Subject: "How do you reward your advisors/staff when you don't have money for merit increases?" (February 2005)

• This is something we did that was very inexpensive and also fun. I purchased a variety of horses (plastic children's toys, a magnet, whatever). Then whenever someone did an exceptional job (i.e., saw a tremendous number of students in one day, completing a massive project early), we had an impromptu meeting of the staff, had a drum roll and presented one of the horses to that staff member, stating that they were receiving it in honor of their outstanding work. It made for interesting conversation pieces when these were displayed in their offices!

P.S. I was fortunate over a period of about 2 years to award one to each of my employees.

Contributor: Pam Pudelka, Delmar College, ppudelk@delmar.edu

• My tip for rewarding advisors without money is to make sure you have a pizza lunch during the "peak" periods (like drop/add or advance registration). I always do this, and the advisors really appreciate the "break." It's a morale booster, and I always do it when we are just over half-way done with a peak period. It then signifies that "the worst is over." This is just a simple one; but sometimes those are the best!

  Contributor: Albert R. Matheny, University of Florida, matheny@polisci.ufl.edu

• I just hired three brand new advisers to finish staffing out our new Academic Advising Center. I drafted a list of "special projects" that I want us to work on this year, and then I let the advisers decide which of those projects they wanted to be involved with. I figure it was best to let them decide for themselves what things turn their crank. Once they made their selections, I made the commitment for the resources - and they're off and running.

Turns out, each one of my three people also had at least one "special project" of their own that they were really passionate about. I approved all of those - so everybody is getting multiple opportunities to shepherd projects that they are especially motivated about and excited to direct.

Contributor: Doug Swanson, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, swanson.doug@uwlax.edu

1. Providing staff a voice regarding working conditions in a broad range of areas.
2. Providing opportunities for travel and training based on interest whenever possible - including local, regional, national and international.
3. Enabling staff to be members of appropriate professional organizations to reinforce professional identity, work ethics, networking, etc.
4. Providing comp time - generally one or two days - in immediate proximity to peak periods.
5. Closing the office one day a month and two hours per day for projects, clean up, record keeping, training, etc.  (They) have this to look forward to a day every month except January and August.  They appreciate the time the office is closed each day (the counter remains open) and know they can get some control over their work, space, and stress, if necessary.  It also provides a time for staff to meet and talk informally.
6. Providing ownership by assigning each advisor a specialty area that they are the office "expert" on and can subsequently be recognized for.

   Keeping a close eye on positions and applying for reclassifications whenever warranted.
7. Nominating staff for various institutional awards.
8. Encouraging advanced education and enrichment and making flexibility possible without charging staff leave (within reason, of course) when they need schedule adjustments to attend classes.
9. Providing staff opportunities to enhance their resume  - for example, if someone has to take over a supervisor's responsibility during an extended absence, providing them the title to go with it (i.e., acting/interim assistant director).
10. Promoting from within (whenever feasible and in the interest of the office).
11. Providing food whenever staff members have to work long hours during peak registration periods - we do this in a variety of ways, none of which involves the staff preparing anything.
12. Using a variety of flexible scheduling schemes to adequately cover extended hours.

Contributor: Barbara C. Greenfeld, Howard Community College, bgreenfeld@howardcc.edu

• A few of the best ways that I recognize/reward my advising staff are the following:

1. After an exceptionally well-done project, I recognize team member(s) with printed certificates expressing my appreciation for their excellence.
2. For special occasions such as Valentine's Day, I treat the staff to pizza (really, you can get a lot of mileage out of food!).
3. For special occasions such as Birthdays, bring a cake and celebrate at the monthly staff meeting; give birthday boy/girl a free day or afternoon off.
4. We have a bulletin board located in our administrative assistant's office where we post "recognition" notes, humor, and inspirational messages. For example, our Student Affairs division has adopted the "FISH! Philosophy". (If interested in this, go to www.fishphilosophy.com.) We then post "fish kisses" for student compliments and "fish smacks" for faculty/staff compliments received or given.
5. We have "casual Fridays" to wear our university attire and/or jeans and tennies.
6. Write a personal, hand-written note of thanks to the staff member for a job well done. (In this day of high tech, the "high touch" goes a very long way.)
7. Give an exceptional employee a "free" day off (be sure to check your HR rules on this one first).
8. Print coupons for "one free hour off", "free late pass", "free leave early pass" to reward exceptional behavior with a "Freedom Coupon."

Contributor: Linda Chalmers, University of Texas at San Antonio, Linda.Chalmers@utsa.edu