Year-End Employee Award Ideas

By , CRP, Vice President, Sales and Service

Year-end employee awards cover a whole year of work rather than one good month, so people take them more seriously than the monthly ones. Most companies hand them out at the holiday party or a year-end meeting, and some wait until a January kickoff. Either way, it's the one night when a name gets read out, the room turns to look, and the winner walks up knowing everyone there saw the year they had.

Below are 9 year-end award categories, who each one is for, and which award fits. If you only give a few, start with Employee of the Year and your service milestones, then add the categories your company values most. Awards.com has made awards since 1985, and the year-end season is the busiest stretch of our year, so the ordering advice comes first.

Before You Order Year-End Awards

Make the top award look like the top award. Give Employee of the Year a large crystal award and the other winners something smaller in crystal or acrylic, and everyone in the room can tell which award is the big one without anyone having to say it.

A specific engraved line. We engrave the name, the award, the year and one line about what they did. "For cutting onboarding time in half" is more specific and more meaningful than "for outstanding performance," and it's the line the winner keeps on their desk long after the party.

When to order. Awards.com sends a free art proof within 2 business days and ships stock awards 5 to 7 business days after you approve it. Add your own review time and transit, and a standard engraved award should be ordered about 3 weeks before the event. Color fill, 3D crystal and awards that combine decoration methods should be ordered 4 weeks or more ahead. Most companies order in the same November and December window, so for a December ceremony, plan to order standard engraved awards in early November and color fill or 3D crystal in late October. Our guide to award engraving lead times works the calendar backward from your date.

Ordering before the winners are chosen. You don't need the names to place the order. We set the layout with everything except the name (the company, the award title, the year and the space for what they did), you approve it, and the order waits. When the votes are in, you send the names, they drop into the approved design, and the awards ship on the standard 5 to 7 business days. The design is settled early, and only the names wait for the vote.

9 Year-End Employee Award Categories

1. Employee of the Year Award

This is the headline award, for the person whose work made the biggest difference over the whole year. It should clearly rank above your monthly award, so don't reuse the Employee of the Month design. A large crystal or art glass award fits the honor. Present it last, when the whole room is still there to see it. Our guide to the employee of the year award covers how to set criteria and which styles to consider.

2. Rising Star or Rookie of the Year Award

Companies use either name for the same award. It goes to the best first-year employee, someone who got up to speed fast and is already making a difference. A smaller crystal or acrylic award works here. Engrave the year they started next to this year, so the award shows how far they came in 12 months.

3. Top Sales Award

Sales teams track their numbers all year, so this award is easy to judge. Give it to the top seller by revenue, or split it into categories like Top New Business and Top Account Growth if your team is large. Put the number on the award. "$2.4 million in new business" is a line any salesperson would want on display, and the rest of the sales floor sees exactly what it took. Browse our sales awards, or see our sales award ideas for more categories.

4. Leadership Award

This one goes to the manager or team lead whose people did their best work this year. Ask their direct reports for input before you decide, since they see the leadership up close, and read one of their comments when you present it. A tall crystal or glass award suits the honor. Our leadership awards guide has more on choosing one.

5. Customer Service Award

Give this to the person customers ask for by name. Use survey scores, customer feedback or thank-you emails to choose. A short quote from a real customer in the engraving makes this award personal, and when it's read out, the whole company hears what a customer said about one of its own.

6. Safety Award

In manufacturing, construction and warehouse work, a safe year takes effort from everyone, and the people most worth naming are the ones who spoke up. Give a safety award to the person who reported a hazard or a near miss before anyone got hurt, and recognize the whole crew or site for the record they built together. A plaque for the site and a smaller award for each crew member covers both. Reward the reporting as well as the streak, because a program that pays for a clean count alone can teach people to stop reporting. See our safety awards, and our manufacturing recognition guide for how plants run safety recognition.

7. Team Award

Some of the year's best work came from a group. A team that launched a product, closed a big project or got through a hard quarter together can share one award, or each member can take home their own. If you plan to give a team award every year, a perpetual plaque works well, since each year's winning team gets its own name plate on the same plaque and the history builds on one wall.

8. Above and Beyond Award

This is for the person who did more than their job asked, often without much notice. They fixed problems before anyone saw them, or helped teammates finish their work. The award recognizes value that doesn't show up in the numbers, so the engraved line matters more here than anywhere: name the thing they fixed. A crystal or acrylic award at the size of your other category awards keeps it on equal footing with them.

9. Years of Service Awards

If you hand out service awards at the year-end event, people hitting 5, 10 or 20 years get recognized in front of everyone they've worked beside. Put the milestone year front and center on the award. Browse our years of service awards for each milestone, and our free service awards program template lists every anniversary on your roster with the date to order each one.

Presenting Year-End Awards

When you present the awards, read each winner's engraved line out loud as you hand it over, so the whole room hears what they did. Said in front of the people they work with, that one sentence is the recognition, and the award is how they keep it.

Tell us your categories, how many of each and your event date, and Awards.com will send options and a quote.

Year-End Employee Awards FAQ

What are good yearly awards for employees?

The most common year-end employee awards are Employee of the Year, Rising Star, Top Sales, Leadership, Customer Service, Safety, Team, Above and Beyond, and years of service milestones. If you only give a few, start with Employee of the Year and your service milestones. Awards.com engraves each one with the winner's name, the year and a line about what they did.

When should I order year-end employee awards?

Order a standard engraved award about 3 weeks before the event, and 4 weeks or more for color fill, 3D crystal or more than one decoration method. Awards.com sends a free proof within 2 business days and ships stock awards 5 to 7 business days after approval. For a December ceremony, order standard engraved awards in early November and color fill or 3D crystal in late October, ahead of the year-end rush.

Can I order year-end awards before the winners are chosen?

Yes. Awards.com sets the layout with everything except the name, you approve it, and the order waits. When the winners are decided, you send the names, they drop into the approved design, and the awards ship 5 to 7 business days later.

What is a good year-end award for a whole team?

Give the team one shared award, or a matching award for each member. If you give a team award every year, a perpetual plaque works well, because each year's winning team gets its own name plate on the same plaque.

Is there a minimum order for year-end employee awards?

No. Awards.com has no order minimum, so you can order a single award or a full program. That helps at year end, when a winner gets added late and you need 1 more award rather than a second batch.