Brainstorms

One Tweak That Makes Employee Awards Unforgettable

Hint: It involves asking your employees what they actually want.

Published

3 hours ago

January 19, 2026

INSTORE Staff Instore February 2026 Issue

One Tweak That Makes Employee Awards Unforgettable

Letting employees pick their own recognition awards makes them more powerful. IMAGE: GENERATED BY ENVATO AI

YOU KNOW THE DRILL. Annual meeting, your name gets called, you walk up and receive a paperweight that says “Excellence” on it. You don’t even know what you excelled at. All you know is that you now own a very small, heavy rectangle. Instead, why not do what the global banking firm HSBC does: When employees win the annual awards contest, they’re asked what they’d actually like to receive. The prize is capped at $10,000 and can’t be redeemed as cash, but beyond that? Their call. One guy chose plane tickets to fly his family to Mexico to visit a grandmother he hadn’t seen in ten years. We bet he’ll remember winning that award for years to come. You probably can’t swing $10K. But you can ask the question of all your employees: What would be a true reward? A weekend getaway. Concert tickets. That fancy dinner they’d never splurge on themselves. The remember-ability isn’t in the dollar amount. It’s in the specificity. Could you offer a scaled-down version of such a prize?

INSTORE Staff

Since launching in 2002, INSTORE has won 89 international journalism awards for its publication and website. Contact INSTORE's editors at [email protected].

click to Comment(Comment)

Don't Miss

Give Your Good Idea a Fake Passport

Honoring a Legacy: How Smith & Son Jewelers Exceeded Every Goal With Wilkerson

When Andrew Smith decided to close the Springfield, Massachusetts location of Smith & Son Jewelers, the decision came down to family. His father was retiring after 72 years in the business, and Andrew wanted to spend more time with his children and soon-to-arrive grandchildren. For this fourth-generation jeweler whose great-grandfather founded the company in 1918, closing the 107-year-old Springfield location required the right partner. Smith chose Wilkerson, and the experience exceeded expectations from start to finish. "Everything they told me was 100% true," Smith says. "The ease and use of all their tools was wonderful." The consultants' knowledge and expertise proved invaluable. Smith and his father set their own financial goal, but Wilkerson proposed three more ambitious targets. "We thought we would never make it," Smith explains. "We were dead wrong. We hit our first goal, second goal and third goal. It was amazing." Smith's recommendation is emphatic: "I would never be able to do what they did by myself."