Are you looking for staff award ideas? We often hear that building positive relationships with students is important, but what about building positive relationships with our staff? Staff awards are the perfect way to honor our coworkers.
Being an educator is hard work. Oftentimes it feels like you can’t catch a break, have too much on your plate, feel underpaid, under-appreciated, and so much more. Does this sound like you? Or your school? If you answered yes to either one of those questions, I know how you feel. I know how hard it can be. I saw a need for change in my building and came up with staff award ideas and this launched a simple but effective way to boost staff morale in the building.
How can you these staff award ideas started?
Staff awards get kicked off at the beginning of year to all staff members in the building either through an email or at the first staff meeting. They are strongly encouraged to nominate as much as or as little as they want throughout the school year. These staff award ideas are designed to recognize the small and big things that we do for each other throughout the day.
Prior to introducing the awards to the staff, the awards are printed in color and laminated so they will last throughout the school year. It helps to have a stock pile of awards prepared ahead of time so they can be delivered quickly to staff. I also make sure I have an ample amount of the award sheets ready to go. I created a small bulletin board outside of the office to display the award options so it remains a visual reminder and increases the amount of nominations.
I’m ready, so what’s next?
So you’re ready to launch your staff awards, now what? You’ll first want to figure out the best way to share how to nominate someone. The precreated Staff Awards google form is an easy way to organize nominations. I have found it best to share this link in newsletters, staff shared google classrooms, and created a QR code that is easy to scan. This has helped increase the amount of nominations and is easy to track. I have turned on the email notifications to make sure that anytime someone is nominated their award can be delivered to them quickly.
I like to keep track of who has earned an award and what kind they have earned through a google spreadsheet. This makes it fun when staff are nominated for more than one award. If they are nominated more than once they get a gold star. I was inspired by the Ohio State Buckeyes helmets. When a player does something great they get to add a buckeye to their helmet. As educators, they get to add a gold star! It still recognizes the staff member and adds something extra to it.
Let’s keep it interesting
Having staff award options all year can get a little redundant. Over the last few years I have started to create themed awards based off of seasons. I love a good pun, so most of the themed awards are centered around puns.
Halloween/Fall Awards:
- Oh my Gourd! You’re amazing!
- Squad Ghouls
- You are Fangtastic
- Bat to the Bone
- Hocus Pocus I Need Coffee to Focus
- You are Lit
Thanksgiving Awards:
- You’re on a roll
- Sweet as Pie
- Feast Mode
- You’re Yam-azing!
Winter Awards:
- Elfin’ Around
- Brightest Bulb
- Santa-izer
- A Joy to the World
- Merry and Bright
- Sleighin’ All Day
Valentine’s Day Awards:
- One in a Melon
- You’re a Gem
- Cupid’s Cutie
- You Light Up My Life
- Queen of Hearts
March Madness/St.Patrick’s Day Awards:
- Life of the Paddy
- Lucky Charm
- Hot Shot
- Dream Team
- You Shamrock
Creating space to spread kindness and have a positive work environment is incredibly important to me. I saw an opportunity through Staff Awards to recognize others and it’s been averaging over 300 staff award nominations yearly for the last three years. If you are looking for a way to boost staff morale, take the leap and do it. If you choose to use these staff award ideas, I’d love for you to share them with me!
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