Staff Recognition Award Guidelines

UNM staff play a valuable role in the University’s overall success. Formal Staff Recognition Awards are permitted as outlined in UNM Policy 3235 as a way of rewarding staff members who provide exceptional contributions to the University. In order to be allowable, formal monetary Staff Recognition Awards must be made in accordance with laws and UNM Policies, such as:

Monetary Staff Recognition Awards CANNOT be Employee Bonuses

While Staff Recognition Awards are a great tool for the University to recognize outstanding staff members, using the Staff Recognition program to make any payment to a UNM employee that resembles a bonus would violate State Law, specifically the New Mexico Anti-Donation law for public funds.

Unallowable Staff Recognition Award payments resembling unlawful bonuses include, but are not limited to:

Monetary payments, even for a modest amount, made to a significant number of staff or significant percentage of staff in one department/division/unit.
Monetary payments, even for a modest amount, made to an employee or group of employees in thanks for their exceptional work, completing a project, working overtime or doing a great job.
Monetary payments, even for a modest amount, made to an employee or group of employees for achieving vague or ambiguous criteria.
Monetary payments, even for a modest amount, made to an employee or group of employees for achieving job-specific goals, metrics or criteria.
Staff Recognition Award criteria that is so restrictive that only one employee or only one group/class of employees in a department or departmental unit would be eligible to receive the award.
Large-dollar monetary payments made to one or more employees.
Monetary payments made to all/most staff members in a department or unit within a department, or all/most staff members within one department’s or departmental unit's group/class of employees.
Employees receiving Staff Recognition award payments from the same department/unit/division in consecutive years.

Allowable Staff Recognition Monetary Awards - Specific Guidelines

By following the guidelines below, we are able to substantiate that our Staff Recognition payments are not unlawful bonuses and fall within UNM Policy:

Award Names and Quantities Must be Defined - The Staff Recognition Awards form must detail the names and number of awards to be given out annually (ex. Outstanding Supervisor - 2, Outstanding New Employee - 1, etc).
Specific Award Criteria - Each particular award must have firm, specific award criteria from which candidates/nominees will be judged/selected.
Formal Evaluation by Selection Committee - Each award must have a formal evaluation process conducted by a selection committee. The committee members should be listed on the Staff Recognition Awards request form. The committee should be comprised of a group, not just one member or one high ranking official from the department/division/unit.
Awarded based on Published Criteria - Awards should be made by the awards committee based on each award’s specific criteria, as outlined in the Staff Recognition request form.
Eligibility Criteria - Each award should have eligibility criteria, outlining the population who are eligible to receive an award.
Limited Number or Awards - The number of awards issued in any given year must be extremely limited. The overwhelming majority of staff members in a department/division who are eligible to receive an award should not receive an award in any given year.
Award amounts must be reasonable - In most cases, awards ranging from $50 - $2,000 would be considered reasonable.
Award quantities must be reasonable - In most cases, 1-5 total awards for a department/division/unit would be considered reasonable.
Winning Awards in Consecutive Years is Prohibited - It is strongly recommended that employees who receive a Staff Recognition award be ineligible to receive an award from the same department/division/unit in the subsequent year.

The Staff Recognition Award form template can be found here:

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Sample Staff Recognition Award & Award Criteria

The following information is for illustrative purposes to assist you in providing the information necessary to fill out a Staff Recognition Awards form.

Outstanding Supervisor Award - $1,000

Eligibility - All 15 department/division supervisors who are past their initial UNM 6-month probationary periods are eligible for nomination.

Quantity of Awards - One winner will be selected by the awards committee.

Nomination - Staff members can be nominated by any department member including members of the award selection committee.

Award selection criteria:

Supervisor promotes a positive, supportive work environment for their staff consistent with University values.
The Supervisor’s overall engagement of their employees, resulting in high overall output for the department.
Supervisor’s overall dedication to their job and the department.
The Supervisor must not have received an award in the prior year.
Most recent performance evaluation rating was successful overall.

Evaluation Process – The selection committee will evaluate all nominees based on the Award selection criteria.

Award Selection Committee - The Awards selection committee consists of Dean Mickey Mouse, Professor Donald Duck, Accounting Manager Minnie Mouse and the Department Administrator Scooby Doo.

Selection Process - The award selection committee will meet on October 15^th to review the nominee qualifications, evaluate against the award selection criteria, and determine the award winners.

Ceremony - A ceremony will be held by the unit on November 1^st to recognize the contributions of our staff and to hand out the awards. Attendees will consist of approximately 50 of the department's faculty, staff and students.