This email was sent to supervisors of employees celebrating anniversary milestones in 2024.
Colleague,
This message is being sent to you because one of your employees is celebrating a service anniversary milestone. I have included a list of all employees celebrating this year so you can see your employees and others whom the university will recognize for their outstanding contributions to our campus community.
The university has selected a new vendor for service anniversary awards this year. I am emailing you about an exciting new feature that will help enhance the celebration of these awards.
Later this month, you will receive an email from OC Tanner, the selected vendor, asking for your participation in helping write a note of congratulations or accolade in your employee’s “yearbook.”
Call to Action
The yearbook is a new way to celebrate an employee’s service. It invites their leader, peers, and colleagues from across campus to offer notes of congratulations, which are printed in a physical booklet and mailed to the employees’ homes to recognize their anniversary. The booklet also contains a catalog of items from which they can choose to remember their milestone celebration.
When you receive the email, I invite you to quickly add a note of congratulations and forward it to your team to ask them to do the same. The email will explain how to submit your comments electronically. After some time, the comments will be closed, and the booklet will be printed and mailed to the celebrating employee.
In addition, the milestone certificates we used in the past are being replaced by an engraved numeral representing the year of service being celebrated. As the employee’s leader, you will receive these numerals to recognize them individually at a regular department meeting later this year.
Background and Reason for Change
This change enhances the employee experience. It also offers overall savings in the program’s administration without modifying the amount used to recognize the employee in the award of their anniversary gift. Additionally, it provides for the direct shipment of the employee’s anniversary gift directly to their home.
In past iterations of this celebration, two full-time staff members dedicated substantial time and effort to individually ordering supplies, arranging the distribution, organizing the communications, and following up with employees regarding their gifts. The new vendor’s tools automate this process, recognizing cost savings.
Next Steps
The next steps will involve a campus invitation to provide comments in the yearbooks for those celebrating employees and a breakfast with the President in late November to recognize those employees who have achieved 20+ years of service.
I appreciate your partnership and consideration as we enhance the employee experience.
Take good care,
JA
John Acardo
Senior Associate Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer
(He/Him/His)
