Employee Recognition Policy

Excellence-in-Service Award Procedure

General: Annually, Northern Michigan University will consider nominations and recognize up to two individuals from each employee group listed below for their exceptional contribution to the University.  The Director of Human Resources or designee will manage this recognition program.

When nominating an individual for this award, consideration must be given to the individual's overall performance and accomplishments in furthering the goals of the University while demonstrating the core values of Community, Opportunity, Rigor, Environment, Inclusion, Connections, and/or Innovation. Nominations should be submitted for those individuals whose efforts go above and beyond the normal routine daily duties. Examples could include customer service enhancements, innovative solutions that increase operational efficiency, development of new programs/procedures with broad positive impact on the campus and/or community, continuous excellence in service or exemplary interactions with students, parents, visitors and/or other employees.

Nomination Process

Who: Individuals being nominated for this award can be nominated by either of the following:

1. The immediate supervisor.
2. An individual who has a regular working relationship with the nominee.

How: All nominations will be submitted utilizing the Northern Michigan University Excellence-in-Service Award Nomination form, which can be accessed online or in paper form in the Human Resources office. The nomination form must be completed in full and must include detailed examples of exceptional performance and accomplishments which further the goals of the University and demonstrate the core values. All nomination forms must include the name, phone number, and email address of the nominator.

When: Nominations can be submitted online or to the Human Resources office at any time. Nominations must be received by the announced deadline, typically the first full week in February, to be considered for that year’s recognition program.

Selection Committee

The Human Resources Director or designee will establish a Selection Committee responsible for reviewing all eligible nominations and selecting the award recipients for each employee group. Members of the Committee, with the exception of the Human Resources representative, will serve for a three-year period. The Committee shall include previous Excellence-in-Service or Distinguished Team award winners if possible and consist of one individual from each of the following groups:

• Senior Management Official
• Senior Administrator
• Administrative Professional
• Technical and Office Professional
• AFSCME
• Academic Dean
• Human Resources – Ex-Officio (chairperson)

Eligibility

Nominated employees must be members of the Technical and Office Professional, Administrative/Professional, AFSCME, or Non-Represented (Coaches, Deans, Senior Administrators, and Senior Management) employee groups. Individuals being considered for nomination must meet the following criteria:

1. Have at least two (2) years of service at NMU as a full or part time (not less than .50 FTE) employee.
2. Have at least one (1) year of service in their current assignment.
3. Have a positive employment record during the past two (2) years.
4. Cannot be serving on the Selection Committee at the time of nomination.
5. Cannot have received an Excellence-in-Service award in the past five years. A list of previous winners can be found here.

Selection Process

A member of the Human Resources department will ensure that nominated employees meet performance and years of service requirements and will secure approval from each nominated employee to move forward with the nomination. The Selection Committee will then review all eligible nominations to determine the top finalists in each group. The Committee will evaluate each nomination on the following criteria:

1. Exceptional performance, accomplishments, interactions, and/or service which help to further the goals of the University
2. Demonstration of at least one of the University’s core values
3. Scope and impact of the performance and/or accomplishments
4. Supervisor's recommendations, if applicable.

If necessary, the Committee may invite the supervisors and/or nominators of each finalist to appear before the Committee to discuss the nominee’s performance and accomplishments. The Committee will recommend and submit up to two (2) award recipients from each employee group to the President and the Vice Presidents. Upon concurrence, all award recipients will be announced before the end of March.

Recognition

The award recipients will be honored at the annual Faculty & Staff Recognition Luncheon in April. Each Excellence-in-Service Award recipient will be honored with the following:

1. A cash award of $1,000 (one-time cash bonus after taxes)
2. A certificate identifying the accomplishment
3. A plaque

Distinguished Team Award Procedure

Annually, Northern Michigan University will consider nominations and recognize up to four (4) University work teams, whether formally or informally designated on a continuing or temporary basis, for their exceptional contribution to the University. The Director of Human Resources or designee will manage this recognition program.

When nominating a team for this award, consideration must be given to the team’s overall performance and accomplishments in furthering the goals of the University while demonstrating the core values of Community, Opportunity, Rigor, Environment, Inclusion, Connections, and/or Innovation. Nominations should be submitted for those teams whose performance exceeds standard expectations. Examples include innovative solutions that increase operational efficiency, the development of new programs/procedures with broad positive impact on our campus/and or community, and/or projects that enhance service to students, parents, visitors and/or other employees.

Nomination Process

Who:  Any employee can nominate a work team for recognition provided that individual is not a member of the team being nominated.

How:   All nominations will be submitted utilizing the Northern Michigan University Distinguished Team Award Nomination form which can be accessed online or in paper form in the Human Resources office. The nomination form must be completed in full and as noted above, must include detailed examples of exceptional performance and accomplishments which further the goals of the University and demonstrate the core values. All nomination forms must include the name, phone number, and email address of the nominator.

When:  Nominations can be submitted online or to the Human Resources office at any time. Nominations must be received by the announced deadline, typically the end of the first full week in February, to be considered for that year’s recognition program.

Selection Committee

The Human Resources Director or designee will establish a Selection Committee responsible for reviewing all eligible nominations and selecting the team award recipients. Members of the Committee, with the exception of the Human Resources representative, will serve for a three-year period. The Committee shall include previous Excellence-in-Service or Distinguished Team award winners as possible and consist of one individual from each of the following groups:

• Senior Management Official
• Senior Administrator
• Administrative Professional
• Technical and Office Professional
• AFSCME
• Academic Dean
• Human Resources – Ex-Officio (chairperson)

Eligibility

Nominated teams may include members of faculty and/or staff.  Teams may include students, however, the team membership must consist of substantially more members of faculty and/or staff than students.

Selection Process

The Committee will evaluate each nomination based on the selection criteria stated below. If a team being considered for the Distinguished Team Award includes a member of the Committee, that Committee member must excuse themselves from the selection process when their nominated team is being considered.

The Committee will evaluate each nomination on the following criteria:

1. Exceptional performance and accomplishments which help to further the goals of the University
2. Demonstration of at least one of the University’s core values
3. Scope and impact of the performance and/or accomplishments

To assist in their decision process, the Committee may request the nominated team’s chairperson or nominator to provide additional clarifying information, either in written format or in person. The number of teams to be recognized annually will be determined by the Committee based on the quality of the nominations. The Committee will submit recommendations to the President and Vice Presidents. Upon concurrence, all award recipients will be announced before the end of March.

Recognition

The award recipients will be honored at the annual Faculty and Staff Recognition Luncheon in April.

Each team will be awarded the following:

1. $75 per team member, not to exceed a total of $750 per team
2. A certificate for each team member identifying their accomplishment

Media Coverage: Human Resources will coordinate with the Marketing and Communications Department to arrange press releases to announce the award winners. Each release will include a photograph of the award recipients and a brief description about each individual’s accomplishments. Additional recognition may include announcements on campus bulletin boards.