Awards for Excellence

Summary:

The purpose of the Awards for Excellence is to formally recognise and reward outstanding and exceptional work performance, service and contributions to the achievement of USQ's goals and priorities by academic and professional employees.  University Awards are available in the following categories.
 

Professional Staff Awards for Excellence in: 

  • Outstanding Service in Living the USQ Values; and 
  • Excellence in Continuous Improvement.

Community Engagement Awards for:

  • Community Engagement in recognition of outstanding achievement and best practice in the development of mutually beneficial and sustainable partnerships between USQ and its communities; and 
  • Community Service in recognition of outstanding achievement for service to the community.

The primary purpose of these awards is to recognize and encourage outstanding service to the community by employees and to foster best practice in university-community engagement. These awards are available to both professional and academic employees.

Equal Opportunity for Women Achievement Awards

The equal opportunity awards are designed to recognize the contributions of individuals and groups who have sponsored or developed initiatives supportive of a University culture that values the contributions of women, both employees and students, and are available to both professional and academic employees.

Learning and Teaching Awards

These awards and recognition initiatives aim to advance learning and teaching at USQ and are designed to encouraging excellence in teaching, and provide opportunities for enhancement and leadership in teaching. The awards are available to both professional and academic employees.
 

Related policies and procedures:

Employee Awards for Excellence
Learning and Teaching Awards and Recognition Policy

HR Contact:

John Pearson, Executive Director, Human Resources
Anita O'Neill, Executive Assistant

Why do people need reward and recognition? Isn’t their salary and employment package enough?

“It’s never about the money – it’s about their hearts and minds. While financial rewards tend to receive the greatest focus, non-monetary rewards are used to support a performance-driven culture. Just over half of the participants surveyed said that their current employer uses non-monetary recognition as part of its reward program”.

Cash has its place, but it is not as effective when it comes to recognising people. Quite simply, it is not memorable. 72% of people said that, if given cash rewards, they disappear on bills, taxes and necessaries. 70% said that cash begins to become expected and therefore is confused with compensation.

(extract from Red Balloon for Corporate ‘The Little red book of answers’ 3rd edn page 31)