|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For many years, MIT employees who feel that their work is not really valued or appreciated have described the Institute as a "praise-free zone." But the Human Resources Department is working to change that perception by establishing a Rewards and Recognition (R&R) program that began in January 2001.
For the views of two prominent faculty members about the R&R program, please see the comments from Professor Lotte Bailyn and Dean for Undergraduate Education Robert Redwine.
The R&R program will be in addition to the standing Institute awards and to local initiatives that are already in place for recognizing and rewarding employees. And it is expressly distinct from base pay.
The new program is designed to provide opportunities to recognize employees for exceptional contributions to their office, department or School, or to the Institute as a whole. Both individual and team efforts will be considered. And the program provides several different ways to recognize or reward outstanding performance.
The program also is designed to help foster an environment of shared success and commitment. In addition, R&R will highlight behaviors and activities that have benefited MIT, and it will showcase employees as role models.
There are three parts to the R&R program:
The "Infinite Mile" will be the first award to be implemented. It is intended to support the objectives of each area, so it will be customized to reflect the work, values, and/or behaviors that are specific to a unit. (Each School is an independent unit.) The rewards will take a variety of forms, such as financial awards, dinners, tickets, or gift certificates.
Funding will be allocated locally but budgeted and managed centrally through Human Resources. The program administrator is working with the assistant deans to plan award criteria that are appropriate to each School and to ensure that the awards will be meaningful to recipients.
The "MIT Award" will be an annual, Institute-wide event at which up to 40 individuals or teams will receive meaningful financial awards and recognition at a public ceremony.
Throughout the year, any member of the community may submit a nomination to the R&R program administrator. An employee committee will review and select award recipients. Accomplishments will be cited during the awards ceremony, and recipients' names will be displayed in the Infinite Corridor.
Human Resources will manage the funding for the MIT Award, and it is expected that individual recipients will receive $2,000, and team recipients will share a $10,000 award (with a maximum of $2,000 per person).
The "Appreciation" award will include relatively small gifts and "thank-yous" given throughout the year at the time that an employee demonstrates exceptional results or effort. All members of the MIT community are encouraged to acknowledge their appreciation for the efforts of others and to share these kudos with an individual's or a team's manager.
What will be rewarded?
The R&R Website at http://web.mit.edu/personnel/www/rewards/ provides some examples of efforts or results that might be rewarded either locally or by the MIT Award. These include the following:
Where did the idea for Rewards and Recognition originate?
The idea originally came from a recommendation of the Human Resource Practices Design (HRPD) Team. This group was chartered in 1996 to define best practices for human resources that would support the changing needs of MIT and its workforce and help make the Institute "as excellent an employer as it is an educator."
An HRPD project team on recognition and rewards subsequently surveyed more than 3,000 MIT employees from all employment categories, gathered information on current R&R practices at MIT, and did research and benchmarking on current trends at other organizations. In May 1998, they published their conclusions and recommendations.
The recommendations around rewards and recognition were put on hold until MIT had hired its new vice president for Human Resources to replace Joan Rice, who was retiring. Once Laura Avakian was on board, she made R&R one of her top priorities. Program co-chairs were appointed, a design team was formed, and a budget was allotted to the program. And now it's underway.
If you have questions about the R&R program, please contact Jackie Stinehart, its administrator, by e-mail to jstineha@mit.edu or by phone at x3-1719.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|