What to Spend for Employee
Service Milestone Awards

How Much Should You Spend on
Employee Service Milestone Awards?

Most companies spend between $20 and $30 per year of service for each employee service milestone award. Using that benchmark as a guide, the next step is to match each milestone to the closest tier-level collection value in your program.
 
Select-Your-Gift offers tier-level award packages starting at $22, with levels at $30, $40, $60, $80, $120, $180, $225, and higher - making it straightforward to find a collection level that fits both your per-year target and your budget.

• Building a complete program involves four steps:
  • Choosing which milestones to include
  • Assigning a collection value to each milestone
  • Addressing any recently missed milestones
  • Setting your overall program budget

Step 1: Choose Which Milestones to Include

A complete Employee Service Award Program addresses every stage of an employee's career.  The five milestone categories to consider are:

• Early Service Recognition - typically at 1, 2, and 3 years, before the first five-year milestone
• Onboarding Recognition - at the successful completion of the new hire onboarding process
• Standard Service Milestones - five-year increments beginning at the five-year anniversary
• Quarter Century Recognition - 25-year milestone, special event and higher-value award
• Retirement Recognition - the capstone milestone, deserving its own ceremony and gift

Including all five categories ensures that no stage of an employee's career goes unacknowledged.

Step 2: Determine What to Spend at Each Milestone

The award value at each milestone is determined by which gift-of-choice collection level you assign to it. Select-Your-Gift offers 17 tier-level award packages, spanning a wide range of collection values to fit programs of any size and budget.

Using the $20–$30 per year of service benchmark as your guide, you would match each milestone to the closest available tier level. For example: 

• A five-year award typically falls in the $125–$175 range
• A ten-year award in the $250–$350 range
• A twenty-year award in the $500–$700 range

Your award assignments may land slightly above or below your ideal per-year amount depending on available collection levels. To check your cost-per-year, divide the collection level cost by the milestone year - for example, a $120 collection level for a five-year award equals $24 per year of service.

For early service milestones, assign collection values proportionate to the milestone, for example: a $40 level for the one-year award and a $60 level for the three-year award.

For the 25-year and retirement milestones, factor in both the collection value and any special event or ceremony costs as part of your total recognition investment for those milestones.

Download the order form PDF to see all tier-level collection values →

Service awards, at any milestone, can be further enhanced with framed certificate holders or premium presentation boxes. See Enhanced Presentation Options →

Step 3: Address Any Missed Milestones

If you are launching a new program, consider whether any recent service milestones went unrecognized before your program began. Addressing these, often called Catchup Recognition, is an important step before finalizing your budget, and ensures that longer-tenured employees don't feel overlooked at the outset.

See how to handle Catchup Recognition →

Step 4: Set Your Program Budget

Once milestones and collection levels are assigned, you have everything you need to build your budget. A complete program budget should account for both the first and second year of the program, since year two often includes a different mix of milestone anniversaries than year one.

See detailed budgeting guidance →

What's Included in Every Select-Your-Gift Award Package

Every tier-level award-of-choice package from Select-Your-Gift includes:

• Standard award presentation materials
• Award certificate, holding envelope, and years-of-service seal
• Gift-of-choice tier-level catalog and online redemption option
• Toll-free ordering and customer assistance
• The selected gift, shipped directly to the employee within the lower 48 US
• Product satisfaction guarantee

See Service Award details and collection levels →

Click next to continue reading the Guide to Employee Service Awards

Prev: Retirement Recognition               Next: Catch up Missed Milestones

Or, see Service Award Guide's contents (List of Topics) to jump to specific topics

Call now to talk to a Recognition Specialist
call 630-954-1287  (M-F, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm CST),
or

Use the FORM below to request FREE information.