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• Know your team members' work anniversaries. 
  • Birthday and anniversary information for direct reports is available in PeopleSoft HR (Manager Self Service) under the "My Team" tile. 
  • Plan to recognize the employee close to the employee’s anniversary date.
• Consider length of service.
  • Milestone years 1-5: Employees are getting comfortable with their roles and beginning to make contributions to the organization. Consider ways to show they belong, like providing branded gifts, as well as professional development opportunities that can help them grow in their role.
  • Milestone years 10+: Employees have made ongoing, consistent contributions. Present their personalized certificate (provided by the UM System) on milestone years and recognize and celebrate their unique achievements and contributions in a way that fits them.
• Consider employee preferences. 
  • People want to be recognized in various ways. Consider if the employee you're honoring would prefer public or private recognition. Similarly, consider whether they may find words of appreciation, a gift or an experience more meaningful. 
• Get others involved. 
  • Your employee’s career with the UM System has impacted many people. Consider getting other leaders, previous team members or even the employee’s friends and family involved in the recognition.

Planning recognition around the unique qualities of your employee can help ensure they feel valued and appreciated. This is a time to acknowledge their contribution with gratitude. Consider these ideas to recognize and celebrate your employee:

• Send a handwritten thank you note
• Collect notes of appreciation from current and previous team members
• Honor the employee at a staff or other meeting
• Announce the anniversary in a department publication
• Provide time for personal wellness
• Flex the employee's hours for a day or week
• Say “thank you,” publicly or privately

When the employee works from a different location, recognizing service can be challenging. Below are some ways to publicly or privately recognize across distributed teams:

• Send an email or a personalized note to the employee to recognize their service. Encourage colleagues to do the same.
• Provide time for personal wellness or professional development, or offer the opportunity for flexible work hours for the day or week.
• Publicly celebrate the employee’s service during existing meetings or a social hour via an online meeting platform. Consider a celebratory video background to help recognize your colleagues' years of service during the call.
• Deliver food and drinks, flowers, balloons, cookies or another treat on the anniversary date.

Don't wait until performance reviews! Recognition and other forms of feedback should be given on an ongoing basis and as soon as possible after the positive actions or behavior occur.

Remember, while recognition from supervisors is especially meaningful, high-performing teams also prioritize ongoing peer recognition and feedback. Meaningful contributions to the organization should be recognized consistently and on an ongoing basis. 

Use this model to make your recognition impactful:

1. Identify the behavior
   • First, identify the specific behavior and verbally communicate it to the employee. 
   • For example, note, “I appreciate your focus on considering many points of view in that conversation.”
2. Share the impact
   • Share the impact of the behavior with the employee. 
   • For example, let the employee know, “We came to a better solution because of your actions.”
3. Consider additional recognition
   • This may include public recognition or some other form of appreciation. 
   • For example, ask the employee, “I would like to share your actions as a model during our next team meeting. Would that be alright with you?”