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Library & University Recognition Programs
Rewards and recognition offer an effective and low-cost way to encourage higher levels of performance from employees. Taking time to recognize employee achievements lets employees know that they are valued and are an important part of our organization. Recognition is a great esteem builder and can help create workplace loyalty, fostering a sense of community.
Studies indicate that employees find personal recognition more motivational than money; in fact, recognition for a job well done is the number one motivator of employee performance. Furthermore, while money is important to employees, what tends to motivate them to perform is thoughtful, personal recognition that signifies true appreciation for a job well done.
Cornell University Library’s recognition program has been created to give managers and supervisors the tools they need to effectively recognize and reward the accomplishments of their employees.
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Library Program
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Eligible Employees
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Program Information
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Library Service Awards
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Library staff who have worked for the University for 10 or more years.
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An annual recognition of staff with 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, or 45 years of service.
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Innovation Award
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Regular full-time or part-time CUL employees. Both individuals and groups are eligible.
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This award is given during the Library Service Awards brunch to an innovative performer who is nominated to receive the award. A supervisor or an employee may submit nominations for individual or team efforts. The University Librarian will review the nominations and make final award(s) decisions.
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Outstanding Performance Award
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Non-academic employees nominated by their supervisor or a library employee
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An annual recognition award is given during the Library Service Awards brunch to an outstanding performer who is nominated to receive the award. A supervisor or employee may submit nominations for individual or team efforts. The University Librarian will review the nominations and make final award(s) decisions.
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Fuerst Outstanding Student Employee Award
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Undergraduate Library Student Employees
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Annual recognition is presented to 5 student employees at a reception during the spring semester. All nominees are invited to attend. A committee of library employees reviews the nominations. Each winner receives a $500 award. Finalists will be given a small gift.
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| University Program |
Eligible Employees |
Program Information |
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George Peter Award for Dedicated Service
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All Cornell employees who are employed on a full-time basis, or have been designated half-time for a period of five or more years, are eligible for consideration for this award.
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The Award is presented quarterly to Cornell employees who consistently demonstrate a high degree of excellence in the performance of their duties and who prove their willingness to extend themselves to help others and go above and beyond the normal expectations of their job responsibilities.
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| University Service Awards Recognition Dinner |
Non-academic employees who have 25 or more years of service at the University. |
An annual event hosted by the Cornell University President each spring. Each employee with 25, 30, 35, or 40 years of service or more is invited to bring a guest and be recognized with dinner, a gift, and featured in a commemorative booklet. After 40 years, the employee may attend every year and will continue to receive recognition gifts on their 45th, 50th, and 55th year anniversaries. |
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Award for Staff Integrity and Inclusion
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All benefits-eligible Cornell employees, union, and academic employees who work on the Ithaca, Geneva, or Tech campus are eligible for consideration for this award. Please note: This does not include temporary and casual employees, graduate and undergraduate students, postdocs, visiting fellows, fellow postdocs, postdoc associates, cooperative extension employees, or retired employees.
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The Employee Assembly will present the Award for Staff Integrity and Inclusion annually to an employee member who exemplifies a continued dedication to fostering a sense of belonging and a workplace environment of honesty, fairness, and respect for all.
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Recognition Toolkit
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All Employees at Cornell who are observed going “above and beyond”.
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Get started with our Recognizing and Appreciating Employees: A Toolkit for People Leaders offers tips on how to build a culture of recognition and appreciation, communication guidance, and ready-made templates.
'Engagement & Retention Conversations Toolkit for People Leaders' provides tips to guide conversations, customizable script samples, conversation starters, a notes template, and follow-up questions.
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Employee Graduate Reception
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Employees who have recently received a degree.
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This event promotes the University's pride in those employees who achieve their educational goals while also maintaining their job responsibilities. If you will be graduating, please notify Benefit Services at (607) 255-3936 or submit a request so that you can be included in this celebration.
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Other Low-Cost/No-Cost Ideas
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Appreciation Portal CLICK TO LOG IN
Show your appreciation in the moment!
Celebrating employee excellence throughout the year is vital to creating an engaged workforce. It is easy to get focused on the tasks at hand – the emails, the meetings, the projects and to-do lists – and forget to say, “Thank you!” or “Well done!” And yet, it is often those simple, timely gestures that have a profound impact on our attitude, productivity, and feelings of belonging.
Supervisors and colleagues can use this portal to send kudos in real-time. Also, supervisors can recognize their employees periodically with small tokens of appreciation in the form of points that can be redeemed through the Cornell store or Amazon.
- STEP 1: Log using you your NetID (Two-Step will be required)
- STEP 2: Click on Recognize
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Recognition Items Available at the Library
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Item
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Suggested Use
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“Great job” or "thank you" cards
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Use when an employee exceeds your expectations by performing a part of their job really well. This can be used in conjunction with other recognition items.
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Libe Café Certificates
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Use when an employee accomplishes something above and beyond his/her job duties. For example, initiating a new project, successfully taking on additional responsibility, coming up with a great idea that results in cost or time savings, or acting as a team leader or a positive role model for other team members. ($5 Value)
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Eligibility
Who can use these items to recognize their good performers?
Managers and supervisors can give any of these items to their own employees for recognition purposes. If, as a manager or supervisor, you feel someone in another area deserves recognition, let his or her manager know.
Who can receive these items in recognition of their good performance?
Any of these items may be given to academic or non-academic employees. This program was designed to provide tools for employee recognition.
Guidance
Steps in Recognizing Good Performance
Identify positive behavior to be reinforced - Look for things that your employee does well. Recognize individual performance as well as team efforts. Link behaviors to Library or Department goals - Let your employees know why their job is important by linking their good performance to the achievements of Library and Department goals. When deciding how to recognize employees, consider what is appropriate by taking into account both the behavior being recognized and the employee's personal preferences and values.
Deliver recognition - Effective recognition delivery contains the following elements:
- Individual – recognize individual contributions, even if the team is being awarded
- Specific – tell your employee exactly what was done well
- Unique – recognition that varies from the usual will be remembered more
- Immediate – offer recognition close in time to the good performance
Procedure for Requesting Items
To request an item provided by Library Human Resources, please create a ticket, specifying who it is for, what they have done to deserve it, and the item you would like them to receive. This note will be placed in the employee’s personnel file. The recognition Request will be reviewed and processed in Library Human Resources. Upon approval, the requested item will be placed in campus mail within 24 hours.
Other Ways to Recognize Performance
Below are additional suggestions on how to commend the exceptional performance of your employee. These suggestions are either free or have a fairly low cost. Any costs incurred would be covered by your individual department's budget. Be creative when thinking about how to reinforce your employee’s positive behavior – try new things.
Additional Recognition Ideas
Free & Effective
- Call an employee into your office just to thank him or her; don’t discuss any other issues
- Write a personal note
- Share a compliment you heard about the employee from someone else
- Announce success at a department meeting or congratulate the employee in front of others
- Place a bulletin board in your area to be used for recognition purposes only (letters of appreciation, announcement of awards won, etc.)
- Ask an employee to help brainstorm a way to reward an employee – they will probably have some fun and creative ideas.
- Support “flex-friendly” schedules
Low-Cost Alternatives
- Present a ribbon, plaque, certificate, or award
- Pass an award from one employee to another for good performance, as identified by the team
- Food: Bring in a cake, cookies, candy, or a homemade dessert, creatively wrapped
- Take the employee to lunch
- Plan an event or party for the department
- Take a photo of the employee performing the task that you would like to reward, put it in a paper frame, and have the team members sign with words of praise
- Give the employee a lottery ticket
- Tie balloons to the employee's chair
- Give the employee flowers
- Provide the employee with a 1-year membership to a professional organization