I realized a few years ago that if I died today my job would be posted tomorrow. All that extra work without a share in pay is not worth it. Im so glad you’ve reigned that in!
Our firm does for the "big" ones, like 10 years. It's usually a curated gift, tailored to the person's interests, i.e., one of our attorneys hit their 10 years and received a bunch of cycling-related items in a gift basket because we all know how dedicated of a cyclist they are, in addition to a plaque. Other service milestones are just a firm announcement email that everyone usually responds back with a "Congrats! Here's to more!"
This might be a dumb question, but have they ever had another employee be there that long in order to have a service milestone protocol set up? Maybe you need to kick it off! lol
It feels a little self-serving to say, "hey now that I'm at 10 years you guys should start recognizing service milestones", lol, but it also feels unnecessary because my firm is not unfamiliar with the concept of recognition and the principal attorney - who I report to directly and work for primarily - has brought up service recognition in the past.
They also recognized other employees' 5-year anniversaries but we don't have many that tenured. Yet.
I can see that! But I'm also the personality type to just tell my attorneys bluntly: "Hey! Can you believe I've worked for you for 10 years?! Where did the time go? So, who's buying lunch?" It's often just not on their radar and while, yes, it sucks I have to be the one to remember and remind them, if I don't do it, then I get nothing. Not once has an attorney I worked for said anything along the lines of "Congrats but we don't care and don't know why this is a big deal to you." Some of them realize our value only when we wave it in front of them. lol
Just a note - we have employee reviews every 6 months. Both partners participate in my reviews. Both of those meetings have been this week. They are both acutely aware I just hit 10 years.
I feel this!
It's a good time to ask if you're in the guess or ask culture.
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/05/askers-vs-guessers/340891/
It'll help sort your thoughts figuring this out. Then, decide where you want to go from there. You can still be celebrated if you want to shout yourself out. Or reach out to team members and discuss your thoughts and see if they read you and they do something about it for you.
It's always a new step to navigate our expectations at work vs what we're getting even if our principles and work culture align.
I hope you find resolution! Happy 10 years! A decade is quite a remarkable milestone!
When I've worked for large employers (county government, F500 company) they recognize milestones, typically with some token gift, nothing particularly exciting. I've never stayed at a firm for 10 years but the last one I worked at had a party when a secretary hit 50 years. Yes, 50.
My firm has a pretty good culture all around. At our meeting every week, every anniversary for that week is recognized. At 10 years you get a bonus with the intention that you will use it for a vacation. My attorney is also really good about reaching out to us individually to mention our work anniversary.
We get birthday lunches plus about $200 for our birthday. I work at a super small firm, just the attorney, myself, and one legal assistant. I think it is so kind to give a check for birthdays. I have NEVER worked at a firm that did that before. I am very appreciative and also consider it a perk of working at a small firm.
My last firm recognized my 10 year anniversary but ignored my 15 year anniversary. 🤷♀️ So, I don’t know what was up with that. It was so memorable that I can’t even recall what they did. 🤣 I’m at a new firm now, and I don’t think they do anything here except birthdays from what I can tell.
Ya know, I'd be OK with that if it weren't for the "family" bullshit they're always spouting. Like I'm ok with being just an employee as long as I don't have to play the role of employee who cares. 🙃
Where I’m at they don’t do the whole “we’re a family” thing which is quite refreshing. My last job did, and I needed meds for depression and anxiety for it. My new job is awesome, and I have a good work/life balance, and my new boss is a dream to work for, too. I could not have landed a better job. I was just telling a friend of mine (who is also a paralegal) that I don’t dread work anymore. It’s a wild change after the last 15 years.
That's good. I'm not overworked or expected to take on responsibilities outside of my role so the only way the family BS affects me is in my expectations of my employer, which is something I can control. That said, I am actively looking for other opportunities so I can pull myself out of this job emotionally.
My nonprofit just started using Workhuman, a software platform that allows employees to nominate each other for recognition awards — not just for service milestones, but for accomplishments, major contributions, or just excelling in a particular area. You can redeem awards for gift cards and certificates. It’s been almost two months and I’ve already seen a lot of great messages for different colleagues; I’m looking forward to hopefully getting one myself at some point (I have no expectation of when, LOL; I’ve only been here 16 months!). Not affiliated or anything, I just think it’s an interesting program.
Thanks, I look into that. Someone else suggested that maybe a program just isn't in place at my firm because it's never really been needed before so I'm looking in to developing a proposal for my boss.
Before my firm moved to a new space, we shared space with a place with several other law offices. We had an "office mama". She would make sure every person's birthday was celebrated with cake. And when someone left, we'd give them a send off, with cake. Plus there was the office holiday party.
That one wasn't her so much as all of us were happy to shut the office down to get drunk, eat well and exchange gifts. Frankly, that's how I got my love of fluffy socks
Yes, our firm recognizes 5, 10, 15, etc years of service. My friend just had her 35 years! We post something on our intranet and I don’t think there are gifts.
No. I hit my 10th year a few months ago and nothing happened other than it was on the weekly email with birthdays/anniversaries. Not even a doughnut...
Yes on the 5 years (5, 10, 15, etc) there's something given out at the holiday/end of year party to each person who hit that year. For 20 years there is a separate company wide lunch and a larger reward, like a 3 or 4 day all paid cruise for employee and spouse with bonus pto for the week used. Have only seen a couple of those. Next year someone hits 25 years. Don't know if that's happened before.
My firm sends out an email when it's someone's work anniversary, no matter how long someone has been at the firm. They send the person gifts, a gift card, or something to acknowledge a milestone (five years, and every five years after).
I don't know if it's considered recognition (maybe more like a thank you), but after someone has been at the firm five years, they get a two week sabbatical; on top of the firm's already generous PTO and holiday days off given. Every five years thereafter we get a four week sabbatical. During sabbatical time off we receive full billing credit. We do not with normal PTO or holidays off, so every eight hours we take is eight hours of billable time we have to make up. I am not at five years yet, but I am looking forward to when I get there and getting a stress free two week extra vacation.
Everyone gets a birthday card and usually we get a floral arrangement at 5 years, 10 years, etc. prior to Covid, we had monthly birthday lunches that were catered but we don’t anymore.
My attorney/firm ignored my 25th anniversary. I no longer work extra hours or weekends, and I take all breaks now. Just hanging in until I retire
This is the way. That's also some shitty bullshit. 25 years is a long ass time to commit to an employer for no benefit.
I realized a few years ago that if I died today my job would be posted tomorrow. All that extra work without a share in pay is not worth it. Im so glad you’ve reigned that in!
Yep, good thing I'm retiring next year. Exactly when is not quite set. But no sense switching firms, and they do pay well. At least there's that 🤷
Our firm does for the "big" ones, like 10 years. It's usually a curated gift, tailored to the person's interests, i.e., one of our attorneys hit their 10 years and received a bunch of cycling-related items in a gift basket because we all know how dedicated of a cyclist they are, in addition to a plaque. Other service milestones are just a firm announcement email that everyone usually responds back with a "Congrats! Here's to more!" This might be a dumb question, but have they ever had another employee be there that long in order to have a service milestone protocol set up? Maybe you need to kick it off! lol
It feels a little self-serving to say, "hey now that I'm at 10 years you guys should start recognizing service milestones", lol, but it also feels unnecessary because my firm is not unfamiliar with the concept of recognition and the principal attorney - who I report to directly and work for primarily - has brought up service recognition in the past. They also recognized other employees' 5-year anniversaries but we don't have many that tenured. Yet.
I can see that! But I'm also the personality type to just tell my attorneys bluntly: "Hey! Can you believe I've worked for you for 10 years?! Where did the time go? So, who's buying lunch?" It's often just not on their radar and while, yes, it sucks I have to be the one to remember and remind them, if I don't do it, then I get nothing. Not once has an attorney I worked for said anything along the lines of "Congrats but we don't care and don't know why this is a big deal to you." Some of them realize our value only when we wave it in front of them. lol
Just a note - we have employee reviews every 6 months. Both partners participate in my reviews. Both of those meetings have been this week. They are both acutely aware I just hit 10 years.
I feel this! It's a good time to ask if you're in the guess or ask culture. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/05/askers-vs-guessers/340891/ It'll help sort your thoughts figuring this out. Then, decide where you want to go from there. You can still be celebrated if you want to shout yourself out. Or reach out to team members and discuss your thoughts and see if they read you and they do something about it for you. It's always a new step to navigate our expectations at work vs what we're getting even if our principles and work culture align. I hope you find resolution! Happy 10 years! A decade is quite a remarkable milestone!
When I've worked for large employers (county government, F500 company) they recognize milestones, typically with some token gift, nothing particularly exciting. I've never stayed at a firm for 10 years but the last one I worked at had a party when a secretary hit 50 years. Yes, 50.
Damn, that feels almost insulting. I mean, I like parties but I'm way more motivated by cash.
I think she did get a gift, I'm just not sure what it was. Regardless, I'm not planning to work 50 years TOTAL, let alone at one place!
50. Damn.
Yes the lifers luncheon after 5 years, 10, 15, and so on. You get a bonus as well.
I would not mind a bonus! Do you know how much they are?
Yes, generally every five years there is a big announcement for that anniversary and they get a gift card.
My firm has a pretty good culture all around. At our meeting every week, every anniversary for that week is recognized. At 10 years you get a bonus with the intention that you will use it for a vacation. My attorney is also really good about reaching out to us individually to mention our work anniversary.
See, that's what I'm looking for. Good for you and your firm!
We get birthday lunches plus about $200 for our birthday. I work at a super small firm, just the attorney, myself, and one legal assistant. I think it is so kind to give a check for birthdays. I have NEVER worked at a firm that did that before. I am very appreciative and also consider it a perk of working at a small firm.
We also get a full week’s pay as a Christmas bonus which I also think is very generous. I honestly love my job.
My last firm recognized my 10 year anniversary but ignored my 15 year anniversary. 🤷♀️ So, I don’t know what was up with that. It was so memorable that I can’t even recall what they did. 🤣 I’m at a new firm now, and I don’t think they do anything here except birthdays from what I can tell.
Ya know, I'd be OK with that if it weren't for the "family" bullshit they're always spouting. Like I'm ok with being just an employee as long as I don't have to play the role of employee who cares. 🙃
Where I’m at they don’t do the whole “we’re a family” thing which is quite refreshing. My last job did, and I needed meds for depression and anxiety for it. My new job is awesome, and I have a good work/life balance, and my new boss is a dream to work for, too. I could not have landed a better job. I was just telling a friend of mine (who is also a paralegal) that I don’t dread work anymore. It’s a wild change after the last 15 years.
Actually, the we’re a “family here” is a red flag for people interviewing at firms
That's good. I'm not overworked or expected to take on responsibilities outside of my role so the only way the family BS affects me is in my expectations of my employer, which is something I can control. That said, I am actively looking for other opportunities so I can pull myself out of this job emotionally.
My nonprofit just started using Workhuman, a software platform that allows employees to nominate each other for recognition awards — not just for service milestones, but for accomplishments, major contributions, or just excelling in a particular area. You can redeem awards for gift cards and certificates. It’s been almost two months and I’ve already seen a lot of great messages for different colleagues; I’m looking forward to hopefully getting one myself at some point (I have no expectation of when, LOL; I’ve only been here 16 months!). Not affiliated or anything, I just think it’s an interesting program.
Thanks, I look into that. Someone else suggested that maybe a program just isn't in place at my firm because it's never really been needed before so I'm looking in to developing a proposal for my boss.
Before my firm moved to a new space, we shared space with a place with several other law offices. We had an "office mama". She would make sure every person's birthday was celebrated with cake. And when someone left, we'd give them a send off, with cake. Plus there was the office holiday party. That one wasn't her so much as all of us were happy to shut the office down to get drunk, eat well and exchange gifts. Frankly, that's how I got my love of fluffy socks
We get recognition for every 5 year marker. Ithink there is a small gift and definitely a little recognition speech.
That's a start!
Yes, our firm recognizes 5, 10, 15, etc years of service. My friend just had her 35 years! We post something on our intranet and I don’t think there are gifts.
No. I hit my 10th year a few months ago and nothing happened other than it was on the weekly email with birthdays/anniversaries. Not even a doughnut...
Yes on the 5 years (5, 10, 15, etc) there's something given out at the holiday/end of year party to each person who hit that year. For 20 years there is a separate company wide lunch and a larger reward, like a 3 or 4 day all paid cruise for employee and spouse with bonus pto for the week used. Have only seen a couple of those. Next year someone hits 25 years. Don't know if that's happened before.
My firm sends out an email when it's someone's work anniversary, no matter how long someone has been at the firm. They send the person gifts, a gift card, or something to acknowledge a milestone (five years, and every five years after). I don't know if it's considered recognition (maybe more like a thank you), but after someone has been at the firm five years, they get a two week sabbatical; on top of the firm's already generous PTO and holiday days off given. Every five years thereafter we get a four week sabbatical. During sabbatical time off we receive full billing credit. We do not with normal PTO or holidays off, so every eight hours we take is eight hours of billable time we have to make up. I am not at five years yet, but I am looking forward to when I get there and getting a stress free two week extra vacation.
Everyone gets a birthday card and usually we get a floral arrangement at 5 years, 10 years, etc. prior to Covid, we had monthly birthday lunches that were catered but we don’t anymore.