Part of the "What I Learned Reading EmployersWeb.com the Magazine" series: Razor Suleman of I Love rewards makes an incredible point in his new
article. Recognition based on years of service is an outdated form of rewards. He claims that the new generation of employees know they are not going to be at a company long enough to earn a twenty year anniversary watch or set of golf clubs. The solution is to start recognizing and rewarding people based more on performance than length of service. When goals are met or exceeded, reward the employees involved in a timely and effective manner. Suleman recommends a point-based system where employees can earn "recognition points" and cash them in for a reward from a designated list.
This seems like a no-brainer, but in reality it is not. So many companies have time of service based recognition and have had it in place for so many years they cannot think of doing anything else. Also, it seems to make sense on the outside looking. In. If someone has been with a company for ten years, they must have done a good job or else they would have been fired, so they should be rewarded. As Suleman points out in his article, the new generation of employees simply will not stay that long at one company anymore. There will be exceptions, but it will be a very small minority. Someone might ask, "Isn't their salary enough?" Sadly the answer is "no". I believe there are two reasons for this. One, the new generation has been programmed to believe that they should be rewarded for exceeding expectations. This may or may not be a bad thing, but it is the case. If an employee performs exceptionally well and his/her paycheck does not reflect it, they become discouraged. Two, both employees and employers know the employees tend to be underpaid, especially in a market like the one we're in now. Good employers will do what they can for their employees when they perform above and beyond, because they cannot pay them what they deserve, especially when they are just starting out.