Orange County Employee Curbside Service Award Ceremonies

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

Orange County developed a curbside service award ceremony as a fun and safe way to continue celebrating important milestones in our employees’ careers despite the pandemic. The goal was to engage leadership in a recognition program that ensured employees felt valued for their dedicated service when traditional ceremonies were not feasible. The first of four curbside ceremonies launched on July 15. Three more were held July 29, September 15 and November 5, 2020. In a post-event survey that had a 46% response rate, 100% of respondents said they felt valued and 97% of respondents said they felt the event was excellent or good. Research shows employees who feel valued are more productive, absent less, and stay with an organization longer, saving us money in the long run. The events were so successful that the curbside ceremonies model continued in 2021. WESH 2 News and Orange TV both aired stories, which we shared on our social media channels and received the highest engagement in the past two years on LinkedIn.