Employee Recognition

Tips For Managers

Every employee at Highline College is valuable and plays an important role in helping our campus fulfill its mission. Our goal is to retain the employees we have and encourage them to develop at Highline, both personally and professionally, while providing them with the tools to do so. Since each employee is different, we have a number of methods available to accomplish this.

Perhaps the best place to start is by asking your employees directly how they would like to be recognized and rewarded. The insights they provide may open your eyes to the variety of opportunities available and enable you to more effectively demonstrate that you appreciate their contributions to the workplace. 

Managers can survey their own teams to learn the preferred methods of recognition. More introverted individuals, for instance, may want to remain low-key, while others appreciate being publicly praised. Research shows that employees like:

• Time off, overtime, discretionary time (rules vary depending on job classification)
• Food (pizza, coffee and baked goods, monthly fruit box delivery)
• Peer recognition
• Gift cards, prizes, sports tickets
• Personal thank you note or award certificate printed on quality card stock
• After-work activities, team bonding time
• “Rock star” status, gold stars, traveling trophy
• Office parties or field trips to parts of campus
• Public recognition (employee of the month, newsletter spotlight, shout-outs)
• Professional growth opportunities; take a professional class or attend a conference
• Opportunities to participate on a committee or a high visibility project
• Cross-training
• Take to lunch or to coffee
• Remote work opportunities, flexible schedule
• Off-site retreat for project team
• Promotional opportunities
• Recognition in their professional field
• Networking opportunities; lunch or coffee with a senior leader
• Leading expert training

Institutional Recognition

Random Acts of Recognition

Random Act of Recognition is the college’s peer-to-peer program which empowers employees to acknowledge above-and-beyond performances by their coworkers. When you complete the Random Act of Recognition online form, Human Resources will create a certificate of appreciation and send out a campus-wide “Rave Review” email announcing when an employee has been “caught” doing something exceptional. 

Service Awards

Highline College funds the service awards in an effort to recognize all r classified, exempt staff and full-time faculty for their continuous years of dedicated service to the College. employees are recognized for each five years of continuous service (e.g., 5, 10, 15, etc.).

Human Resources works with managers to ensure that employees are notified of upcoming milestone service awards so teams can support their colleagues at all-campus events.