing employee and presents an opportunity to thank someone for their dedication, service and contribution over time, whether it’s five, ten or even 50 years! One idea for your company’s next service award is seemingly small, but packs a big punch: consider a customised service award badge. Service award badges can be a valuable component of your overall employee recognition and motivation efforts. They can also help your company instill pride among workers and contribute to a positive company culture. In this post, we present a few reasons why your company should consider rewarding long-standing service with service award badges.
A Clear and Stunning Way to Say: “Thank You, You are Valued”
Service award badges are a great way to say thank you to long-standing employees and recognise their years of dedicated service. One creative and effective idea is to use colour to convey your message and select a different colour for each band of service. For example, one of our clients created a lovely series of custom badges designed to award employees for 10, 20, 30, 40 and even 50 years of service!
Consider also merit-based or military organisations, who traditionally use a hash mark to indicate years of service and proudly display badges on uniforms. For example, the Scottish Ambulance made and presents these handsome service award badges to its staff.
We think that service award recipients will cherish these lifelong keepsakes; take the opportunity to design the perfect badge that is worth saving and displaying! You might consider a sandblasted finish for special-level service award badges to create stunning textural effects that are truly unique and prestigious.
Build a Positive Culture with Service Awards
Presenting an award of service is more than just a nice touch for a dedicated employee. The right reward can also be an effective tool to help you establish a positive company culture. Service award badges are egalitarian; they reach everyone, no matter their role or responsibility in the company. Presenting a service award badge at a special event or congratulating someone in an all-staff communique can help you engage and motivate traditionally un-recognised team members.
Service award badges may help instill in employees a sense of pride for their work and respect for the company. From a human resources perspective, awarding these badges might also contribute to employee retention.
Showcase Your Service Awards Through Stories and Social Media
The presentation of a service award is an opportunity to share stories. Consider organising a short ceremony at a staff meeting and encourage the recipient and other employees to share anecdotes or humorous stories, recall milestones, or talk about next steps and goals. Has the recipient been there since the business started? One clever idea is to ask recipients in advance to find a photo or recall a memory of “the early days.” Leverage this opportunity to reminisce on the businesses’ founding and history and build a sense of pride and camaraderie. Promoting a recipient’s years of service is also great fodder for your company’s social media or digital channels, and could also be a part or your media or PR strategy.
You could also consider customised packaging or a presentation box for awarding the service badge. This could even match the colour and design of the badge itself.
In today’s evolving marketplace, people change jobs frequently. Acknowledging workers for their service and contribution can be an effective way to reward and retain your team. Just remember, at the end of the day, a service award should be something that the recipient wants to receive. Employees will likely want to keep and display these mementos — be sure to design a high-quality badge and consider customised, premium quality materials and finishes. You can trust us to help guide you. After all, we’ve been doing this for 25 years. If you feel like service award badges are not for you, you might also like to consider service keyrings. Our keyring custom designs are stunning, and also have a high perceived value.
Please get in touch with us today to talk through your ideas for recognising your hard-working employees with service award badges.
