The Quarter Century Club
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by Rick Joi Rick Joi is the founder of The Workiversary Group and author of the award‑winning book, Inspiring Work Anniversaries. |
Long-tenured employees are uniquely valuable. They can be even more valuable if you start a “Quarter Century Club”. When an employee reaches their 25th work anniversary, they automatically become a member of the club, which meets regularly.
Want to improve interdepartmental cooperation?
The Quarter Century Club can help!
It’s a great way to get employees from across your organization together who wouldn’t otherwise interact. It encourages employees from very different areas to improve their understanding of each other’s areas, and it increases opportunities for serendipitous connection.
The genius of doing this with long-tenured employees is that the impact is magnified. Long-tenured employees have bigger networks within the organization on average, and not only might they make connections themselves, they’re also well-positioned to make connections for others by knowing who should be introduced to who.
Want to hire reliable, stability-loving employees?
And there’s more!
The Quarter Century Club sends the message that your organization is strong, stable, and in it for the long haul. While not every organization will want to send that message, if your organization does, then the Quarter Century Club is tangible proof that will send the message much louder than merely words in executive speeches.
This message will also attract like-minded employees into your organization. While it is extraordinarily distant for a candidate going through your hiring process, it will be appealing for stability-seeking candidates who have perhaps been burned by unreliable organizations in the past.
How the club works
Each employee who reaches 25 years is inducted into the prestigious club. Induction is typically a meal where they can invite anyone from the company that they want. Someone already in the quarter century club will typically speak about the new inductee and welcome them.
The quarter century club then generally meets regularly, perhaps monthly or quarterly. For really large organizations, it can have separate regional meetings. These meetings are generally organized by quarter century club members elected by the group.
Events are typically meals, but can also be fun events. It can be a tradition that the CEO always says a few words. Senior leaders who are not members of the club themselves are sometimes invited to speak about what’s happening at the organization.
At events, the group can choose to take on initiatives to make the organization better or sometimes just broadly helpful charitable initiatives. To be effective, the group needs to choose these initiatives themselves. Having them forced on them will generally backfire.
Alternative names for younger organizations
Is your organization too young to do this? A variation for younger companies is the “Decade-Or-More” club. Another variation for even younger companies is the “High Five” club.
For ambitious organizations, there’s no reason why you can’t have all three — the Quarter Century Club, the Decade-or-More Club, and the High Five club — and have employees graduate into a higher level at each milestone.
Wrap-up
While a Quarter Century Club isn’t for everyone organization, strongly consider it if some of the following describe your organization:
Your organization is older
Your organization is larger
Your organization would benefit from increased interdepartmental cooperation
Your organization values financial strength, stability, and long‑term thinking