Which Work Anniversary Do Companies Usually Celebrate With a Long Service Award in India?

The year was 2010. Pinnacle was 10 years old in the Awards and Recognition space and while we had been making Long Service Awards for our customers since our inception, we were noticing an uptick in the LSA orders.  That morning I was on the production floor of our factory where Long Service Awards  were being made. On one side we were making awards for a large PSU and on the other side of the production floor we were making awards for a large software company, when our foreman brought the first samples of both awards for me to check. As I held the two awards in my hands, it hit me.  One was an award being given for completing one year of employment, while the other was a service award for an employee who was about to retire. 

It felt like I was holding in my hands the story of two India.  The older India, where employees were grateful for employment and stuck with one company till retirement. Probably the only time their employer got a chance to thank them publicly was on the day of their retirement. The most important and precious assets of the old India were money and machines. In the new India, talent is king, employees are becoming more important to the success of the enterprise than ever before and companies work hard to retain their services. Expressing gratitude and appreciation to talented employees is one of the good practices in new India. 

Since the inception of Pinnacle, we have seen a steady increase in Long Service Award orders. More and more companies are rolling out LSA programmes and are celebrating myriad work anniversaries. Our smallest LSA program ships 3 awards annually, while our largest LSA client orders 12,000 awards annually. 

May people ask us which are the most celebrated work anniversaries in India. Each company has its own ethos and culture and based on these, they celebrate their employees at different milestones. 

In our experience, the most popular milestones when it comes to Service Anniversary Awards are years 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and retirement.  That said, I have noticed that our customers are celebrating different milestones these days.  In recent times many companies are now including a 7 year anniversary celebration to their list of Service Anniversaries to be celebrated with an award.

Celebrating the 1st year work anniversary of employees is also becoming quite popular these days, especially in the technology sector. That said, only about 10-15% of our customers are ordering first year anniversary LSAs right now. 

The covid and lockdown years saw a lot of movement within companies. We are feeling the effect of that in 2022 when we are, for the first time, getting orders to recognize employees on their 6th year, 8th year and 9th year work anniversaries. I think this is a great trend! If there is one thing covid has taught us, it is that life is precious. When an employee gives their precious years to their company, it is a beautiful thing to acknowledge and to thank them for it. 

In Pinnacle’s 22 year history, I have seen LSA orders grow every year. I want to believe that this says something good about us as a human race. That we are learning the power of gratitude, that we are using the tools of appreciation and we are recognising each other’s value. 

I am yet to work with a company that celebrates every year of an employee’s service like a wedding anniversary or a work birthday.  Perhaps that order is round the corner. 

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