Catering company offers £2.50 for long-service award

Some companies are failing, on an almost heroic scale, to value long-serving employees.

Research by benefits specialist Michael C Fina found some employers are giving loyal employees next to nothing for long service. One well-known catering company gives staff who have completed 10 years’ service just £2.50 plus a certificate and a day off.

After 25 years, employees are awarded £150. Those who labour for 35 years get £200.

Michael C Fina said that a blue-chip transport company gives staff who have completed 25 years’ service £96, while a big-name pharmaceutical firm awards employees who have done 30 years £180.

Meanest of all is a construction company which only gives employees who have done 10 years a certificate, but £500 plus a certificate to those who have completed 25 years.

Michael C Fina’s director of European operations, Sheila Sheldon, said: “Is this type of employee recognition structure really going to inspire any loyalty or improved morale among staff? Compare the company offering nothing more than a gift certificate after 10 years’ to another large organisation that offers a gift to the value of £120 after five years, a fund that then doubles in value every five years. I know which one of these companies I would feel most valued by.”