With the winter behind us and the blossoms in full bloom, Spring Fever is kickin’ in! The Recognition Quality Team (RQT) can’t help you pollen sufferers, but if you’ve got an itch to recognize your peers, the RQT is there! Since November 1st, Financial Management, Treasury and Strategy Management have utilized tools from the RQT to recognized peers, including 144 BRAVOs, 2 STAR Awards, 1 LINQ, 6 Team Spirits, 2 Person to Person Gatherings and an astonishing 735 Recognition Treats!!

 

LINQ Award:

On January 15, 2009, Steven Roberts, Manager of Program Operations of Mailing Services, was presented a LINQ Award for being Trustworthy. Steven is observed as being technically competent and knowledgeable, a leader “who leads by example and walks-the-talk.” He “consistently demonstrates genuine commitment to the success of Mailing Services and the entire University as a whole.” He supports and encourages others to grow and excel in their jobs by promoting employee development and cross-training to achieve their goals. He is continually seeking to improve his own knowledge by going “the extra mile to get the training he needs, as well as to assist others in making them feel secure in implementing something new.” He is someone who is considered approachable and friendly and his judgment is trusted by others. Steven’s commitment to providing accurate and quality services to the University and continued process improvements demonstrates his ability to be an effective leader. Way to go, Steven!!

 

STAR Awards:

The SFS Accounting Process Improvement Team received a STAR (Successfully Taking Another Route) Award on February 3, 2009.  The team members include Jeff Petersen, Tess Domingo, Mark Brady, Joanna Medina, MaiLin Chua, Arlene Lalas, Shannon Corcoran, Dick Simmons, Colin Sachs, Jaeson Albritton and Norm Englund.  They were recognized for their work on the SFS Accounting Unit Process Improvement project. This project was not only a long-term improvement that opened channels of communication, but it also provided both cost and time savings benefits.  The team formally kicked off their project in November 2007.  They first needed to clearly define what the accounting needs were for SFS.  Over the course of a year, they implemented a series of training sessions with all of the accounting staff, had a reconciliation module developed to streamline and standardize reconciliation reporting, identified and documented their core processes and clarified roles and responsibilities. They reduced a highly manual process and gained an overall better understanding of the process. Wow! Great job, team!!

 

On March 2, 2009, Payroll’s T-Group was presented with the STAR Award for their work on the NRA Stipend Report project. The team members’ (Heather Norberg Stewart, Eva Lu, Shawna Litterski and Yee Lam) work on the project contributed to a long-term improvement with cost and time savings and improved customer service. The year-long NRA Stipend Report project had many goals which resulted in streamlining and automating a very manual process. Flags were added to the payroll system HEPPS to automatically calculate federal income tax withholding for non-resident aliens. The old process was ten steps, including manually comparing files for previous and current pay for each recipient and emails between departments and recipients to verify information. This process was reduced to four steps, resulting in a more efficient process with timely and accurate calculations of federal withholding on the recipients’ paychecks. Previously, the old process required 100% FTE by a Senior Accountant, but because of the team’s hard work, the time has now been reduced to 50% FTE and allows the accountant the time to perform other tasks.  This results in an annual salary savings of approximately $26,000!! Wonderful work, team!!

 

Team Spirits:

Creative Communications, 12/11/08 – “Teamwork” and completing a Large Mailing
Creative Communications, 1/22/09 – Mailing Group for the brand new mailing services operation in the UW Tower  
Payroll and Financial Services, 3/5/09 – For the “Snow Bunnies!” who came in when the UW closed to get out everyone’s payroll and wire transfers so everyone got paid.
Procurement Services Admin Support, 3/13/09 – Celebrating a job well done on a project that was finished quickly and accurately!
EIT, 3/17/09 – Congratulations Strategic Thinkers!

 

Recognition Rewards Quarterly Winner:

Yolanda Watson from Purchasing is the recipient of the quarterly Recognition Rewards for the 08-09 third quarter! She will receive a $25 Visa Gift Card for using a Recognition Treat to recognize her co-worker. Thank you for saying Thank You, Yolanda!

To qualify for the quarterly drawing, recognize a peer today!