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16 August 2010

Well served I just received an email today from my company saying that it was time for me to pick out my ten-year service award.
[More:]
The email included a link to the online catalogue where one picks out items, and a ordering code that I was to use to register for my chosen item. So I clicked and happily browsed away. At first I thought there wasn't anything that I particularly wanted and even that the gifts seemed a little on the chintzy side, and then I realized that I was looking at the 5-year service awards.

So I chose the ten-year page from a drop down menu, looked at the much nicer items, and narrowed it down to two options (a 14K gold bracelet and a 10K gold and garnet ring), and while I took the time to think about which one I wanted, just for fun checked out the 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 year items. There was some nice stuff (i.e., digital cameras, a beautiful wall clock, a barbeque and a leather duffle bag). And some useless stuff (i.e., a sterling silver duck mounted on a green marble oval). One thing that was interesting was that the gifts didn't seem all that equitable. Among the ten year gifts was a sterling silver money clip. Could that really cost the same as the bracelet or ring I was considering?

For my five-year service award they had a variety of things (watches, desk clocks, pens) that were nice, but that I felt I didn't need or would use (i.e., I already had two watches and several clocks). I picked out a silver-plated cheese plate with a grapevine pattern and a matching knife, partly because I didn't have one, partly because it really was a lovely item, and partly because I couldn't resist the opportunity to be able to tell people that my reward for five years of work was a cheese plate. Nor did this last motivation prove unfounded. It made everyone giggle.

My then director, who had started at the company about six months after me, liked the cheese plate and tried to order one when her turn came, but they'd discontinued the item by that point. She was perturbed.

Also around that time a nice older woman received her 30-year award — a set of silverware in a wooden chest. My friend Muriel and I sat in the audience when it was presented to the woman and Muriel muttered, "Pretty nice, eh?" to me. I muttered back, "Yeah, but she had to work 30 years for it. It'd be more efficient to get yourself fired and use the severance to buy one for yourself."

On a darker note, I'd thought perhaps there wouldn't be any service awards given out this year, and I wouldn't have complained, either. There were no raises in 2010, and our work from home privileges have been taken away, and about ten percent of my office has been laid off.

I feel I should have moved on from my current company long ago and gotten something better, but as I selected the bracelet, I reminded myself how lucky I am to be working given what has happened to some of my former co-workers and the general unemployment rate, and that at least I'm not at the company I left ten years ago. During my time there, a co-worker of mine who had been there 20 years received lunch out and an ugly, far-too-large-for-her company t-shirt for her anniversary — and this was when the economy was doing well. She was so mad she emailed the president to complain.
Who says a sterling silver duck is useless? I'd use it every day!

(For what, I'm not entirely sure. Performance art?)
posted by grapefruitmoon 16 August | 13:46
I guess you could use it as a paperweight, though it was a little big for that. You could also probably kill someone with it.
posted by Orange Swan 16 August | 13:51
Gosh, what a generous company. We get nothing like that where I work.
posted by Senyar 16 August | 13:54
My dad used to get service awards from his company. I remember a silver watch, bowl, and beer stein (with a glass bottom) - all with the company logo and three gemstones. The type of stone signified the term for which the award was given. His division has since been bought and sold several times, so I don't think they do it anymore.
posted by youngergirl44 16 August | 14:22
It's nicer (and probably cheaper for the company) when the item isn't plastered with the company logo. Another company where I used to work had service awards and they all had the company logo on them -clocks, watches, cameras, golf clubs, you name it.
posted by Orange Swan 16 August | 14:24
I can't really imagine staying at the same company for ten years. Not too many tech companies even exist in the same form for that long. My current place is actually 11 years old this summer but there's only early employee left by this time. Two of the founding employees just quit recently mostly because they realized that they'd been here more than ten years and needed to move on.
posted by octothorpe 16 August | 14:34
My longest term job, I quit a month shy of 4 years. To go back to school, but still. I'd like to stay somewhere for awhile (hopefully my current job is amenable to that).
posted by Eideteker 16 August | 14:35
My employer has my years of service wrong by a year. Gosh, it made me feel so special to be recognized for 5 years of service when I've been here 6 years. Maybe they think I'm slacking and have adjusted it.
posted by theora55 16 August | 14:35
Maybe that's their way of insuring you stick around for an extra year, to collect your reward, theora55. My anniversary is in September but it won't come in until October and I probably won't get it until the Christmas dinner dance.
posted by Orange Swan 16 August | 14:42
Our reward is 'special recognition' (Everybody wave at Bob!) at the annual luncheon. But since we are public funded I'm sure the taxpayers are grateful my employer is a miser.
posted by toastedbeagle 16 August | 15:43
Because I'm someone's assistant and the turnover rate of assistants varies within the brokerage, I don't think there is any recognition for us at all!
posted by TrishaLynn 16 August | 15:59
I got a certificate . . . and as I already had my new job lined up when the 10 year ceremony was held, jokes about how eager I was to leave! But long ago when I worked for a large law firm, they gave merit bonuses at the end of the year for those of us who really racked up the billable hours, and I used to go to a local jewelry store and pick out something with my bonus money. I can still tell you exactly what is in my jewelry box that my firm "bought" me.

Good for your firm. This is classy of them.
posted by bearwife 16 August | 16:34
Well, in another 19 years, I'll be eligible for the 25-year service medallion. So that's something.

As a public agency, there is really no way for us to reward staff in any way that costs money, because it's unpalatable politically. We do find ways to give something on odd occasions - when we were running a major conference at a 5-star hotel/casino a couple of years ago, I managed to persuade the powers-that-be to let the staff working at the conference stay in the hotel instead of going home between conference days, which is waaay outside our accommodation guidelines and somewhere that most people would not normally stay, but things like that are not only inadequate but few and far between.

We also tend to shy away from publicly acknowledging individuals, instead giving recognition to work teams, because people used to get their noses out of joint when an individual got recognition for something and someone else missed out. So now, people get their noses out of joint because all the team got recognition when only some of the team did the work. Sometimes, you just can't win.

Really, the recognition that we get is only in a personal sense when we are given a private pat on the back for doing something well. That's about all the recognition I can give out, too. To some extent, that's a good thing, because I'd much prefer my boss to give me recognition when she sees I have done something good than some formal token just because of some arbitrary milestone.

In a strange way, I've got some recognition in the way my job interview is being managed this week. There are two of us in the office applying for the job I'm acting in now (the other of whom is my best friend) and at least one 'outsider'. My current boss is the chair of the selection panel and she has set a task for the interview of giving a presentation on 'what will be your priorities in leading and managing the business unit from now until December 2011'. Sounds pretty straightforward, but the way it has been worded beyond what I've quoted means that anyone from outside the team has no chance of success because there are factors that only the two of us who are 'insiders' know that will be critical to being able to be successful (because we have both acted in the job over the past 9 months and there are major unannounced changes coming up). Kind of sneaky, but it gives us comfort that we are considered front-runners for the job. I consider that recognition for doing the job well enough that we are 'preferred candidates' and are being given the opportunity to only have to complete with each other.
posted by dg 16 August | 17:05
I am dismayed at my inability to find a performance of "On Behalf of the Entire Staff and Management" by Tommy James and the Shondells to post to this thread.
posted by BitterOldPunk 16 August | 17:10
Sounds like the same awards site my company uses. We are awarded points for the years served; in my case, last year was 20 years. I was "given" 20,000 points. There were some nice gifts, that's for sure. I ended up choosing a dual cd player, slim to use in my bathroom, and a sterling silver and garnet ring. In the past I chose a 10k gold bracelet, for 10 years, a 10k gold and sapphire ring (which I am wearing as I type), for 15 years. I also looked ahead, and noticed you could get a kayak (for 123,000 points). Can't imagine how long you have to work to qualify for that one!
posted by redvixen 16 August | 18:04
To some extent, that's a good thing, because I'd much prefer my boss to give me recognition when she sees I have done something good than some formal token just because of some arbitrary milestone.

I hear that. Despite what I said above, I almost teared up when my boss gave me an inadvertent compliment by not only praising it, but by not revising too much of some research I'd given her before sending it directly on to a client.
posted by TrishaLynn 16 August | 19:05
A kayak? Now that's a gift to remember.

As a public agency, there is really no way for us to reward staff in any way that costs money, because it's unpalatable politically.

A friend of mine works for the Ontario civil service, and occasionally when I get a perk like this she'll comment on how the private sector has its advantages. It does, but if I were working in an equivalent job to mine in the civil service I'd be making a good 20K more a year (publishing salaries are so low). I could buy a lot of gold bracelets with that extra 20K.
posted by Orange Swan 16 August | 20:54
An uncle of mine worked for the Bulova watch company for decades. Naturally, to commemorate 20 years, they gave him a Bulova watch (what else?).

I wear a Bulova myself. I liked them before I knew about my uncle. He died many years ago. My mom has the watch.
posted by Pips 16 August | 21:47
Yeah, Orange Swan, as an ex private sector person, I have no complaint about the lack of 'perks' in working for the public service, given the higher salaries and insane job security. Whenever people here complain about their job, I scoff at them and tell them they have no fucking idea what it's like to work in the real world and that they should be grateful.

Some things frustrate me, though. For example, I have a car as part of my salary package, but I'm only allowed to drive it for work purposes and to work and back (no 'private' use allowed). To make it worse, all cars owned by the department have specific number plates and everyone gets warned not to use the car outside work because, wherever you go, there is likely to be some bitter, small-minded public servant who will spot the car parked at the local shopping centre on a Sunday morning and report you. This means that I can't get rid of one of our cars and I have the work car cluttering up the driveway all weekend (it must be parked off the street for insurance reasons). It seems silly to me to have a $35k car sitting around hardly used because we're too scared to have a public servant seen to be getting a benefit from their employment that anyone in the private sector in a similar position would take for granted. But, you learn to accept that there are some things you simply cannot change and it's best just to ignore them or you go crazy.

But, yeah. Working for the government beats the private sector hands-down in so many ways. When I started here almost 6 years ago, I started at a salary $25k above my previous job (plus extra superannuation) and worked much shorter hours, had much less responsibility and a guaranteed job for life as long as I don't fuck up too badly. Unfortunately, I'm now at the point where the salary variation between public and private starts to cross over and I'm at the highest level that I can be permanently appointed to - another promotion and I'm onto three-year performance-based contracts, but for probably less money than an equivalent position in the private sector.
posted by dg 16 August | 22:28
Here's your schmoopy cute link for the day. || An actual good Yahoo Answer:

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