Spotlight on recognition: One year later

The Michigan Medicine recognition site completed its first year with more than 21,600 Making a Difference awards, eCards and other forms of gratitude sent to deserving faculty and staff members since launching in September 2020.

The site provides real-time, interactive engagement for faculty, staff, patients and their families to celebrate employees for their outstanding contributions to the organization.

“Recognition is an important part of our culture, and should be part of our everyday work,” said JoAnn Grantham, recognition manager for Michigan Medicine. “While there are many ways we can recognize our employees, the recognition site is one way, regardless of where we are physically located, we can connect with our team members and thank them for the work they do every day.”

Here are a few other stats from the site’s first year:

• Registered users: 10,721 faculty and staff members
• eCards sent to employees: 3,189
• Making a Difference (MAD) awards issued: 18,426
• Most common MAD core value: Teamwork

Partnering to further recognition

Since its debut, the recognition site has introduced enhancements to increase engagement with the site and partnered with several departments and initiatives to ensure recognition is part of their overall planning.

One enhancement is the ability to now send Making a Difference awards to entire departments. This option allows recognition for an entire team with one click. Also, additional eCards have been created to recognize safety, our Michigan Medicine core values, and other special occasions such as a welcome eCard for new employees.

Collaborating with departments such as the Department of Communications and Headlines, the recognition site created an electronic submission process for the newsletter’s annual employee-nominated recognition program, the Most Valuable Person (MVP) awards. Now, submissions are captured electronically and the nominated employee is notified right away of their recognition.

Other initiatives include Marschall Runge, M.D., Ph.D.’s recent well-being challenge. The challenge encourages teams to create their own well-being commitment and includes opportunities to pause and show appreciation to peers. Two special eCards are available to recognize this initiative and send, as well as other recognition tips on the Path Forward website.

“When we can partner with initiatives such as the MVP spotlights and the well-being challenge, we keep recognition top of mind and show appreciation for our team members for all they do,” said Grantham.

How to send your first eCard or MAD award

If you have not used the site yet, log in today and send a Making a Difference award or an eCard. Sending a ‘thank you’ or ‘happy birthday’ message is a few simple clicks away.

• Go to recognition.med.umich.edu and log-in using level-2 username and password
• Set up a profile
• Select “Recognize” at the top of the home screen. From there, is the option to send an eCard or MAD award.

The recipient will be notified by email that they have received an award or eCard, or you can print the MAD certificate and present it to them in person.

What’s next for the recognition site

The recognition team continues to look at ways to further enhance the platform. In the coming weeks, other additional features will be added, including milestone awards to celebrate the upcoming Service Awards, and integration with other organization-wide initiatives.