TCU faculty and staff are invited to participate in TCU Celebrates, a customized recognition platform designed for Horned Frog employees. Following years of university growth – and the seismic interruption of the COVID-19 pandemic – many across campus acknowledged it was time to update TCU’s employee recognition strategy.
“The changing demographics of TCU employees inspired curiosity about finding a modern way to appreciate its multi-generational workforce,” said Mariam MacGregor, assistant vice chancellor for employee engagement and success. “It was important to find an interactive tech platform that could achieve a few things at once – engage every employee and enhance employee recognition, while helping eliminate organizational silos and promote broader connections.”
MacGregor explained that, throughout 2022, Ebony Rose, senior learning and development consultant, involved a workgroup of TCU faculty and staff to explore options. Faculty and staff will soon experience the results. Following the Welcome & Opening Lunch on Friday, Aug. 18, employees will receive an email invitation to join. After activating their account in TCU Celebrates, employees can participate and have access to:
- Congratulatory messages for years of service and other accomplishments
- Employee-chosen awards for milestone anniversaries
- Birthday well-wishes
- Horned Frog high-fives
- Printable service certificates
The service will be accessed using single sign-on through a tile on my.tcu.edu. Logging into the TCU Celebrates dashboard will show messages and upcoming dates for service anniversaries and, if individuals choose to share, birthdays. Every user will have a personal dashboard plus a campuswide “public” feed and can customize notification preferences for the system. When sending messages through the system, such as congratulations or happy birthday, users can choose between having messages visible to all, visible to a select group or visible only to the recipient.
“An important feature of the program is the alerts managers will receive about upcoming dates for their direct reports,” MacGregor said. “TCU Celebrates adds a cross-campus dimension for how employees are recognized and celebrated with a social-media-style layout to broadcast these milestones beyond one’s department. This allows colleagues campuswide to celebrate personal and professional milestones of others. Supervisors and respective departments will always have the most significant role in celebrating and appreciating their team, and that should remain a priority.”
To develop TCU Celebrates, Rose relied on employee feedback. She learned that in addition to every five years, a three-year service award is meaningful, especially for early career and new-to-higher-ed employees. The workgroup also learned that employees prefer being given a choice for their service awards and that employees care deeply about celebrating one another. Future plans for the platform include incorporating retirement recognitions, which will be managed by Robin Scruton, benefits consultant.
“Refining the approach and selecting the right platform took longer than expected. Yet, the timing aligns perfectly with wrapping up TCU’s 150th year,” MacGregor said. “We get to kick off TCU’s future by celebrating the many exceptional employees who make TCU a great place to be.”
Visit the portal and sign up for TCU Celebrates.