{"id":819,"date":"2025-05-20T15:59:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T14:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mo.work\/long-service-awards-best-practices-for-employers\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T15:59:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T14:59:35","slug":"long-service-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mo.work\/insights\/long-service-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Service Awards: Best Practices for Employers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Retaining employees has real benefits, including financial incentives for keeping your best people around. Long Service Awards (LSA) are an important way to recognise employee loyalty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically delivered at intervals of five years, Long Service Awards<\/strong> mark an important milestone. The longer an employee has been with your organisation, the greater their understanding of your mission. At Mo, we see the importance of appreciating loyal employees<\/a> every day. Our customers<\/a> save on recruitment costs by driving down attrition rates \u2013 and meaningful Long Service Awards are an important part of that picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the work landscape is changing. In 2025, it is rarer for employees to stay in one role for long periods. Gallup has dubbed millennials as the \u201cjob-hopping generation\u201d<\/a>. Many people will never receive a Long Service Award, either because they move jobs in search of a better salary or due to fluctuations in the market. Redundancies are rising in tech, known as the \u201clay-off surge of 2024<\/a>.\u201d If you ask most millennial or Gen Z employees about the idea of staying at a company for five, ten or fifteen years, they may laugh at you. So what is the role of Long Service Awards today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we will break down the importance of Long Service Awards in different business structures, including ways to streamline the admin process. As experts in employee recognition, we will also outline ways to reduce attrition rates in the years before Long Service Awards become applicable, helping your leaders make effective decisions about what to prioritise in your HR budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As usual, we\u2019re here to answer any questions about ways to retain employees and simplify your Employee Rewards systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Are Long Service Awards Important?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Long service award schemes offer the perfect opportunity to show employees how much you appreciate their efforts. Employees who feel recognised and appreciated are much more likely to stick around. HR Today reported that recognition is key to employee retention.<\/a> Awards for long tenure should be part of any robust employee recognition program<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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What is An Example of a Long Service Award?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A Long Service Award program is a great way to strengthen employee loyalty. Employee rewards improve feelings of fulfilment, which is shown to improve engagement in the workplace. Both of these effects have a significant impact on day-to-day performance and productivity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Offering Long Service Awards is good for employees and benefits your bottom line. Before we break down the business case, let\u2019s look at the perks for staff: Long Service Awards incentivise employees to remain loyal, helping stabilise their lives and incomes. In exchange for resisting the urge to job-hop, employees are given periodic bonuses beyond annual salary reviews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only that, Long Service Awards are examples of public recognition, making them feel valued by the company as a whole and even increasing their status.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The positive effects of Long Service Awards for employers are just as clear:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Your company becomes more attractive to applicants<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Veteran employees can mentor new starts<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Attrition goes down<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. The costs of recruitment decreases<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Teams and projects remain stable<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Two-thirds<\/a> of employers already offer long service awards. For the program to be truly beneficial, it needs to feel like more than a simple box-ticking exercise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The more personal you can make your awards, the more impact they will have on the receiver.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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    Ideas for Meaningful Long Service Awards<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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    1. Cash Awards<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    A cash award can be a nice way to reward your staff. It gives people the freedom to put their award to something they actually want, instead of merely getting a discount on something that they have no use for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, cash can feel impersonal. Give it out too often and employees begin to expect it, as if it were part of their salary. If that happens, the positive impacts of incentivisation start to diminish. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to think of a number and cadence that has a real impact in comparison to their current compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you choose cash awards, you may want to find other ways to recognise day-to-day employee efforts, such as verbal recognition or a points system. Many organisations find success by implementing peer-to-peer rewards, giving their people a small budget to share among their colleagues every month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

    2. Non-cash Awards<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Never underestimate the impact of non-cash awards on employees. After all, salary isn\u2019t everything these days. Many employees are seeking a better work-life balance, and small tokens can have real effect over time. Non-cash rewards can also be much more tailored, allowing your HR leaders to choose an experience or rewards that employees genuinely value. A few of our favourites include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n