Lucky 10

I recently met with a company which is completing 10 years (a very successful 10 years) in Jan 2011. The HR team is preparing a nice scrap book (with comments from a number of people) to be sent to all those who have been with the company since Year 1- i.e. those who joined on or before Dec 31, 2001. Good initiative and the scrap book looked great.

I asked the team some uncomfortable questions:
1)What about those who joined in Jan/Feb 2002 – have they contributed lesser because they joined a month later?
2)Do you think this tenure program is sustainable? Can you replicate this level of effort for all employees completing significant tenures?

My colleague S Max Brown, often talks about why a Recognition initiative/program is not just meant for the recipients, but also for those who observe the recognition initiative/event. The Recognition initiative communicates to everyone (including the non-recipients) what the company and the leadership team values. So it is imperative for the team planning a recognition initiative to evaluate how the program will be received by the non recipients as well.