University plans to award employees — with more awards

Erytheia Lambert-Jones

In our busy world it is easy to get caught up in accomplishing the tasks on our "to do" lists. It is not so easy to take the time to stop and recognize the accomplishments of those around us who work so tirelessly to provide quality services to our internal and external customers. The Office of Human Resources has designed an Employee Recognition and Award Program that is intended to make it easier for these accomplishments to be acknowledged.

The program consists of four categories of awards: Spot Cash, Special Accomplishment (formerly Special Achievement), Achievement and Incentive Bonuses, and the newest category, Presidential Awards. The awards range in amounts from $50 to $5,000 and are open to UMUC employees worldwide.

According to Erytheia Lambert-Jones, vice president of human resources, components of the Award Program have been in place for several years - the Spot Cash and Special Accomplishment Awards have been in place since at least 1995. "As a part of the University's goal to become an employer of choice, the program was expanded in late 2000 to include the other two categories and to extend eligibility worldwide," she said. "While we can't award as many employees as we would like, these awards are an effort to show that employee accomplishments are valued at UMUC."

Nominations will be accepted shortly for the Presidential Awards to be presented by President Heeger in September 2001. Look for details on this and all other categories of the UMUC Employee Recognition and Award Program (including the nomination process and downloadable forms), on the human resources pages on the Intranet at . Recipients of the Presidential Award will be featured in an upcoming issue of FYI Online.