Many employees and other professionals, or academy graduates in many cases, will be the recipients of awards and recognition. Most often, this can be done with plaques of varying types, and such plaques may be custom engraved retirement gifts, customizable crystal plaques, or a plaque that is mounted on a wall or in a display case rather than kept personally. At any rate, a retiring business professional or police officer may greatly appreciate these custom engraved retirement gifts, and such custom engraved retirement gifts may be made from wood, brass, glass, and other attractive materials. Some custom engraved retirement gifts are meant to be kept personally, while other plaques of recognition stay public. When and why might someone receive such a gift?

Why Plaques are Received

What merits receiving a plaque of some sort? One example is when a person completes demanding training, such as for police academy graduates. This is no easy feat, so every graduate may receive plaques on this achievement, each plaque customized with the recipient’s name and the date of when they received it. Something similar may be done when someone completes his or her graduate work and receives a Ph.D or similar degree. A college may give out such plaques to graduates, or a specialized medical school or a law school.

Awards and plaques are often given to recipients at the workplace, usually for recognition of hard work or retirement after a fruitful career. Often, workplaces will have rigorous employee recognition programs, which are likely to boost worker morale and motivate them to do a job truly well done. In fact, studies have shown that employee recognition tends to lower employee turnover rates, and that is convenient for the employer and can spare them a lot of money and trouble from low employee retention rates. Many work places may have awards for the employee of the month or the employee of the year, or something more specialized such as manager of the year. This may call for a plaque, for example.

In other cases, a work place may give a plaque and similar recognition to a retiring, high-level professional such as a CEO. These high-ranking workers have a lot of responsibility and burdens, and their hard work and achievements may be celebrated when they retire after many years of working at that company. It is not easy to become and remain CEO or some other high-level position, meaning when someone retires, the employees will applaud them for a job well done and for an illustrious career. On average, a CEO retires at age 63, though this may vary somewhat.

On Plaques

What is there to know about the plaques themselves, and when someone receives them? Often, plaques are presented to the recipient personally, and this may be done at an awards banquet, dinner, or party where multiple people might receive awards and recognition such as this. An entire evening may be dedicated to giving out awards and short acceptance speeches, and many attendees may look forward to such an event, whether or not they receive a plaque or award.

These plaques and awards may or may not be kept by the recipient, as described above. This may vary based on who is giving them and why. Some plaques are simply a gift, such as when a CEO or police chief retires. The recipient may display such plaques at their personal residence, such as on a wall or on a display rack or in a case. In other instances, a plaque is given to the recipient but will later be mounted on a wall or in a display case in a public area. At an office, a person may find a whole wall of plaques, and those plaques might be arranged in order of when they were given. There may be decades or even a century’s worth of plaques to be found.

Some plaques are a small rectangle of polished wood with a brass plate screwed to the front, which has the information stamped and engraved on it such as the recipient’s name, the date when it was received, and why it was given. Crystal plaques are made of an upright, attractive piece of glass with the information printed in black or white letters.

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