| Yep. Like the "pick out a toaster for your 5 years of service" awards. Seriously -- if you haven't encountered this -- there are businesses that specialize in... "administering" service awards to employees, for other businesses -- typically, for larger corporations, where there's enough volume to make it worth their while.( Or, there were such, the last time I was in such a position.) You, the awardee, get so many "points", and there's a catalog, online now, where you can pick from items "costing" no more than the points you have. It functions, I guess, not just for anniversaries. Although good luck, for many BigCorp managers, getting any kind of budget for any other kind of "reward". At least the toaster works reasonably well... But the whole thing was a pretty soulless experience. I did also receive one of those company awards, at that company. It was actually pretty low key. Perhaps including because my department had nothing to do with it. I helped smooth out a perpetually bumpy cross-department and cross-division business process. (I got tired of the hassle, set up a meeting, and walked everyone through the process and their roles and facilitated consensus and agreement about same, including deliverables and schedules. It wasn't part of my job description or authority to do so, but what the hell, and everyone else was tired of the problems, too.) One day, someone outside my reporting chain showed up with the award. (Maybe it was a division-wide / level award, rather than company-wide.) No ceremony, just thanks. I think I got a couple of hundred bucks and a plaque or certificate or something, too. It didn't really change the way I operated or my motivation -- what solved the problem, in the first place. But, it was nice to be noticed. That was also the position where my manager just showed up with pay raises -- despite the company-wide pay freeze. I got sh-t done. He, and she, responded accordingly. And the pay raises were appreciated. Substantial, and not a one-off "pat on the back". By the way, further pertaining to the OP type awards. You can get one, and get canned the following quarter. They often really don't mean much. P.S. And it can be dangerous if you, the recipient, start to believe they do. |