This Year S Employee Appreciation Day Was Held on May 16, 2002. Our Theme for This Year

This year’s Employee Appreciation Day was held on May 16, 2002. Our theme for this year was “Simply the Best.” The logo was used on the EAD Brochure, the web page, the lunch stickers, the lunch cups and signage. 1170 people registered in advance for workshops and/or the lunch. Lunch was held on the quad due to beautiful 80 degree weather. Attendance for lunch was only minimally down from 2001 Employee Appreciation Day in which the total was 1,181. However there was a significant decrease in the number of people attending workshops this year. In 2001 888 people registered for at least one workshop while in 2002 the number was only 753, which is a decrease of 14%. The EAD Registrar reported people calling to cancel workshops due to the popularity of the two movies that were offered in Grafton Stovall Theater.

Evaluation forms were handed out at the Hospitality Table on the day of the event, posted to the website and a reminder was sent out to all employees with the link to the web page from by the Office of Human Resources on May 22,2002. Of the 182 evaluations returned, 88% agreed or strongly agreed that the variety of activities was sufficient. 96% agreed or strongly agreed that the confirmation package included everything needed for the day. All of those who returned evaluations also agreed or strongly agreed that attending Employee Appreciation Day was worth their time and that the Day should be repeated next year. Specific comments received are included with this report.

Workshops:

Forty-four workshops were scheduled (54 sessions) twenty one were new and twenty three were repeated from last year. Twenty-three sessions were full and only 2 sessions (Cooking with Chef Fred and Ukrainian Egg decorating) had to be cancelled. A listing of the workshops is attached. 753 people registered for at least one workshop and 417 for lunch only. Employees registered for 1,100 seats in workshops. There were only 89 requests for workshops that were all ready full and 23 classes were either full or overbooked.

Of those who responded to the evaluation, 96% agreed or strongly agreed that the workshops were well-organized and informative and the workshop locations were comfortable and appropriate.

Shuttle bus service was arranged for four of the workshops. Buses also stopped at bus stops on campus to transport participants conveniently from one workshop to another. There was some confusion with the bus schedule this year since Transportation had indicated that they would only be picking employees up on the bus stops around campus before printing the brochure but then added the Godwin stops after the publication had been mailed. Employees were informed of the changes by the EAD website and the hospitality table.

The workshop subcommittee was chaired by Jane Beach. This subcommittee has a tremendous amount of work to accomplish over the course of the year for the workshops and although Jane did a terrific job managing this subcommittee and the workshops in general she has indicated that she will have a co-chair next year.

This year the workshop subcommittee started a new tradition for EAD, the “EAD Challenge.” This year’s challenge was a Scavenger Hunt. The registration was open for teams of 2-8 people and 18 teams signed up. Each team made up a team name and the creativity on campus was evident in those names. There was some controversy in naming a winner. Of the two top teams, the second place team accused the first place team of cheating so in the spirit of fairness, a decision was made to award the prize to both teams. The winners received a plaque signed by Dr. Rose and a pizza party for their office. Originally the idea of the EAD Challenge was to have a new challenge every year but due to the popularity of the Scavenger Hunt it may be advisable to do it for another year with some minor rule modifications.

Also repeated this year were the two movies at Grafton Stoval, donated by the University Program Board. The morning movie was “Ocean’s Eleven” and the afternoon movie was “A Beautiful Mind.” This year we were also able to provide drinks and popcorn for the movies, which was well received by employees attending the movies. Both movies were full. Many people commented on their evaluation that they would like to continue the movies next year. It was also reported by the EAD Registrar that many employees had called to cancel their workshops so that they could attend the movies. Free pool and billiards at Taylor Down Under was also repeated again this year.

Picnic:

The committee decided on the following menu at $7.95 per person (Cake was an additional $450):

Hamburgers/Veggie Burgers

Hot Dogs

Cold Pasta Salad with Garden Vegetables

Traditional Macaroni and Cheese

Vegetarian Baked Beans

Chips

Cake

Ice Cream Novelties

Assorted Drinks

This year’s picnic was held on the quad but the Convocation was held as a rain location. The weather was sunny and 80 degrees so use of the Convocation Center was not needed. The official time of the picnic was 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m., and unofficially people were allowed to begin going through the lines at 11:00 a.m. This strategy continues to work well to minimize lines.

EAD buttons were replaced this year with stickers in order to provide plastic stadium cups that employees could take with them. This was well received and we recommend continuing this practice. Although in the future we suggest providing a place on the sticker for employees to write in their names in order to foster communication between employees.

Of those who returned evaluations and answered the question, 100% agreed or strongly agreed that the picnic location was good. This was up from 86% from EAD 2001 when the picnic was forced into the Convocation Center due to bad weather. 87% agreed or strongly agreed that the food selection was good, which is the same as the previous year.

Budget:

The amount approved this year by the president’s office was $17,949. Items were donated by departments, including the morning coffee and doughnuts in TDU, popcorn for the movies, and afternoon lemonade with cookies. We also received numerous door prizes totaling $3,776.25 in value. The design fee from the publications office for the work on the brochure was waived, and the printing of the brochure was donated by Color Graphics Corp. Total expenses for 2002 were $15,959.97 with 160 t-shirts purchased for door prizes as well as a plastic logo cup for all attendees. The expense for lunch this year was $10,274.30 with 1,170 in attendance. The registration ran very smoothly under Esther’s supervision, and the registrar was only needed 101.5 hours rather than 200 hours in the previous years. The final budget request is attached as well as the budget request for 2003.

Registration:

After success in the previous year, the entirely mail-in process continued for this year’s EAD registration process. This allows for all employees, even those who don’t have computer access, to have the same, fair process. This paper registration process works well and is strongly recommended to continue in the future.

Brochures were mailed on April 1st and registrations were accepted all the way up until May 15th. Again for this year a separate Mail Stop Code, phone number and email address was set up for the Registrar. A temporary employee was used to key evaluations into the registration database and answer questions from employees regarding EAD. Esther Nizer was the Registration Coordinator again this year and she hired Linda Maxwell, retired JMU employee, to work as the EAD Registrar. Esther and Linda did a fantastic job coordinating the registration process this year. We recommend that the temporary employee for EAD 2003 be hired 6 weeks ahead of time to coincide with the mailing of the brochures. Also, the Registration Coordinator recommends continuing with the 200 hours for the temporary employee as well.

Publicity/Brochure:

Adam Breeden of the Identity Leadership Team was this year’s Publicity Coordinator. We were again extremely fortunate to have Color Graphics waive their publication fee and printing costs for the brochures this year. We are hopeful that the these fees can continue to be waived in subsequent years and it will be important for the committee to contact Color Graphics early in the planning process to arrange this. Their inability to do this would have a dramatic effect on the rest of the EAD budget.

This year’s brochure again included a tear off piece for registration purposes. On the front cover was a brief letter to employees from Dr. Rose and the remaining inside panels included workshop information. The back panels included the general schedule for the day, lunch menu, registration instructions, and transportation information. It also listed the Steering Committee members and a brief description of the EAD Challenge-Scavenger Hunt. Also included on the back was a blurb about the JMU Bookstore offering a 20% discount to JMU Employees on EAD.

The logo for EAD 2002 was designed by JMU student, Gaylen Cragin. The logo was used on the brochure, plastic stadium cups, signage and T-shirts.

Entertainment:

The Entertainment subcommittee was this year headed by Lorie Miller. For the first time in the history of EAD, the band Staff Infection chose not to play at lunch. Therefore we hired the band, “The Jimmy O” band from Waynesboro. 93% of those who responded on the evaluation form either agreed or strongly agreed that they liked the entertainment this year. This is up 1% from last year. Many great comments about the band were included in the comments. The committee would recommend bringing this band back in the future.

For the second year in a row games were held during lunch as well. Bingo and the Dunking booth were extremely popular and returned for a second year. The dunking booth volunteers included Brian Charette, Jennifer Dawson, Doyle Hess, Rick Larson and Towana Moore. The Dunking Booth was again a popular event, even lasting about 20 minutes after lunch was over. Bingo was also full the entire time during lunch especially since EAD shirts were the prizes this year. Replacing the JMU Trivia, which wasn’t well-received last year, was a face painter. Mark Powell brought his “Air Illusions” face painting to the quad this year and it was fairly well received. He saw steady business during lunch even with a few lines at times. The committee recommends bringing back the games at lunch for subsequent events and even trying to expand on the selections.

Hospitality:

This year’s hospitality committee was in charge of obtaining all the door prizes, which was a change from previous years, as well the hospitality table and the refreshment tables on the Warren Patio.

The subcommittee obtained 4 grand prizes for this year’s event as well as a substantial amount of door prizes for the lunchtime giveaway. The grand prizes included a golf/ski getaway to Canaan Valley Resort, 3 months of cell phone service plus a cell phone from Ntelos, $250 gift certificate from Grand Furnishings and a Madison Print from P. Buckley Moss. The door prizes were again drawn the Monday before EAD and for the first time only the grand prizes were announced. The remainder of the door prizes were listed on signs that were hung around various places on the quad during lunch, including in the line to the buffet. This seem to work well since people could look for their name while they were waiting in line as well as not as many interruptions for the band. There was also a special drawing held to encourage people to fill out evaluation forms after EAD this year.

The free coffee and lemonade were provided again this year but were enhanced by doughnuts and cookies donated by Dining Services. This year’s subcommittee was chaired by Cecilia Mead.

EAD Web Page:

Camilla Washington did another fantastic job developing and updating the EAD web page this year. Copies of the web page are attached. The web page included pages on the workshops, entertainment, lunch menu, schedule (printable only) transportation, steering committee, news/announcements, prizes, forms and the scavenger hunt. This year’s web page also include a countdown clock until EAD and inviting employees to “check out the competition” and see who had signed up for the Scavenger Hunt. After EAD, the web page also included the EAD evaluation and a list of door prize winners.

Recommendations for EAD 2003:

• Workshops

Scavenger Hunt was a huge success but there needs to be more control over the issuing of the clues. Apparently there was some confusion with participants over which clues to take.

Evaluations indicate a need for more classes with larger capacities.

Continue the movies with popcorn and sodas. Contact UPB to try and get names of movies available for the brochure. This would cut down on people canceling workshops and just skipping out of workshops to see the movies, which apparently happened with great frequency this year.

• Picnic

While employees liked the choice of food, they didn’t seem to like the taste or appearance of the hamburgers/hotdogs. Going back to the beef (not pork, many people can’t eat pork) barbecue seems like a better option for a large amount of people.

Make sure there is a substantial vegetarian option not just macaroni and cheese. Veggie Burgers were well received.

• Registration

Continue with mail in registration in order to provide all employees a fair and equitable manner of registering.

Use wage employee again for 200 hours beginning 6 weeks before EAD.

• Publicity/Brochure

T-shirts as always were very popular. Look into either providing T-shirts for everyone who signs up for lunch (replacing stickers or buttons) or find a way to sell T-shirts.

Souvenir cups were also very popular with lunch goers. Continue to have something employees can take away from the day.

• Entertainment

Continue with games and dunking booth. Try to have different people sit in the dunking booth every year with at least one being from Facilities Management.

This year’s band, Jimmy O, was a hit with employees; we recommend bringing them back again.

• Hospitality

Have the door prize table open after lunch so people can come collect their prize.

Better signs for the Hospitality Table.

Grand Prizes should be obtained early so that information can be put into the brochure.

If the amount of vendors contacted for door prizes remains large, a larger subcommittee needs to be formed to cut down on the number of people each person contacts. Make sure individuals on the subcommittee are completely aware of what they are volunteering to do.

Also try to get Dining Services to donate doughnuts and cookies for the refreshment tables again.

• Miscellaneous Recommendations

Move EAD 03 up one week to May 8, 2003. This will be the week before May Session starts thus enabling more offices to actually close for lunch. Many employees still can’t enjoy EAD because of a need for coverage in their offices.

Must have someone on Steering Committee to handle the EAD budget as their only responsibility.

Continue to have Facilities Management person on the Steering Committee.

Continue to give Steering Committee Members different color shirts to make them more recognizable.

Do not rent tables/chairs from off-campus vendors. They are enough tables and chairs around JMU to suffice. But, must make sure that tables will fit Special Events table skirting clips.

Volunteers for EAD 2003:

Name / Dept / MSC / Telephone / email
Yvonne Miller / College of Education / 1103 / 83455 / millerys
Ellen DeFriece / Carrier Library / 1703 / 83544 / defrieef
Cheryl Nunez / Registration Services / 3533 / 81721 / nunzce
Kristy Mowbra / Nursing / 4305 / 86314 / mowbrakx
Amy Waters / Development Office / 4403 / 83440 / watersah
Donna Jenkins / Housekeeping / 84445
Faye Blacka / Dining Services / 0901 / 83378 / blackafr
Judy Powell / TSC / 1803 / 88018 / powelljc
Suzanne Vance / COB / 0206 / 83250 / vancesn
Debra Morris / HSKP / 7003 / 86401 / morrisdl
Jennifer Bowman / Audit / 5703 / 83500 / bowmanjm
Jackie Mann / IS Computing Support / 0602 / 83603 / Mannjf
Michell Hite / Montpelier Magazine / 5718 / 87520 / martinmh
Tammy Steele / Human Resources / 7009 / 83597 / Steeletm

Evaluation Comments