Employee Recognition Coins

What Are Employee Recognition Coins?

Like so many traditions, the history of challenge coins can be traced back to the military. As ex-military members started transitioning into roles in the private sector, the tradition of recognizing soldiers for going above and beyond and marking certain progression milestones began to spread into the corporate world.

It’s not surprising that this practice would be at home within the business world where there’s such a striking correlation between recognition and job satisfaction. Studies have shown that seven out of 10 employees who say they’ve received some sort of appreciation from their supervisor report that they’re happy within their job. When employees do not receive that recognition for their work, only 39 percent claim to be happy at work. It’s no secret that happy employees perform their jobs well and remain with their companies longer.

Occasions for Employee Recognition Coins

In the military, custom challenge coins are often earned when a soldier completes basic training, is inducted into a new unit, or completes a specific mission. While it might seem like the occasions for earning challenge coins are more obvious in the armed forces, that shouldn’t suggest that occasions within corporate life are scarce.

Some of the general times when you might reward an employee with a recognition coin are as follows:

• The anniversary of their hire date
• The completion of a major project
• Upon being named an employee of the month
• Achievement of a sales or production goal
• Landing a new account
• At the completion of the employee probationary period
• The implementation of one of their ideas/suggestions
• In recognition of a raise or promotion
• Completion of a specific training program or the acquisition of a new skillset
• In recognition of a moment when they’ve gone above and beyond expectations

Employee recognition coins don’t have to only be tied to on-the-job accomplishments either. If you have an employee going through classes or schooling related to the duties they’re performing, you could present them with a coin upon the completion of their class.

Premium Finishes for Programs That Matter

A recognition coin only works if the person receiving it wants to keep it, and finish is most of what separates a coin that lands on a desk from one that lands in a drawer. For flagship programs — President’s Club, top-performer awards, executive milestones — the upgrades are worth the few cents per coin they add.

Dual plating sets two metals against each other in the same coin, so a logo in polished gold reads against an antique silver field instead of disappearing into it. 3D sculpting gives the design real relief you can feel with a thumb, which suits a crest, a building, or a mascot far better than flat artwork. Diamond-cut edges catch light around the rim and make the coin look milled rather than stamped.

Most programs mix tiers deliberately: a soft enamel coin for quarterly recognition, then the dual-plated 3D version for the annual award. Same artwork family, visibly different weight of honor.

Quantity Breaks for Ongoing Recognition Programs

Per-coin pricing drops as quantity goes up, which matters more for recognition than for most coin orders, because recognition is rarely a one-time purchase. A company handing out coins every quarter is buying the same design four times a year.

Ordering the full year in one run instead of four gets you into a better price tier and keeps the artwork identical across every coin you hand out — no drift in color or plating between batches. You can compare the tiers side by side on our challenge coin pricing page.

Recognition vs. Award: Which Coin Fits Your Program?

The two overlap enough that it’s worth being deliberate about which one you’re making, because the language on the coin changes with it.

A recognition coin says thank you. It marks tenure, effort, and the moments where someone went further than the job asked — an anniversary, a promotion, a project that shipped because of them. Everyone who reaches the milestone gets one.

An award coin says you earned it. It marks achievement measured against others: contest winners, top performers, the highest number on the board that quarter. Not everyone gets one, and that’s the point. If that’s the program you’re building, our achievement award coins page covers competition and performance-based designs specifically.

Custom Corporate Coins Made Easy

Signature Coins created its design and order process with busy business leaders like you in mind. We know how many different tasks you’ve got to juggle each day, so our highly dedicated service experts are here to help you through all three steps in the custom corporate coins ordering process.

1. Submit Your Request: You have multiple options for delivering your request to us. You can call, email or submit one of our easy to fill out quote request forms online.
2. Design: Perhaps you know what you want your custom challenge coins to say and where the company logo should go, but not much more than that. Our team of artists is here to work with you to come up with the perfect, unique design for your coins. After placing your quote request, our artists will get back to you in 24 hours with the first proof. From there, you’ve got unlimited free revisions until we come up with the best design for you.
3. Order: When you’ve selected a design you’re happy with and submitted your order, production begins. Standard production takes 3–4 weeks; shipping is additional (free, typically a few days).

Who We’ve Worked With

When you come to Signature Coins for your corporate coin needs, you not only benefit from our 15 years of experience, you’re also partnering with an organization who has created coins for some of the top Fortune 500 companies in the country.

Some of the companies we’ve made employee recognition coins for in the past include:

And that’s just the beginning. What we’ve learned from working with corporate giants is just as easily applicable to smaller size companies as well. Take advantage of our skills and information and let Signature Coins help to make your employees lives special.

The difference between a happy employee and an unhappy employee, an employee that stays and one that starts looking elsewhere, can be as simple as feeling recognized and appreciated for what they do. Take a few minutes to call, email or submit a quote request form today and watch as the perception of your company changes overnight.