Creative Ideas for Service Awards

It's WOW Wednesday! HR leaders, execs, and managers: How do you WOW the people who go above and beyond for you in your business? Or, how have you been WOWed?

Today's WOW Wednesday idea comes from Yolanda. She says: "At Dolphin Stadium (home of the Miami Dolphins) we give a championship style ring for 20 year anniversaries. For retirement, we give an actual "used" stadium seat, plus a customized watch and a party."

Share your own "WOW Wednesday" tip or story. Leave a comment here or post on www.facebook.com/TerryberryCompany or Twitter using hashtag #WOWWED. Make it a WOW day!

Low Cost Employee Recognition Ideas

Are you looking for ways to make a positive impact in your workplace, give some thoughtful recognition to your team or colleagues, and stay within a shoestring budget? That sounds like a tall order, but it's possible and Terryberry can help. We've come up with a list of cost-effective recognition ideas that you can implement for little or no cost at all. We know you'll be praising your team in no time!

Whatever it is that your organization is looking to recognize, improve, or achieve, contact Terryberry and we'll assist in developing and implementing an appropriate recognition program that will motivate, engage and inspire your employees.

Do you have an idea to share? Post it to our Facebook page. You just might earn some recognition of your own!

Recognition for Troup County Heroes

Terryberry is priviledged to have been involved in a ceremony in Troup County, Georgia on August 16th honoring three public service officers who exemplified heroic efforts, saving the lives of two citizens.

On June 29, 2011 Deputy Sherriff David Pasley jumped into a lake after a distraught woman jumped off of a boat dock in a possible suicide attempt. Deputy Pasley has very little swimming skills of his own, but acted selfless in a moment of need and was able to save the woman from drowning without even thinking twice.

On July 29, 2011 EMT Kevin Hendrix and Firefighter Rick Smith arrived at a boat access point on West Point Lake to find an elderly man clinging to the door of his sinking pick-up truck with trailer and boat attached. The elderly man and his truck had been submerged in the lake for close to an hour and a half after the truck’s engine shut off and the vehicle rolled into the water. The brave EMT and Firefighter immediately swam out to the victim and swam him 30 feet back to the shore.

One of the many ways that the Troup County chose to honor the three servicemen was by presenting them with Terryberry Honor Kits featuring a lapel pin. It is an honor to have been chosen to provide recognition to these men for their selfless acts of duty.

Special thanks to Dave Maurer, Lou Ann O’Brien, Roni Mason, Greg Butterfield, and all of the Terryberry “hands” that had a part in this very special award presentation.

About Terryberry
Terryberry serves more than 25,000 clients throughout North America, Europe and Australia. Family-owned for four generations, Terryberry specializes in employee appreciation and employee recognition gifts, products and services to keep employees engaged and motivated and companies growing in positive directions. For more information, please visit http://www.terryberry.com.

Terryberry: "Be Recognized" Video

When people are recognized for their efforts, they are inspired to achieve more. Press play to discover how Terryberry can help you create a rewarding and inspiring work environment where people achieve their best potential.

Practicing What We Preach: Terryberry Employees' Recently Recognized

As a leading provider of solutions that help our clients create “great places to work” we are often asked about our own internal recognition programs and their effectiveness. At Terryberry we take our belief in a balanced approach to recognition to heart and have a number of formal, informal and day-to-day initiatives that drive real value for us.

As the National Sales Manager for Terryberry, I’ll focus on the impact our initiatives have on our nationwide sales force. Keep in mind these folks work in any number of environments from single team member home based offices to larger regional offices with 6-8 team members.

Throughout the year we utilize Give-a-WOW, so a large and geographically diverse sales force maintains a ‘family’ feel. Daily, our sales force interacts with each other as well as local and national support staff to recognize their successes. When it comes to achievement, no woman or man is an island, and peer-to-peer and team recognition is critical in fostering higher levels of engagement and winning effort.

We also recognize with a significant travel incentive that drives a ton of excitement all year. It is a huge honor to earn our annual spring trip and the spirit of that event drives a great deal of internal competition that directly impacts our corporate success.

Our recent National Sales Meeting provided ample opportunities for both informal and formal recognition. We work to maximize a culture of recognition throughout this annual event. For example, we ask for high levels of sales team participation. It is a big deal for our team members to be invited to present in front of their peers and the pats-on-the-back they receive after leading an impactful session are gratifying. These sessions also directly impact our corporate success, so it is a true win-win. The creation of the Terryberry Flight Team this year allowed us the opportunity to recognize the achievements of our top performers. Flight Team members were flown in private planes for a life changing aerial tour of the Grand Canyon. For many of our folks this was their first time to see the Canyon! Finally, we split our sales team service awards and our sales team performance awards into two distinctly different events. This strategy allows us the time to fully recognize and personalize the process and maximize the impact.

Maybe the best thing we do is work to keep things fresh. The structure of our year is similar from one year to the next, so the more creative we can be, the higher levels of performance we can earn from our tremendous people.

- Bill Bergstrom, National Sales Manager

Winner of World's Largest ARTPRIZE to Receive Custom, Earth-Friendly Award

Terryberry to design and create hand-crafted medallion for ArtPrizes' top winner.
Grand Rapids, MI - September 10, 2010


The Terryberry Company is creating a one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted award for the 2010 grand prize winner of ArtPrize. The 10-ounce award, which will be made from Terryberry's new 100 percent recycled Harmony Sterling Silver, will be presented to the top winner at ArtPrize's closing ceremony on October 7, 2010. Terryberry's custom manufacturing process of the medallion is a multi-step process involving wax molding, hand polishing and an eletronic fusing of a 24K gold finish.

Terryberry's collaboration with ArtPrize has received local press coverage! Follow the links below to read articles published in the Grand Rapids Press, Grand Rapids Business Journal, and Grand Rapids Social Diary, or to watch a clip of WZZM's interview with Terryberry's Managing Partner, Mike Byam.
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=130581
http://www.mlive.com/artprize/index.ssf/2010/09/the_making_of_artprizes_first_prize_medallion.html
http://www.grbj.com/GRBJ/Homepage.htm
http://www.grandrapidssocialdiary.com/artprize_2010_1.php

ArtPrize is a radically open competition that has no formal jury, curator or judge, and asks the public to vote and decide the winners using mobile devices and the Web. In ArtPrize 2009, more than 1,262 artists from all over the world participated in the unprecedented competition that awarded nearly $500,000 to the prize winners. More than 334,000 votes were cast during the 18-day event. For more information about ArtPrize visit www.artprize.org/.

Founded in 1918, The Terryberry Company has built an international reputation for its customized recognition and award programs which feature the highest quality employee recognition awards. Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Terryberry develops and manages employee recognition programs for more than 25,000 organizations worldwide. For more information about Terryberry and to learn how to build a culture of recognition in your workplace, visit http://www.terryberry.com/.

Wikipedia's Entry on Terryberry

Have you always wondered how the Terryberry Company got its name? Find out the answer to that question and more in the Wikipedia page about Terryberry. Learn about the history of employee recognition and the latest employee recognition industry developments, products and services for HR.