Recognition Events Overview: Recognition events are traditionally a major adjunct to cash compensation plans in the financial services industry, especially for producers such as financial advisors or insurance agents. Recognition events often involve trips to desirable vacation destinations. As a result, they often are called recognition trips. Moreover, financial services firms frequently have recognition clubs with names such as (these are illustrative examples; names vary widely by firm):
- Chairman's Circle
- President's Club
- Circle of Excellence
Recognition events are highly-prized perquisites among sales people and producers, and admission to one is often worn as a badge of success. Many financial services firms encourage their producers to list their recognition club level on their business cards.
Recognition Club Cutbacks: Financially-troubled financial services firms have an imperative to reduce costs by cutting back, downscaling or eliminating recognition events. However, they also have a competing necessity to keep their top producers loyal.
In a much-discussed full page ad in The New York Times and The Washington Post on Sunday, February 8, 2009, Wells Fargo announced that it was canceling all recognition events for 2009, blaming media and political criticism of such events as wasteful extravagances in a time of financial crisis. The Wells Fargo ad pointed out that many recognition events reward lower-level employees for their service, and that they motivate high performance.
