Finance Division

Purpose

To acknowledge employees for individual accomplishments.

It is not the intention of this formal program to take the place of informal appreciation or recognition of employees on a day-to-day basis. Daily recognition by supervisors and co-workers is highly encouraged. Informal recognition supports the formal program and is extremely important to the well-being and morale of the Division.

Program Overview

The Finance Division Extra Mile Award Program provides a systematic method for acknowledging achievements by employees, and for publicly announcing such accomplishments to the Division and the University community.

Selectees recognized through this program will be honored at a ceremony during the final quarter of the fiscal year, which will be combined with the annual Finance Division Employee Appreciation event. All nominees for recognition will have their accomplishments reviewed by a committee of Finance Division peers. The program intends to recognize achievements within the employees’ work in Finance: the accomplishments, timeliness, cooperation, dedication, creativity, and enthusiasm while performing assigned functions within the Division. The program is implemented as a way to show all employees that they are appreciated and respected by their associates.

(Note: Teamwork and cooperation are critical to the success of every organization. This Employee Recognition Program has been developed to reward individual efforts, whether those efforts are accomplished alone or while working in a team. It is not the intent of this Program to suppress the importance of team accomplishments.)

Selection Committee

A Selection Committee, made up of eight Finance Division employees, will be the primary body responsible for the execution of this program. The committee will be selected from volunteers on an annual basis and will serve for a two-year term.

The eight members will be selected to provide representation from the different areas and work functions within Finance, as shown below:

An outgoing Selection Committee will have a final duty to form a new committee. They should put out a call for volunteers and select the committee from those volunteering according to the area distribution in the table above. If sufficient volunteers are not forthcoming the committee may issue another call and actively recruit team members. The success of the program will be due in large part to the dedicated and conscientious work of this committee.

A newly selected committee will have an initial assignment of selecting persons to serve as chair and scribe. The chair will convene meetings of the committee as necessary. The scribe will be responsible for taking and distributing minutes of the meetings. The minutes of each meeting should be kept for historic records and filed in the Associate Vice Chancellor’s office after the award recognition program is complete for the year. The assignment of scribe may rotate among team members. At the earliest meeting(s) the committee should review and reissue the nomination form, announce the dates of the cutoff for nominations and for the next recognition ceremony, and decide how the next program cycle will be advertised. The committee may make revisions to this program, which is discussed in the Program Revision section of these guidelines.

All employees of the Finance Division are eligible for participation on the Selection Committee once they have completed one year of employment with the University. Each Selection Committee member will serve a consecutive term of two years, with one-half of the members rotating off the committee each year. The member from Management will serve two years and will not vote except to function as the tie-breaking vote on decisions. This member will also ensure proper policies and procedures are followed, and will serve as the liaison to Division management. Rotation of the member will be decided at a Division staff meeting.

The chair should stress to all members of the committee that discussions on the selection of winners is strictly confidential. Any and all statements made by members of the committee about nominees, nominators or achievements are not to be discussed or repeated outside committee meetings.

Eligibility

Any full-time or part-time permanent or temporary SPA employee within the Finance Division is eligible for these awards. A new or temporary employee is not eligible for an award until they have completed 90 days. Once an employee has received an award they are not eligible for another award the following year.

Nominated employees with an active disciplinary action or “Below Good” or “Unsatisfactory” overall performance rating on their most recent WPPR will be withdrawn by the Selection Committee.

Members of the Selection Committee are not eligible for nomination, nor are individuals in a position of Director or above. Further, these individuals may not make nominations of others while serving their term on the committee.

Employees shall be nominated based on extra effort demonstrated in their:

Nomination Process

A nomination for recognition may be made at any time during the year, and can be made by any full-time or part-time Finance Division or other Carolina permanent employee, except as noted above under eligibility rules. Nominations are to be made by completing a nomination form, signing it and forwarding to a member of the Selection Committee. The nominator should make the supporting documentation and reasons for the nomination as complete as possible. The nomination form must stand on its own; the nominator will not have a further opportunity to argue the case before the committee.

Each nomination will be given the same consideration regardless of the number of nominator’s signatures or supporting signatures. A nomination that is not a winner for a particular year may be resubmitted in future years. Non-winning forms will not be carried over automatically. It is the nominator’s decision whether or not to notify the nominee.

Nomination forms are available on-line at www.unc/edu/finance/recprog.htm, but must be printed and signed by the nominating person(s) prior to being submitted. Forms are also available from the AVC Finance Office.

Selection Process

The chair of the Selection Committee will convene the committee as soon as the closing date for nominations has occurred. The committee will decide upon their method for evaluation and establish a schedule of meeting(s) for the selection process.

The Management member of the committee will remind committee members of the following:

• All discussions of the committee are confidential.
• Neither the nominator nor the nominee may be contacted for additional information.
• Changes may not be made to the nomination forms.
• Committee members are not to be lobbyists for nominees from their particular area. The representation from different areas is intended to assure expertise for evaluation of different work tasks, skills and knowledge.
• Only five winners are allowed per year.

The Selection Committee is charged with the following duties and the chair will be responsible for assigning them to committee members and assuring they are completed:

• Prepare the certificates to be presented to the winners. Acquire frames for the certificates.
• Purchase the gift certificates to be awarded.
• Plan and make arrangements for the award ceremony and employee appreciation event, in conjunction with the AVC/Finance office.
• Publicize the awards ceremony/appreciation event.
• Publicize the award winners in appropriate news media.

Awards
5 Winners:

• Certificate and acknowledgement letter from the Associate Vice Chancellor and Vice Chancellor
• $100 gift certificate (net, after tax deductions)
• One paid day of annual leave

Gift certificates awarded are taxable and will be included on the recipient’s W-2 form. Award recipients will be considered during the nomination process for the Chancellor’s Award.

Program Modification and Improvement

The program is intended to be an active and responsive process. As such it is intended that the program will be evaluated on a regular and on-going basis for ways that it may be improved or changed to accommodate changes in the Division.

Employees also need to understand that the success of the program is the responsibility of employees to voice their needs. Concerns and ideas for improvement should be forwarded to committee members.

The Selection Committee will be charged with the evaluation and change of the program. If the program is to be modified, it must be done by a subcommittee made up of current Selection Committee members and of the immediate prior committee.

Changes to the program may be suggested by anyone in Finance. Suggested changes should be submitted in writing to the chair of the Selection Committee, and must be signed and dated. A simple majority vote of the committee is required to convene a modification subcommittee. The chair of the present Selection Committee will chair the subcommittee. The subcommittee will discuss proposed changes and may approve them by a majority vote of a proper quorum. Any changes must also have the approval of the senior staff of the Division.