How to Create Impactful Symbolic Awards for Employees

Symbolic awards are back, and better than ever.

But when we say symbolic awards, we don’t mean these:

Nous voulons dire ceux-ci:

Traditionally, symbolic awards for employees were reserved for commemorating rare achievements, like employee of the month, years of service or top performance awards. These types of employee awards were usually generic, nondescript, and impersonal.

Today’s symbolic employee recognition awards are thoughtfully created to reflect a company’s history, purpose, values, culture, and community. They also represent the employee’s hard work that went into the achievement.

« Les médailles d’or ne sont pas vraiment faites d’or. Ils sont faits de sueur, de détermination et d’un alliage difficile à trouver appelé tripes.
— Dan Gable, médaillé d’or olympique

Qu’est-ce qu’un prix de reconnaissance symbolique?

A symbolic recognition award is a special employee award given to show appreciation and recognize accomplishments. They symbolize the hard work and contributions of employees. Effective symbolic awards for employees are thoughtfully designed and reflect the company culture, history, and values of an organization.

These types of trophies and awards do not have to be elaborate or expensive to have impact, but they must be meaningful.

See how successful companies use symbolic employee awards as part of an integrated recognition strategy.

Why do employees want recognition awards?

Employees want recognition awards because appreciation at work can:

• Améliorer la culture du milieu de travail ( de près de 8 fois)
• Be a peak employee experience for them
• Aider à créer un environnement de travail solide d’appartenance et de communauté (car 74% des employés disent que la reconnaissance est un élément crucial de la communauté et de l’appartenance en milieu de travail)
• Diminution de l’épuisement professionnel (-80 %))
• Create a workplace where they want to stay (companies that recognize work anniversaries retain employees an average of 2-4 more years)
• Encourager les employés (ce qui peut augmenter la productivité de 2x)

The influence of recognition is substantial. Heartfelt, genuine recognition and leader acknowledgement, combined with the right employee awards to celebrate success, can inspire employees and make them feel irreplaceable.

What is the impact of symbolic awards?

The impact of symbolic awards is powerful:

• Symbolic awards can improve individual performance by as much as 12%
• Les personnes qui éprouvent l’appréciation des employés qui comprend un prix symbolique sont 3 fois plus susceptibles de se souvenir de cette expérience
• Symbolic awards build connection to leaders and teams, improving employee engagement
• Symbolism increases the probability of engagement, great work, and retention, all which impact bottom line results (as illustrated by the charts below, the likelihood of engagement, great work, and retention is higher at all year levels when employees receive symbolic awards)

Giving symbolic employee awards strengthens connection and belonging. It shows employees are part of your organization—your culture, your purpose, and your community.

See more stats on the impact of symbolic employee awards in our Global Culture Report.        

Reconnaissance des employés idées de prix

Voici quelques idées de prix d’employés qui intègrent le symbolisme :

1. Swag boxes. Swag boxes—a collection of company-branded gifts that reflect your culture—are a fun and creative employee award. You can use these during onboarding and for company celebrations to strengthen belonging and community.

2. Careerscapes. Career celebrations have changed a lot over the years. Celebrate your employees’ achievements over time with awards that symbolize not only their years of service, but everything they’ve accomplished in that time.

‍Careerscapes are collectible trophies that tell the story of an employee’s career. Designed to grow with employees, each icon symbolizes an employee’s years of service, accomplishments, and celebrations during their time with you. Make recognition personal by showcasing all the unique ways employees have contributed over their career.  

3. récompense Numeral. Célébrez les années de service des employés d’une manière mémorable avec un chiffre qui représente leurs années de service avec vous.

See more employee award ideas and how you can celebrate your employees’ service anniversaries with symbolism.       

4. Custom award. Sometimes awards for employees need to be more custom, depending on the achievement or event. O.C. Tanner can help you create a beautiful custom symbolic award to use in awards ceremonies and recognition moments.  

Want to use these awards in your organization? Find out how with Culture Cloud®.

Comment trouver les symboles de votre entreprise

Vous pouvez trouver les symboles de votre entreprise dans l’histoire et la culture d’entreprise de votre entreprise. Pour certaines organisations, concevoir un prix symbolique pour les employés est aussi simple que d’utiliser votre logo ou vos produits. Pour d’autres, cela nécessite de réfléchir aux aspects de votre entreprise et de votre culture qui ont un sens pour les employés. Voici comment vous pouvez trouver et créer les symboles de votre entreprise :

1. Remember that symbolic awards shouldn’t be generic

Symbolic employee awards should reflect your organization and serve as a tangible reminder of employees’ accomplishments and contributions. Generic certificates, plaques, and off-the-rack trophies won’t build the connection and meaning that symbolic awards can.

2. Pensez à votre organisation

• Qu’est-ce que ça fait de travailler dans votre organisation?
• Qu’y a-t-il d’unique dans votre culture?
• Pourquoi les gens aiment-ils y travailler?
• À quoi ressemble une bonne journée?
• Quelles histoires sont souvent racontées?
• Qu’est-ce qu’une histoire qui n’est pas racontée?
• Que voulez-vous que tout le monde sache sur votre culture organisationnelle?
• Comment raconteriez-VOUS les histoires de votre entreprise?
• Quel symbole ou quelle idée représente cette partie de votre culture?

BHP’s symbolic employee awards represent their company history, purpose, the tools and equipment they use every day, and their future.      

3. Transformez vos histoires en symboles

Une fois que vous avez découvert les histoires d’entreprise les plus significatives, donner vie à votre culture en concevant, en itérant et en testant des symboles qui suscitent ces histoires.

These symbols should connect to organizational purpose, your history, and values. If you need help with designing or creating symbols, find a partner who can help you create a collection of iconic employee awards that define and honor your culture.

4. Pensez à un domaine où vous aimeriez commencer à utiliser le symbolisme

It could be a company-wide event, a brand refresh, a new year, introducing a prestigious award, or celebrating a company milestone. Start giving out your beautiful employee awards, and then expand symbolism out to other recognition opportunities. Begin with onboarding, and end with retirement.  

Need help crafting the perfect symbolic awards? Contact us to create your own collection.

3 Tips for using symbolic employee awards

1. Start using symbolic awards early

Don’t wait until an employee has been with your company for 5 years to give them symbolic employee awards. Start on day one. Onboarding is the perfect time to introduce new employees to your company’s history, purpose, values, and culture. Giving new hires a small but meaningful symbol of your company, along with a welcome eCard through your company’s recognition program like Culture Cloud, is a great way to introduce them to your recognition tools and appreciation culture.

Fun company swag, custom buttons or pins, zipper pulls, or anything else new employees can wear or use on their first days at their new job will build community and immediate connection to your company.

Research shows when symbolic awards are given early there is a substantial impact on how employees feel about their company culture, inclusion, recognition, and even business results.

Découvrez comment la Banque CIBC utilise une épinglette symbolique, ainsi qu’un sac à dos personnalisé et des points de son programme de reconnaissance, pour aider les nouveaux employés à se sentir appréciés et à faire partie de l’entreprise.     

2. Give symbolic employee awards often and for a variety of accomplishments, large and small

Symbolic awards can be used to celebrate a variety of achievements, not just top performance. Use symbolism to recognize employees’ great work and efforts throughout the year; large and small accomplishments, team successes, safety, and innovation are all worthy of a symbolic award.

You can make symbolic employee awards collectible or create various levels of awards to add meaning. And they don’t have to be expensive or made of gold to be impactful—the most important aspect of an effective symbolic award is that it connects the employee and their accomplishment back to your organization and makes the recognition moment memorable.

3. Ensure symbolic employee awards are given as part of a meaningful recognition moment

Une reconnaissance opportune qui détaille les contributions spécifiques des employés et qui se connecte à l’objectif de votre organisation donnera vie à vos récompenses symboliques.

All acts of appreciation contribute to a positive workplace culture and strengthen belonging and connection in the long term; however, symbolic awards amplify the impact of employee recognition. Start using them today.
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Contact us to see how you can use symbolic awards to celebrate service awards, company milestones, and so much more.