Opinions and advice, please

[LostMyMind]

My ex-boss used to just buy pizza for everyone when we were doing great. Especially after a few all-nighters to beat a deadline.

[Rapscallion]

Can you put yourself forward for it? I'll back you up with an email!

I'd tend to support the joint award idea if possible. The situation's a beggar, though. If you go for the new guy, it will be seen by the cynics as just encouraging the new guy, whether he deserves it or not. If you go for the long-term guy, people are going to wonder what you have against the new chap.

I'm old enough to ignore awards and plaudits. Younger people aren't.

If I had to choose, I'd be inclined to reward the new guy. The long-term guy knows what he does, and you can pu thim forward next month. You could always lay the ground a bit by asking him his opinion of the other employees, since he knows people.

Rapscallion

[Customer Beating Robot]

One guy has shown his worth for 2 years and one has only shown his worth for 7 months.

Give the award to the person with the most seniority and then give it to the other one next month. It is the only fair thing to do. If I had worked there for two years and got passed over for some kid that had been there for only 7 months, I would be super pissed. The 7 month guy isn't going to care. And if he does, he is a prick only out for himself.

[LostMyMind]

So basically "Best Employee of the Month" isn't really what it says? I always thought that it meant the person was the best employee that month. Not the employee that accrued the most credit toward the "best employee of the month" award.

If it's a new award, then it should be explained to the employees as such. But if the award has been around, then I guess Ree should find out what exactly the award is.

[Ree]

*UPDATE*

Thanks, everyone for all of the input and advice.

In the end, as it happened, I was able to put both names forward, and there were 4 of my co-workers who supported boy #2.

He didn't win over all, though, because the employees from the other store outnumbered us, and their candidate was picked, even though she really didn't deserve it, but she has them so fooled, they think she is great.

The manager took me aside after and told me that he thought both of my choices were excellent, and he was going to be talking to both of them and letting them know that their efforts are not going unnoticed.

On a plus side, in the meeting, he acknowledged how difficult it is to pick just one employee, and he said there were so many deserving people.

I almost fell off my chair when he even mentioned my name. (He wasn't putting my name forward for the award, just generally speaking of people who have worked hard.)
He said, "I mean, Ree has done an amazing job of transforming that warehouse. She walked into an absolute mess and I was in there on Monday and it blew me away how great it's looking and how well everything is coming together."
It felt pretty good.

[AforElephant]

"The manager took me aside after and told me that he thought both of my choices were excellent, and he was going to be talking to both of them and letting them know that their efforts are not going unnoticed."

Sounds like a nice manager who knows how good it is to buck his peoples' morale up.

Good show and good luck.

[Customer Beating Robot]

So basically "Best Employee of the Month" isn't really what it says? I always thought that it meant the person was the best employee that month.

Yes, but how many months did the employee for 2 years work his butt off and not get recognized because they didn't have the award? For just one month, I think it would be a nice gesture to give it to the older employee. From there on out, it is based on the employee. I am just saying that it is very sucky to not acknowledge the senior employee first.