Posted on: Monday, September 13, 2004
Trend toward richer rewards for long-term workers
By Karen Dybis
Detroit News
Stay at your job for 15 years, and chances are you'll be congratulated with a clock, key chain, engraved plaque or paperweight.
• The average U.S. worker has about 3.7 years of tenure at their current employer. • Most workers will job hop about 10 times during their career. Source: U.S. Department of Labor Like Campbell, a growing number of companies are becoming more generous when it comes to rewarding long-term employees. Firms are switching from the dreaded company coffee mug to enviable items such as Somerset Collection gift certificates, designer watches, even monthlong sabbaticals to say thanks for a job well done.
Three-quarters of all U.S. companies provide length-of-service awards, according to a 2003 survey by WorldatWork and the National Association for Employee Recognition.
Human-resource expert Ed Steinhoff said the benefits of employee awards outweigh the expenses associated with them. Replacing an employee can cost thousands of dollars for recruiting and training. Constant churn disrupts a workforce as new workers get up to speed. And employees who feel their company recognizes their hard work tend to be more productive and loyal.
"It's nice to get a pat on the back every once in a while," said Steinhoff, head of Mercer Human Resource Consulting's compensation practice in Detroit.
Gifts that allow employees to choose what they want or introduce them to new experiences are among the most popular alternatives to the tired pen-and-pencil set. Some examples:
To reward attorney Michael Staebler, who has worked at law firm Pepper Hamilton LLP for more than 20 years, the law firm boosted his vacation time to five weeks. Nearly half of Pepper Hamilton's 46-person Detroit staff has worked there for more than a decade, and the firm is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
Holding a job for life is less and less the norm, said Debra Hanses, Republic's senior vice president of corporate human resources. Women, particularly, tend to move in and out of the workforce while raising a family. And with pensions disappearing, more-portable 401(k) plans allow workers to take their retirement funds with them to another job.
Campbell & Co. vice president of Human Resources David Bruce admits he is stumped by employees facing their 20-year anniversary. "We're still trying to figure out what we're going to do (to reward them), because we've never had to do it before," Bruce said.
But that's not the case at the Troy, Mich., marketing firm Campbell & Co. For their 15-year anniversaries, employees are given a paid, weeklong vacation anywhere in the world, with airfare and hotel included.
Job hoppers
