Employee recognition awards aim to show employee appreciation and make them feel valued. When recognition is done correctly, it builds the team’s sense of community, improves performance, and increases loyalty and longevity.
But, sometimes, recognition gifts need to be revised. Some awards can negatively impact employees’ perception of the company and harm performance. This article will look at recognition awards that do more harm than good.
1. Gift Cards To Stores Employees Don’t Visit
According to a study by SHRM, gift cards to stores that employees don’t visit are among the worst recognition awards commonly given. Every year around 3 Billion dollars in gift cards go unused.
Gift cards are a popular choice among employers, but when employees don’t regularly go to the store, they view gift cards as less valuable than cash. Consider that cash ranks very low on the list of preferred recognition awards.
An Example: ‘I worked at a call center, and for Christmas, we were given a gift card for a restaurant that wasn’t in our vicinity. The nearest restaurant was over 50 miles away. Very few people got to redeem their gift cards. Management just told us to save it for when we are in the vicinity.’ (Source: Social Media Post)
The Solution
Tap into the convenience of gift cards by offering employees a choice of how, when, and where to redeem their points for gift cards. Doing this will add greater autonomy (something employees crave) to your recognition program and help ensure employees use their recognition awards.
2. Small or Cheap Gifts
Among popular $5 gifts are pins, plaques, and certificates. A study conducted throughout 2022 by the O.C. Tanner Institute found that $5 gifts given to the entire workforce “decreases engagement and recognition authenticity.”
If $5 gifts are given as the total gift, employees feel worse after getting a $5 recognition award, especially when it’s given to everyone as a show of appreciation.
An Example: Early in my career, I worked for a large national jewelry store chain,” says John Picciotto, now a senior principal at Accenture Strategy. “We smashed company records for the number of accounts opened and resulting sales that season. As Christmas approached, senior management held a luncheon to thank everyone and presented each team member with a watch. However, the watch happened to be the company’s private label watch, and we knew that they cost the company under $5 each. Nothing says thank you for ignoring your family over Christmas like a $5 knockoff watch! (Source)
The Solution
O.C. Tanner found that when low-budget gifts are combined with an element of symbolism, they gain value in the eyes of the employees. Symbolic awards become meaningful to employees in ways that another $5 gift would not be. That’s because symbols bring the employee into the company culture and make them part of the history.
3. The Super Late Service Award
Service awards can impact employee loyalty, especially when given early in an employee’s tenure. But, when service awards are given especially late, they can negatively affect how valued an employee feels and can cause negative feelings toward the employer.
An Example: “On my 6th year of employment, I got my 1 yr and 5 yr anniversary gifts.” (Source: Facebook Poll Response)
The Solution
Employers should automate their employee recognition program to automatically notify managers and teams of upcoming anniversaries. The Thanks Platform encourages teammates to write words of appreciation for the employee to read on their anniversary.
4. Too-Personal Gifts
Employers should stay away from gifts that are too personal. They should also avoid stereotypical awards that capitalize on bigotry, sexism, or racism of any kind. These gifts leave employees feeling worse and less valuable than they previously felt. It can also bring up remembrances of previous bad experiences at the employer or previous employers.
An Example: “Last Christmas, my boss gave our entire agency toothbrushes. We all had the same reaction. A toothbrush? Do we ALL have terrible hygiene? What an interesting gift! He said he got them for us because he wanted to give us all something we’d never buy for ourselves.” (Source)
The Solution
Unique and customized gifts are recommended. But, it’s a good idea to run any new gifts through multiple people of various ages, races, and from both gender to solicit feedback to make sure the gift isn’t offensive.
5. Left-Over Products
Many companies have leftover products. Although these are wonderful items to give to employees, they should not be solo recognition awards. When employers give leftover products to employees instead of individual or personal awards, employees often feel like their employer is too frugal or doesn’t appreciate them.
An Example: “My manager gave us all the leftover customer appreciation gifts for Christmas. Some people got shirts, some got watches, some got tote bags. No one got anything personal and we all knew he was cleaning out the storage room. He wasn’t willing to let us have them when we helped with those events, but he wanted us to be grateful we got them for a “bonus”. Ok,I guess.” (Source: Social Media Post)
The Solution:
Give away extra merchandise as a bonus or add-on. Or let interested employees choose extra merchandise as an add-on to recognition gifts.
6. Generic Gifts
Meaningful gifts should be a part of employee appreciation.SHRM points out that employees regularly name generic gifts as the worst gifts they receive from employers. For employees whose love language is gifts, generic gifts can be worse than no gifts.
An Example: “My first job was when I was 16 at a bakery. For Christmas, we were given a ham. I politely said Thank You. When I went home, I burst into tears.” (Source: Inc)
The Solution:
Give employees personalized gifts. Or allow them to choose between gift options. If you aren’t sure what you employees like or want, solicit feedback or send out a survey. Asking for their preferences shows them you care about them and can further make the gift meaningful.
7. Branded Merchandise
Logo-branded merchandise is one gift that’s heavily debated. Branded merchandise is often called SWAG (SWAG can include items that aren’t branded). 3 out of 4 employees would prefer a gift without their company logo (SHRM). Giving out branded merchandise such as t-shirts, mugs, totes, car accessories, etc isn’t a bad idea. Employees feel more like a walking advertisement.
An Example: “I never wear t-shirts from my old or current employers except to paint in. Why should I advertise for them?” (Source: social media post)
The Solution:
Give employees branded items as extra gifts. It’s very appropriate to give new employees apparel and other welcome gifts with the company logo. It’s also a great idea to give employees shirts for a particular event or celebration on top of their recognition gifts.
Branded items should be extra, not replace employee appreciation gifts or awards for employee recognition.
Conclusion
In most cases, giving a gift, or recognizing employees is better than not doing anything. Yet, some gifts can be offensive or reinforce negative employee beliefs. Turning even lower-cost gifts into something special may take a little more time, but will be worthwhile if employees get the message that they are valuable.
About Thanks
Thanks is a leading provider of a recognition-based platform that increases communication, builds teamwork, and makes recognition a part of company culture. Fast, easy and simple Thanks makes it easy to bring data-driven employee recognition to your entire organization. O.C. Tanner purchased the Thanks platform in 2019 to fulfill the recognition needs of smaller businesses.
Thanks customers benefit from the same decades of research in employee motivation and company culture that O.C. Tanner enterprise clients enjoy, but in a product that is geared for fast, easy and simple deployment. Whether you’re starting a recognition program or improving and expanding on what you already have, Thanks has everything you need to engage your people with effective, scalable recognition.