Communicating employee recognition at MDOT
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
| Pages | 12-13 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390580000829 |
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| Author | Jan Seeger |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
12 Volume 4 Issue 6 September/October 2005
REWARDS
,
Short case studies that demonstrate best practice in rewards
Communicating employee
recognition at MDOT
communicating employee recognition
on a world-class scale. MDOT’s business
challenges are met head-on by the
department’s workforce. Every
employee is challenged to be an
effective team member while
individually empowered to get the work
done more quickly and efficiently. This is
not an easy task as MDOT is moving
from a “command and control”-style
agency. At the same time, the
department introduced values for each
employee to learn and live by:
• Quality – achieving our best within
our resources.
• Teamwork – effective involvement of
people.
• Customer orientation – knowing our
customers and understanding their
needs.
• Integrity – doing the right thing.
• Pride – in MDOT and the importance
of our work.
To start moving MDOT’s recognition
effort forward, a policy board, the
Employee Recognition Team (ERT), was
created to spearhead the effort. A
program administrator position was also
created to manage and promote the
formal recognition programs and to
assist in creating recognition programs
in work areas.
Creating fundamentals
MDOT’s recognition efforts need to be
effective, so they follow these basic
fundamentals:
• Be consistent with and reinforce
department values and goals.
• Highlight effective teamwork.
• Recognize improvement and
outstanding achievement whenever it
happens.
• Combine formal, informal and day-to-
day methods of recognition.
• Deliver recognition in a personal and
honest manner.
• Be timely.
• Be simple and user-friendly.
• Be flexible and fresh – be willing to
make changes.
• Ask for employees’ input.
MDOT director Gloria J. Jeff, who has
led the department since 2003, is very
supportive of celebrating employee
successes. MDOT is known to its
partners as “Team MDOT” because it is
the way our business is done. We have
become well-known for employees who
are well-trained, diverse, flexible,
responsive, and highly motivated.
Support for recognition also goes all the
way to Michigan Governor Jennifer M.
Granholm’s office.
Management support
The MDOT New Employee Orientation
(NEO) program is the first opportunity
where new employees are introduced to
our reward and recognition programs.
T
he Michigan Department of
Transportation (MDOT) is a
government multi-modal
transportation agency. In addition to
being responsible for building and
maintaining roads and bridges, MDOT
also is responsible for public
transportation that includes airplanes,
trains and buses.
This year MDOT is celebrating its
100th year of being in the
transportation business. It has
approximately 3,000 employees
statewide located in seven regions, 26
Transportation Service Centers, and
several bureaus and divisions within the
central office located in Lansing,
Michigan. Funding is provided through
gas taxes, state license fees, and federal
funds and MDOT operates on a US$3
billion annual budget.
How did it start?
In the early 1990s, MDOT initiated a
shift in its overall business strategy that
included making employee excellence
and recognition key functions for
success while promoting and
The Michigan Department of Transport is
responsible for statewide public
transportation. It has 3,000 employees
and operates on a US$3 billion annual
budget.
MDOT
If employee recognition is to create ongoing motivation and commitment it must be communicated across the
business. Jan Seeger describes how the Michigan Department of Transport shares employee success.
© Melcrum Publishing Ltd. 2005 For more information visit www.melcrum.com or e-mail info@melcrum.com
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