As the end of the year approaches, the to-do list for companies and managers gets long. It’s likely that somewhere on that list is ordering awards or plaques for top performers, dealers, and other employees who have gone above and beyond during the year.

In the hustle to cross off the most important items, it’s not surprising that whether those awards actually matter to the employees who get them is questioned. Don’t they end up collecting dust on a shelf?

Maybe…

But over and over again, studies from Gallup and other leading workplace success firms have confirmed that employee recognition is a significant contributing factor in engagement and retention, two key drivers of overall profitability. In fact, employees who do not feel adequately recognized are twice as likely to leave your company. And those who choose to leave because of lack of recognition are probably top performers, making this doubly painful—and costly!

The good news? Studies also show public acknowledgement with an award or certificate is one of the six forms of recognition employees value most. A monetary award also makes the top six, but so do things like private recognition from a boss and increased job responsibilities—proving that it does not take a big investment to get positive results from the energy you put toward honoring employees who earn it.

So while that plaque or award may gather dust at some point, it won’t happen before it serves its main purpose—creating goodwill and reinforcing a positive company culture with team members and dealers who excel throughout the year.

TIP: When you’re delivering your awards, it’s ideal to make sure the person doing the recognizing is either the employee’s direct manager, or the CEO/high-level leader. Gallup data found that recognition from these two relationships is the most memorable to the employee, more so than recognition from their manager’s manager, peers, or customers.

Popular Employee Recognition Plaques and Awards From PEC

Pella Engraving & Sign Company offers a range of materials and styles for employee and dealer recognition plaques and awards. From simple to modern to traditional, we have an experienced team of designers who can help you create an award that will stand out in your employees’ minds and be valued throughout their careers.

Whether you need a year-end award, an employee-of-the-month plaque, or something to honor a career milestone, PEC is ready to meet your employee recognition award needs!

TIP: If you need awards in the next few months, contact PEC soon for the best selection. Our options and turnaround times vary based on our suppliers, the complexity of your design, and the size of your order.

Sandcarved awards are a popular choice available in many shapes and sizes. We offer three materials. Graphics on sandcarved awards are crisp and have a frosted look.

With our laser engraving capabilities, PEC creates awards that are unique to the organization or company that orders them. You can customize awards like this clock with your logo and the employee’s name, plus a photo placed to the left.

Honoring deserving employees with a plaque for public display is a great choice for many groups. The plaque can include photos and a description of achievements. A classic, etched magnesium plaque with a Metalphoto portrait is quite affordable and can be quickly turned around.

The donor wall at the Cambridge SportsPlex honors all those who contributed time and money to the project.

It took 140 donors to make it happen, but thanks to their dedication, the town of Fairfield, Iowa, has a new gym and pool facility that is improving its citizens’ quality of life and attracting new people to the community.

Originally built 45 years ago, Fairfield’s recreational facilities were due for an upgrade. In 2011, planning began for the multi-million-dollar Cambridge SportsPlex, and it opened in 2016. The 36,000 square-foot-space includes an indoor three-lane track, three full-size basketball courts, fitness area, exercise floor, storage, batting cages, restrooms, and showers.

After the grand opening, the SportsPlex task force committee wanted to recognize the generous donors who contributed to the project. A member of the task force, Kent Whitney, had previously worked with the PEC team and was pleased with the end result of the project. On behalf of the committee, he approached Pella Engraving Company about creating a donor recognition wall.

“I stopped in one day and showed them our ideas. They immediately took to it and got excited about the project. I knew right then we had the company we needed with the capability and passion to create our donor wall,” said Kent.

Kent already had a design in mind, and PEC was able to bring the idea to life using a three-part approach:

• Wave-inspired, curving background plates were cut on PEC’s state-of-the-art plasma cutter from 1/8″ aluminum. After color-matching the client’s artwork, these plates were painted in three shades of blue.
• 1/8″ zinc plates with a pebbled texture were cut on a band saw and painted light gray to showcase the donor list. Donor names were etched into the zinc and tipped in black.
• PEC turned to Sadler Sign and Design of Pella for the smallest lettering on the sign. The scale of the letters was too small to be handled by a plasma cutter or CNC machine. Vinyl was the perfect solution. The PEC team pre-coated the vinyl with the task force committee’s chosen shade of gray, and the individual letters were cut by Sadler Sign and Design. This lettering technique was repeated for the sign’s headline to create a cohesive and eye-catching final design.

The donor wall was installed in the Cambridge SportsPlex lobby. It perfectly fills space on a bare wall and improves traffic flow through the building. The task force committee was very pleased with the final project.

“Pella Engraving Company made what could have been a very challenging project enjoyable and stress-free,” said Kent. “The team’s professionalism and friendly and flexible demeanor made us feel like our project was the most important one on their plate.”

A unique process with many applications, Metalphoto requires an array of machines: developer tanks, sealing tanks, nippers, shears, and hole punchers. In recent years, demand for Metalphoto products like asset and ID tags has increased. In response, the PEC team improved its Metalphoto setup.

“We have the experience and capability to handle very large orders,” said Co-Owner Cory Vande Kieft. “With the updated workflow and the new tools we’ve integrated, our team is processing these orders even more efficiently.”

The PEC Metalphoto workshop features an open area where the nippers and hole punchers, once down the hall in the plaque-fabricating area, are installed on mobile tables. Both a new radius-corner nipper and a new shearer for cutting the metal have joined the existing equipment. One mobile table was fabricated in-house for some of this equipment, adding to the flexibility of the space.

“We worked with Medalist Manufacturing in Pella to custom build our hole punchers to run on pneumatic power,” added Cory. More shelving was also incorporated.

The combination of new equipment and a more streamlined workspace significantly increased the capacity Pella Engraving Company can offer its Metalphoto customer base. PEC is now more capable than ever of using its Metalphoto process to create high-quality, durable, and economic plaques, awards, serial tags, and more.

If you’ve got questions about a job and wonder if Metalphoto is a good option for you, contact us today!

Pella Engraving manufactured 58 plaques for the updated Central College Hall of Honor—55 recreations of the original plaques and 3 all-new plaques.

Four years ago, Central College embarked on the Forever Dutch initiative—an ongoing multi-million dollar renovation project that is transforming the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex into a modern and welcoming home for student-athletes, coaches, and Central fans. The latest upgrade to the complex is the expansion and renovation of the southern and western wings of P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium.

The expansion was completed last spring, but it was officially unveiled to fans, donors, and alumni at the Athletics Hall of Honor induction ceremony on September 23 during Central’s 2017 homecoming celebrations. Open for exploring on the gym’s second floor were areas like the newly updated wrestling room. Downstairs, in the Pacha Family Lobby, guests were greeted by something special courtesy of Pella Engraving Company—a brand-new Hall of Honor recognition wall.

The Hall of Honor was instituted in 2002. It recognizes standout student-athletes, coaches, and administrators who have become exceptional leaders outside the Central College athletics family. “Inductees to the Hall of Honor represent the best of what Central is all about,” said Athletics Director Eric Van Kley.

Fifteen years ago, the original Hall of Honor included 55 magnesium plaques with wood backings; Pella Engraving had been manufacturing a new plaque each time an inductee was chosen. As the work on Kuyper Gymnasium progressed, the Forever Dutch team decided to replace the original plaques with new ones that fit the sleek, modern feel of the renovated building. “We went back to Pella Engraving because we knew they could provide plaques with the style and excellence that characterize the new building,” said Eric.

The new plaques feature a photo of the honoree, their graduation date, and biographical information printed on silver aluminum plates.

In total, Pella Engraving manufactured 58 plaques for the updated Hall of Honor—55 recreations of the original plaques and 3 all-new plaques. Plaques will be added each year as new individuals are inducted into the Hall of Honor. The PEC team took the lead in creating the new plaque style. Each plaque includes a photo of the honoree, their graduation date, and a short description of their accomplishments, all surrounded by a field of Central red. The photo, text, and color background were printed on silver aluminum plates with Pella Engraving’s UV flatbed printer. The aluminum plates were then adhered to a black acrylic backer. Finally, clear acrylic shields that provide both style and protection from nicks and scratches were secured to the front of each plaque with aluminum standoff caps.

The display is headlined with plasma-cut aluminum lettering. Two sets of letters—one silver and one black—were created using PEC’s state-of-the-art plasma cutter. The black letters were installed first, followed by the silver letters, which were placed at a slight offset to create a drop-shadow effect.

The new recognition wall received a very positive reception at the Athletics Hall of Honor ceremony. “I’ve heard a lot of people say that the new Hall of Honor looks very classy,” said Eric. “It adds excitement to the lobby, and the quality of the display is something we are really proud of. The Pella Engraving team is tremendous.”

PEC’s newest piece of equipment offers even more color vibrancy and all the same UV-printing benefits.

A new UV flatbed printer is up and running at Pella Engraving Company.

“The easy-to-use software and reliability are big wins for the PEC team,” said Jarid Purvis, a PEC co-owner. “We’ve found the color quality and vibrancy to also be an upgrade from our previous UV printer.”

PEC often turns to flatbed UV printing as an economical solution for adding color to plaques. Designs are printed directly on materials, like a sheet of aluminum. Then specialized ultra-violet lights instantly dry ink. These aluminum sheets can be cut into almost any shape and mounted to a plaque backing.

Any color is an option with this printer—even white ink on dark backgrounds. Primers and gloss overlays ensure excellent adhesion and durability. The printer also offers an expanded printer area of 24″ x 18″.

“Plaques that use flatbed UV printing to add color offer a contemporary feel and excellent detail reproduction,” said Jarid.

For more information on using flatbed UV color printing for your next plaque, call Pella Engraving at 877-549-5447 or email orders@pellaengraving.com.

“The Million Dollar Round Table offers plaques for members to display in their office to show they are among the best in their profession, cultivating respect from both peers and clients,” explained MDRT Client Service Manager Shawn Boothe.

This wood-mounted Metalphoto® plaque cut into the shape of a shield honors a new member of the Million Dollar Round Table for financial and insurance professionals.

Pella Engraving makes many of the plaque styles the Million Dollar Round Table offers. When deciding on a plaque supplier, MDRT sought the same high standards it requires of its members, and the PEC team has been meeting those expectations for almost two decades.

“In addition to always being timely and courteous, the team at Pella goes above and beyond our customer service expectations,” said Shawn. “They are efficient, easily accessible, cooperative, and always looking to enhance creativity.”

In total, Pella Engraving manufactures a variety of different plaques for MDRT: the shield-shaped Metalphoto^® plaque for newly qualified members and the magnesium Court of the Table, Honor Roll, Quarter Century, and Top of the Table plaques.

The highlight of this partnership is the MDRT Annual Meeting; the PEC team attends every year to continue building connections and take orders for plaques. The 2017 Annual Meeting in Orlando brought record sales—an achievement for both Pella Engraving and MDRT.

“Earning a seat at the Million Dollar Round Table is a major achievement. The Pella Engraving team is proud to be part of the tradition,” said PEC Owner Bruce Van Wyk.

But which color option is the best fit for your plaque? To help you decide, PEC has put together this quick guide to our color options for zinc and magnesium plaques.

Add color accents with paint

Hand-painted color is ideal for customers who envision a classic, traditional-looking plaque. Customers who go this route can choose from PEC’s lineup of standard colors, which varies depending on the color of the plaque material (i.e., silver, copper, or gold). Hundreds of PMS PANTONE^® colors are also available at an additional charge for customers who like the look of a painted plaque but want a more specific color.

Hand-painted color is ideal for traditional-looking plaques.

Hand-painting keeps the full integrity of the plaque material intact. Once a color is chosen, the PEC team paints the recessed areas of the plaque with that color. More than one color can be used, though a raised area must separate each color.

Along with the recessed areas, Pella Engraving can further enhance the timeless look of the plaque by tipping the raised areas with color. Standard tipping colors, which include iridescent colors, are available. Gold, copper, and silver protective coatings for raised areas of the plaque are also an option.

Reproduce vibrant colors and images with UV flatbed printing

While adding color with paint may be ideal for traditional plaques, PEC’s UV flatbed color option is perfect for customers interested in a vibrant, contemporary plaque.

With UV flatbed printing, customers can add both color and detailed images to their plaques using Pella Engraving’s specialized printer. The UV printer is the fastest and most cost-effective plaque color option, with the added bonus of no extra charges for custom colors or limitations color choices. It is also an outstanding option for logos, photographs, government seals, and more because it can reproduce images with areas of multiple colors.

The secret is the UV printer itself, which prints directly on materials like a sheet of aluminum and uses specialized ultra-violet lights to instantly dry ink. These aluminum sheets can then be cut into almost any shape and adhered to a plaque backing.

Flatbed UV color printing is a good option for plaques with logos, photographs, and government seals.

Choosing the right option for incorporating color on your plaque can make it truly shine. To learn more about PEC’s plaque color options, visit the plaque personalization and UV flatbed printing pages on our website, or contact a member of our team today.