U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce
Performance Management
The Performance Management Mailbag
Our mail includes often-asked questions that we'll be sharing with our readers in this recurring feature.
| Q. | We are running a contest in our organization that will reward the person who comes up with the best name for our new newsletter. We would like to offer a 1-day, time-off award as the prize. Is there anything to prevent us from rewarding the winner with time off for his or her contribution? |
| A. | Governmentwide regulations do not prohibit using a time-off award as an incentive. You have described an informal suggestion program (i.e., the contest) that is encouraging employees to provide suggestions for one specific desired result-a title for the new newsletter. In this particular situation, you would be setting the 1-day time-off award as the incentive (i.e., the prize) for encouraging employee suggestions. The employee who submits the best title would be recognized with the time-off award for his or her contribution. If you choose to do this, you should make sure that everyone involved understands the rules of the contest (i.e., the suggestion program) and that the "winning" employee is being recognized for his or her valuable contribution to the organization and is not merely receiving a "prize." Also, make sure that you follow the specific rules for using time-off awards established in your agency's awards program. |
| Q. | We would like to give an award to an employee for her long service here at our agency. Is this allowed? |
| A. | Recognizing an employee for his or her many years of service generally is done by giving the employee a career service certificate and/or a pin. These forms of informal recognition items usually are most appropriate for this type of accomplishment. If an agency is considering a more substantial form of recognition, such as a cash or time-off award, the agency should ensure that it is recognizing the employee for demonstrating consistent exemplary performance during the employee's long service career and not merely recognizing the employee for "serving time" or "warming the bench." |
Originally published on December 1999
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