Please stop with the work anniversary announcements!
Celebrate meaningful career or life accomplishments!
Seems like companies are looking to build their social media presence by thinking celebrating employee work anniversaries are important. Are these announcements meant to recognize the employee or build interest as an employer? Either way, there has to be a better way!
I don’t know of a single professional that I have worked with or have coached that has a stated career aspiration of working with a firm for their entire life, nor to be congratulated for their years of service, do you? Employees are looking for career opportunities, to accept leadership roles, recognition from their peers or clients, not years of service. As an employer, it may sound good that your employees have longevity, but if you are offering them opportunities, they will create long term value resulting in on-going years of service. It’s not the years of service employees seek; it is career opportunities!
So, what should we be celebrating?
Leadership – Employees who take on leadership assignments within the firm or within the industry should be recognized. Do you have a significant strategic imperative that you are implementing? Are you taking an active role in sponsorship or commitment to an industry group? Recognizing employees who step up and take meaningful leadership assignments can help you support those employees and announce your commitment to your strategic imperatives or industry involvement.
Peer & Client Recognition – Employees most highly valued recognition is from their peers and clients! Do you have an internal means for capturing peer feedback and client satisfaction? You likely do, use this information to recognize employees to enhance your social media presence. When was the last time you posted a client testimonial on how well one of your employee’s helped them solve their problem?
Promotion & Advancement – One of the easiest and best way to show your company offers opportunities to your employees is to announce all promotions and advancements. When companies do announce promotions, they tend to be for the larger roles. Employees know that you don’t get to the larger, executive roles, unless you get several incremental roles along the way. You don’t become CEO overnight; it takes several roles and opportunities to get there.
Professional Development – Many employees are eager to take on new training, certification or other professional development. Make it an effort to communicate to the industry and to future employees that you are building your institutional knowledge and support the individual development of your employees. It is not easy in today’s workplace for employees to find the time to further develop their skills and knowledge, if they do, recognize them.
Life Accomplishments – Are you a company that supports your employee’s life goals? Are you actively helping your employees balance life and work? If you ask, you will see that your employees have numerous interests outside of work that are important to them. Do you have employees who participate in not-for-profit organizations, recently hiked the Appalachian Trail or ran their 15th marathon? Use your social media to recognize your employees for their accomplishments.
You can see, there are many ways to use your social media platform to recognize employees for their career and life accomplishments. By using some of these ideas, you not only recognize employees for their meaningful contributions, but you promote your company as a company where you can build a career and achieve your life goals.
See more career advice in “Own Your Career-No One Else Will”, by Paul R. Goudreault. Available on Amazon and at your local book store.