With universities under increasing pressure, it’s more important than ever to celebrate our staff.
As internal communications professionals, it’s our job to be on the front foot, making sure our colleagues feel valued and proud to be part of our community.
Staff recognition often means prizes, awards and budgets. When university budgets are squeezed, it can be difficult to get sign-off on expensive events or campaigns. But meaningfully recognising staff doesn’t always have to cost money.
At our university, we wanted to find a way to showcase our operational staff working in professional services. These colleagues often work behind the scenes but they’re integral to keeping the university running.
We built a simple peer-led digital nomination board, which wasn’t just cost-effective – it helped colleagues celebrate each other, build connections and create a culture of authentic appreciation.
Here are four lessons we learned about how to make staff feel valued.
- Make participation feel effortless
For the busy people we work with, recognition of a colleague’s work is an extra task on a long to-do list, so the process should be light-touch and feel meaningful.
Make sure nominating someone only takes five minutes. We used a simple online platform where nominations could be submitted, viewed and celebrated in one place. The process involved submitting a couple of details and a short paragraph on why the individual should be recognised.
Those visiting the platform should feel uplifted and want to return, even if they also have packed schedules. We gave our scheme a playful and memorable name (Top of the Ops) and nominees an identity (Ops Stars) that helped them feel genuinely recognised.
- Create opportunities for connection
As well as celebrating individuals, recognition can also strengthen relationships. Through a peer-to-peer nomination board, staff see colleagues they might not have much daily interaction with. It can help them make new connections and discover work happening in their university that they otherwise might not know about.
Ask nominees to share photos of themselves. We found that including these helped colleagues recognise each other and increase the vibrancy of the platform.
Turn on likes and comments. Encouraging our community to engage with the platform amplified recognition and increased revisits to the platform from colleagues at all levels of the university.
- Go beyond the nomination
The nomination is just the start of the recognition. Ask nominees to share their achievement with their teams and make it easy to pass on the appreciation. We sent nominees an email to congratulate them, which also invited them to nominate a colleague themselves.
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Let line managers know that a nominee has been recognised, and encourage them to celebrate their staff locally. We saw managers and senior team members congratulating each other and sharing nominations with the wider team.
Invite engagement from all areas of the institution, including senior leadership. Share a template for a simple LinkedIn post that links to the platform and acknowledges team members to build morale and pride.
- Make recognition institutional
A recognition scheme can offer creative ways to be a part of the wider university activities and moments. Don’t be afraid to work with other communications teams at your university to multiply your scheme’s reach and impact.
We linked the initiative to our bicentenary celebrations, challenging staff to help us reach 200 nominees by UCL’s 200th birthday. This enabled us to create branded and themed content, and it created a buzz across the university.
Look beyond your university for inspiration. We also arranged takeovers where nominations were invited on a theme or international day, which encouraged consideration of new colleagues.
Peer recognition is an important tool for all internal communications professionals. And when higher education budgets are restrictive, it’s still possible to create spaces where people feel seen and valued, by focusing on making participation easy and engagement meaningful. In fact, you’ll help staff feel empowered to be proud of themselves and their colleagues.
Amanroop Rahal is senior communications manager and Sofia Henderson is communications manager working in the office of the vice-president (external engagement) at UCL.
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