This was going to be a comment on an image post I saw about a low-effort, crappy piece of paper with generic words, given to a top sales person.
TLDR/Summary: Real leaders/people that live in the real world would never give an empty gesture instead of a raise and/or very good rewards. Next paragraph considers a “pizza party” that doesn't suck, bonus no-guilt PTO days, and things like massages and guided meditation to help reduce mental/physical stress. I then discuss how this could actually benefit the company, decrease turnover, save money, hubris of bad managers affecting decision making, and more. Last paragraph asks you what rewards you think are legit, which would bother you, and what it would take for you to feel the rewards/raises were “generous”.
Unless there's a tacit understanding of an upcoming promotion (with legit compensation/benefits etc.), then I can't imagine what's going through the head of whoever gave this out. I'm no manager, but I have more than 0 experience, and I would never make this kind of mistake. We've seen this before. It totally reeks of a poor attempt at textbook psychology backfiring. Like others have said, nearly 0 effort went into the design/customization of this. They couldn't even be bothered to make 1 cool looking certificate (that could be reused many times…) Also, as we all know, an award like this from work that is completely devoid of even a half-hearted promise of a raise/promotion is indeed counterproductive. Obviously, promising a raise and or promotion and not following through is worse, but if those are not likely, than it'd be better to skip this kindergarten award.
Honestly, they could give out reasonable rewards that don't even cost much. I mean, a “pizza party” is not what we want, but how about letting that employee choose a moderately priced restaurant and having catering for themselves and some/all of their team, in their honor? How about they also get an additional 1-5 PTO days for the year? How about the next time work gets busy, those “golden” PTO days could be taken without a shred of guilting, as they were earned with extra effort. Also, thinking like a business here, how can we help retain this person and increase their sales even further? Is their job at all physically demanding? Give them something like a few free massages at a place that's convenient for them. More typical office/mental stress? Surely, there are cheap things they could do. Couple of cheap suggestions: yoga or guided meditation. That alone would be a pittance of a reward, but combined with other rewards, I think it could be a nice thing to have. Perhaps provide a few options for the award recipient.
I know some of that sounded like the TV show Severance (highly recommended, if you like this sub), but if it's a job where you are required to report in person, least they could do is make it suck less for the top achievers. Also, yes, we all know the typical American work situation is dystopic, but this problem is very easy to fix. Moreover, fixing this empty gesture “reward” problem would not only make employees happier, but it would almost 100% benefit the company. We often are perplexed by the hubris/stupidity of managers/bosses who would rather see people quit or even fire them instead of providing even a meager raise, only to then waste thousands of dollars on training a new hire (and in relative amounts, paying them MORE than the amount of raise the previous employee was requesting!)
Out of curiosity, what type of compensation/reward would you all like to receive for top sales? Assuming your current rate of pay is at least reasonable, and there aren't any unfair commission caps or anything. For example, what if they promised in writing that your scheduled 2% raise this year would become 5%? How about no money, but you get some free massages, good quality catered lunch on a day of your choosing, 1-5 no guilt PTO days, etc.? Many would just want a fair raise, or it least want a raise + some perks, but what do you all think is actually reasonable/fair, what would feel a little cheap to you, and what would make you feel like the company was being very generous?