Criteria for Staff Recognition Awards

Jill Almond's picture
Mon, 07/06/2015 - 17:26 -- Jill Almond


We are enhancing our employee recognition program and I am looking for criteria for the following awards: Employee of the Quarter, Service Excellence (customer service recogntion for outstanding teams/ individuals), and QI Team Awards.

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Submitted by tkane on

Jill,

This is an excellent question and relevant for any agency seeking to ensure a competent workforce, especially those seeking or maintaining PHAB accreditation.

PHAB Measure 8.2.4 calls for a "work environment that is supportive to the workforce". Required documentation for this Measure includes: "2. a process for employee recognition". Examples in the PHAB Guidance include: "a call out in a newsletter, employee of the month program, posting an employee honor roll, recognition letters, regularly organized recognition lunch, etc."

Additionally, a recent assessment of 10,247 state health agency employees may also support the need for improvement in the area for workforce recognition. Preliminary results of the 2014 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) launched by ASTHO showed:

  • 63.0% of staff strongly agreed/agreed that their organization is a good place to work.
  • 39.1% strongly agreed/agreed that creativity and innovation are rewarded.

As you wait for examples and/or suggestions from the PHQIX user community, the following link provides some helpful guidance for designing and maintaining an employee recognition program from the Human Resources Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I found the information to be very useful and I encourage you to check it out: http://bit.ly/1J2DVnH

Best of luck,

Ty

 

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Submitted by gkroberts on

Hi Jill, does your agency already have an employee recognition policy in place and do you plan to do all three of these awards quarterly? I really like the idea of doing a QI team award, however I would recommend doing it on an annual basis since QI projects are time consuming. Some criteria for this type of award could include:

  • percentage of improvement from baseline data to post-data
  • number of PDCA cycles conducted
  • number of individuals involved on the team
  • number of departments invovled on the team
  • how many stakeholders this improvement impacts
  • stakeholder satisfaction levels

We are currently drafting an employee recognition policy as well, and plan to include something related to this.

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Gurleen Roberts, MPH
Director of Quality Management
Cobb & Douglas Public Health
Marietta, GA
gurleen.roberts@dph.ga.gov

Leann Orr's picture
Submitted by Leann Orr on

Our health department recently implemented an employee of the quarter recognition program. We developed a nomination form including the following information:  

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Candidates for the award should be productive, exhibiting commitment to quality in carrying out job responsibilities, an asset to the staff of his/her department and provide service that reflects a positive image of our agency. The nomination may include examples of employee contributions such as:

  • Providing excellent service to fellow employees or agency clients
  • Demonstrating a willingness to work above and beyond their normal duties
  • Significantly improving work process or procedure
  • Working to foster collaboration, communication, and cooperation among peers
  • Producing high quantity and quality of work over an extended period of time
  • Giving extra effort to complete a job or handle a heavier workload
  • Volunteering for and working on special projects
  • Creative problem solving resulting in substanital savings of cost or time
  • Significantly improving client service or increase in client satisfaction

The individiual I am nominating deserves the award based on the following justification (describe in a paragraph or two). 

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A deadline is set to receive nominations and once that has been reached all nominations  are compiled and sent out via an electronic survey which allows all staff to view the nominations and cast their vote. 

So far the program has been successful. Our staff has enjoyed the opportunity to submit nominations as well as read and vote on the submissions. We strive to make it clear that is an honor to be nominated. Initially I was concerned with the 'vote' aspect - as it feels somewhat like a popularity contest. However, the variety of the nominations afforded by having fairly open ended  criteria has really allowed broad participation, has been well received and in addition educates on various employee roles within our organization.

Good luck with your program!

Leann Orr

 

 

 

  

 

 

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Grace Gorenflo's picture
Submitted by Grace Gorenflo on

Hi Jill,

For the QI team award, I would focus the criteria on making a significant impact.  For example, this could be in the area of customer satisfaction, efficiency (time saved, money saved), or increased reach or effectiveness.  I think it would be good to set the bar high and really call out those with efforts that help illustrate the power of QI and have results you would want to share with your governing body and the public.

I hope you share the criteria you end up using!

Grace

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Grace Gorenflo's picture
Submitted by Grace Gorenflo on

Hi Jill,

For the QI team award, I would focus the criteria on making a significant impact.  For example, this could be in the area of customer satisfaction, efficiency (time saved, money saved), or increased reach or effectiveness.  I think it would be good to set the bar high and really call out those with efforts that help illustrate the power of QI and have results you would want to share with your governing body and the public.

I hope you share the criteria you end up using!

Grace

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cgizzi's picture
Submitted by cgizzi on

At the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, we have an annual employee recognition awards event.  I described below two awards that match most closely to the ones you listed.  (We also have awards for Values, Innovation/Bright Idea, Outstanding Leader/Mentor, Oustanding Team, Unsung Hero and Community Ambassador.) Hope this is helpful information!

Customer Service Award: 1) Knows customers and can describe their expectations; takes risks and is innovative to provide customers the best service possible. 2) Is flexible with customers and peers to enhance service delivery. 3) Regularly follows up with customers to ensure needs are met; strives to find a win-win when possible. 4) Shares customer service lessons with others in the organization.

Outstanding Employee: 1) Follows through on tasks and commitments by making the best use of their time and resources. 2) Emphasizes Department goals over program interests. 3) Demonstrates initiative and reliability. 4) Promotes high standards, ethics and courtesy while maintaining professional relationships.

In addition, the criterion of consistently demonstrating our Department's core values (respect, integrity and leadership) applies to all awards.

Cindan Gizzi, MPH

Public Health Centers for Excellence

 

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Submitted by gkroberts on

Hi Jill, would you mind sharing what you ended up with?

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Gurleen Roberts, MPH
Director of Quality Management
Cobb & Douglas Public Health
Marietta, GA
gurleen.roberts@dph.ga.gov

Jill Almond's picture
Submitted by Jill Almond on

Thank you to everyone who responded.  From your feedback, we have enhanced two of our employee awards; Team Member of the Quarter and Service Excellence.

I have attached the critiera and applicaitons for both.

Feel free to contact me for any additional information.

Sincerely,

Jill Almond

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