bake - April 2013 - 16

labor front

Pinning down incentives
The loyalty of a company’s staff is possibly one of the most

ﬁve year anni-

valuable assets for continued success. Whether it’s done with

versary, they are

salary increases, bonuses, added vacation time or reserved

rewarded with

parking spots, there are countless ways to foster the loyalty of

a gold pin deco-

your staff. One way or the other, these are all forms of showing

rated with a green

appreciation for an extended period of hard work.

emerald (matching
the bakery’s colors). On the tenth anniversary, he or she is

When determining a reward or incentive, it’s not as simple

rewarded with a gold pin with two emeralds. The pin is meant

as giving a raise to an employee based entirely on his or her

to represent the bakery’s appreciation for the time they have

time served with the company. You have to factor in both the

dedicated to the success of the company.

time they have dedicated to the company and the quality of
their work. The baker in his 30th year at the company may not

Roeser quickly discovered that as many of the employees

work half as many hours as the baker in his 25th year, which

developed their careers at the bakery, this symbol of recogni-

signals that work ethic and loyalty should both be considered

tion became tremendously important to them.

as major factors.
“When somebody’s been with you for 30 years, you have to do
For instance, management at Roeser’s Bakery in Chicago try

something,” Roeser says. “These pins are not extremely costly.

to evaluate employees based on both time served with the

They range anywhere from $80 to $150. They’re not cheap, but

company in addition to the staff member’s performance in

people truly like that recognition.”

their position.
On the other hand, a sales recognition pin is rewarded to staff
John Roeser, owner of Roeser’s Bakery, says that they

as well. This pin is acquired solely through hard work and

designed a very simple, yet highly effective reward program

determination. For these pins, the bakery hosts a sales contest.

that displays the company’s appreciation for employees. Staff

If a staff member wins the contest, they receive a plain pin. On

are rewarded with “Service Pins” that celebrate monumental

the second win, the employee receives a pin with a sapphire

anniversaries with the bakery. For instance, on an employee’s

decorated in its center. On the third win, the pin is decorated
with two sapphires. The pattern continues as staff
members continue to improve their performance.

SERVICE PINS
“There’s a distinction between how a person does

PHOTO R DI
PHOTO CREDIT: JOHN ROESER
O
OH R ES

16 < APR 2013 | bakemag.com

5 years – decorated
with a green emerald
10 years – decorated
with two green emeralds
15 years – decorated with
three emeralds
20 years – decorated with two
emeralds and a diamond
25 years – decorated with two
diamonds and an emerald
30 years – decorated with three
diamonds

their job and how long they’ve been with you. The
quality of the job an employee does is the critical
issue,” says Roeser.
Roeser advises that if you adopt a similar reward
system, it’s critical to make it affordable despite
how well your company is doing on any given year.
Basically, you shouldn’t celebrate one employee’s ﬁfth
anniversary and then not celebrate another employee’s tenth anniversary the following year because of
the economy. The anniversary rewards must be a cost
factored into every year.
TIMMY TR A B ON

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bake - April 2013

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