County of Santa Cruz

Employee Recognition Awards 2023

NOMINATION PERIOD: NOVEMBER 13th - NOON, FRIDAY DECEMBER 8th 2023

THE NOMINATION PERIOD HAS ENDED

Objective

The purpose of the Employee Recognition Program is to publicly recognize outstanding individuals or team performance and/or contributions to public service in 2023. This notice is intended to solicit nominations and announce timelines for the 2023 program. If you would like to nominate a County employee or a team of employees, click here to access the nomination form.

 

Categories

There are five Public Service categories considered, three employees and/or teams will be chosen for recognition from each of the five following designated departmental groupings:

  1. Health Services - Health Services Agency.
  2. Human Services - Human Services Department.
  3. Justice - District Attorney, Probation, Public Defender, Sheriff-Coroner.
  4. Land Use and Regulatory - Agricultural Commissioner, Weights and Measures, Agricultural Extension, Parks, Open Space and Cultural Services, Planning, Public Works, and Animal Services.
  5. General Government - Assessor-Recorder, Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector, Board of Supervisors' Office, Child Support Services, County Administrative Office, County Clerk-Elections, County Counsel, General Services, Information Services, and Personnel.

Click here to view the 2022 County Employee Recognition Winners.

Selection Committee

The five categories will each have a committee, appointed by the County Administrative Officer, consisting of six members: two executive management, one middle management, and three general representative (or other) employees. Each committee will meet during the month of January to choose the top three nominees for awards in each of the five departmental groupings. Each committee's recommendations will be forwarded to the County Administrative Officer in January for approval.

Please Note:

  1. Department Heads and Assistant Department Heads may not participate as nominees in this program.
  2. Permanent County employees are eligible for recognition awards. Extra-help employees may not be nominated.
  3. YOU MUST INCLUDE THE NAMES OF ALL MEMBERS OF THE TEAM THAT YOU NOMINATE, INCLUDING THEIR DEPARTMENT, AND THEIR ROLE.
  4. Please be as specific as possible in describing the reasons for your nomination of the employee or team. Providing examples enables the Selection Committee to better understand and prioritize all entries.
  5. Submit ORIGINAL entries only. Entries with duplicate wording will be considered as one entry.
 

Who Can Nominate

Any County employee, including managers, supervisors, and general employees, OR any community member, may make nominations for this award. You may nominate employees outside of your department. You may also make multiple nominations; however, each nomination must be submitted on separate forms which may be obtained online at 2023 Employee Recognition Nomination Form. If you are unable to access the form online, please contact Enrique Sahagun at 454-2251. The nomination period is Monday, November 13, 2023 to noon Friday, December 8, 2023. All nominations must be received in the Personnel Department, 701 Ocean Street, Room 510, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 by noon on Friday, December 8th to be considered.

 

Awards

The County Administrative Officer will publicly present the selected individual employees (or groups) to the Board of Supervisors at either the last Board meeting in February or the first meeting in March. The Board will present a proclamation to each employee or group along with their awards. Three monetary awards will be given in each of the five categories:

Note:

  1. The IRS has determined that this award is considered taxable income.
  2. In the event of a tie or team award, monetary awards will be split between winners.

Eligibility

These detailed questions have been added to assist nominators to more effectively provide information which would help each committee evaluate the relative merits of each nomination:

  1. An employee or group of employees who solved an extraordinary problem for the County and/or demonstrated an outstanding accomplishment that furthered the County’s goals.
    1. Describe the extraordinary problem and/or outstanding accomplishment in detail.
    2. Describe the solution to the problem in detail
    3. Identify the people, groups or agencies that were involved in the solution.
  2. An employee or group of employees who found an opportunity for improvement and implemented an innovative idea.
    1. Describe the innovative idea in detail.
    2. Describe in detail the implementation of the innovative idea.
    3. Identify the people, groups or agencies that were involved in implementing the innovative idea.
  3. An employee who has demonstrated outstanding effort and service in the past year.
    1. Describe in detail the specific tasks over and above their normal performance of their job.
    2. Describe the personal characteristics which make this person worthy of special recognition.
    3. Identify the people, groups or agencies that were affected by this person.
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