We get a crappy pin every five years. I have no idea where mine are…
My husband worked for a construction company for twenty years and they were really generous with him. Sent him on an annual pheasant hunting vacation and bought him the clothing. Gave a four-figure bonus at Christmas. And when he retired they gifted him with a $600 paint gun.
Now he works for the city and that’s another story.
We get silver lapel pins every year for years 1-5 and every 5 years thereafter. They have gemstones set into them according to your service (except the first year). I have one plain and three sapphire pins and in a couple of months, will receive my ruby pin.
Other than that, we have employee of the quarter winners who receive a gift basket, a plaque, and a $100 gift card. The person nominating receives a $25 gift card as well.
The company also gives us scads of t-shirts and each department has a discretionary budget for rewards / company logo stuff. My department tends to not use the funds as often, but when it does, goes for higher end items. I have a couple of nice golf shirts, a winter weight, lined hoodie and a winter weight (or fall bike weight) denim jacket, all with company logos.
At 5 years I chose a necklace that looked really pretty on the website, but that I hated and sold on eBay. For 10 years I got a Cuisinart, that I never use but enjoy owning. At 15 years stuff starts getting really good so I’m trying to hold out until then. We also get a pin and a lucite brick with the corporate logo, our names and sentences…I mean years of tenure engraved on it.
I also have tons of stuff with the various iterations of the logo over the 10 years; vests, hoodies, jackets, hats, Tshirts, mousepads, post-it notes, you name it. Some commerating products and projects that are long defunct.
Around here they can be handed out up to two years late. The important anniversary was the 5 year one. At five years, our retirement vests.
At 15 years we get a paperweight.
My corporate is into giving tacky glass sculpture thingies with the corporate name and somehting like 5 year recognition. They give you a nicer one at 10 years. And they spend a staggering amount of money to get it to you. I think we would all prefer a “personal” email from the CEO and cash (even if it’s $50).
A month off with pay for every 5 years.
Our admin makes clip-art signs on the colour copier and posts them around the office for each employee’s anniversary. Also birthday.
Sounds like the perfect occasion for a circle jerk! 
We have a system at work where you can write up a nomination form for another employee who you feel has gone above and beyond the average expectations of the job. The manager has to approve it, so we can’t be writing “Jill was super awesome today” - we need to have a specific example and it has to fit within our 8 “standards of excellence”.:rolleyes:
Well, once you get 5 of these forms, you can trade them in for $50 worth of products on the company’s online store. Most of it is junk with the company logo on it, but they’ve recently added other things, like flashlights, first aid kits, clothing, and gift cards to Target and Home Depot. I’ve been hanging onto mine because I didn’t want a lousy company t-shirt, so I have a few piled up and will trade them in soon for gift cards so I can use them on stuff I need.
I think we get pins after a certain number of years, too. I’ve only been there three years, so all I get is a sticker for my ID badge.
At an old job, after 5 years (and subsequent significant anniversaries) we got a catalog to pick something from at a level depending on the anniversary. Some of the things were actually useful; they didn’t have my first choice (a small microwave), so I ended up with a small Krups espresso maker.
I did wonder why someone decided that a chainsaw was a good choice to include, though.
As someone whose only long-term job has been with the government, I am amused (and a bit bemused) by the idea of anniversary gifts. Shit, we are lucky to get COL raises. I do still have a pension, though. I’ll take that over all the stuff you guys get.
Does ANYONE get anything that they actually like/want? For 5 yrs I chose a lamp from about 20 or so random products with a MSRP of <$50. For 10 yrs, the selection is only slightly different… Why even go through the motions of offering an anniversary gift if it’s all garbage and everyone kind of laughs it off?
Corporate mentality. Feel-good leadership. IME, ineffectual middle-management suck-ups haven’t a clue what the people doing the work feel or want. They offer anniversary gifts because it’s easier to do that than to actually express sincerity.
And gift companies know that corporations will buy into any sort of clap-trap if they market it right. It’s how we get things like FISH! Philosophy. Ineffectual middle-management suck-ups love it. Corporate workers think it’s great. Most people I worked with thought it was a load of codswallop.
In North America, land of measly vacations and long work hours, I think that would have to be high on everyone’s list of corporate gifts.
The company sucks, but if I’m with them for 5 years, I think a month off with pay is worthwhile.
I got a handwritten note from the County commissioners and a gift certificate to REI for my 10 year in 2009, which I thought was nice. Small local government is more personal, I guess.
(Still, no COLA or merit increases for us this year or next because of the economy.)
I got an extra week of vacation at the 5-year mark. Other than that, I’m not aware that we’ve ever done anything to honor longevity, except for making people stand up at the all-hands meeting. The company is only ten years or so old, though.