The holiday season is a time to give back, and Yale Medical Group (YMG) is giving back to its own employees with the help of a new Employee Appreciation Committee (EAC), tasked with finding ways to make all staff members feel appreciated and recognized.
Kicking off the EAC’s efforts is a new YMG employee holiday luncheon. The group decided to make YMG’s annual breakfast a “more meaningful experience” by turning it into a catered buffet-style lunch, where employees can “sit with [their] coworkers and eat together,” said Laura Striker, the human resources generalist who assisted in forming the committee. To accommodate all YMG employees, the EAC has planned three separate dates (with more details to come) for the luncheon:
- Yale Physician’s Building, December 5
- West Campus, December 12
- 300 George Street, December 19
While the venues might be different, Striker said the goals are the same. “We want [employees] to feel appreciated, to enjoy the time together with their coworkers, and to feel like YMG is doing something to recognize them. “
The EAC, made up of a core group of about 10 employees from throughout YMG, is open to new members who would like to provide input on “what’s meaningful to employees,” Striker said. They are seeking additional ways to “improve employee morale, provide better experiences, and get input from the employees about what they think is important,” she said.
Other events on the EAC’s agenda are a spring picnic and a peer-to-peer employee recognition program slated to debut in 2015. While the group is still working on the specifics, Striker said the recognition program will provide a public forum to “create a sense of being recognized, and being appreciated and acknowledged for helping someone out.”
YMG employees interested in participating in the committee should e-mail Laura at laura.striker@yale.edu.