Stanford Celebrates You FAQ for Staff

We are enhancing our institutional service recognition for many reasons, including:

• To have a consistent approach university-wide that ensures each staff member celebrating a significant service milestone receives institutional acknowledgment for their service
• Recognition is an important aspect of the employee experience, and reflects our community’s values to recognize and share appreciation for service to the university. Our new program is meant to institutionally strengthen the visibility, consistency, and service recognition offerings

Stanford Celebrates You includes various recognition moments and awards, including:

• Recognition of the first service anniversary with a congratulatory message from the president and provost
• For staff achieving their five year service milestone, and in five-year increments thereafter, the option to select their choice of:
  • A redesigned service lapel pin

OR

• An award of comparable value

In addition, please view the video overview or the information sheet for details about the staff service recognition included in the Stanford Celebrates You program.

Eligible staff members are those who:

• are active and benefits-eligible
• have achieved continuous or bridged service of one year, and celebrating a service milestone of five+ years (in five-year increments; e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, etc.)

AND in one of these staff groups:

• Non-academic staff (includes Bargaining Unit)
• Academic staff-Libraries
• Academic staff-Research
• Academic staff-Teaching

If you aren't sure which staff group your position fits into, please check with your manager or your local human resources manager.

No. If you receive an email inviting you to select an award, you will be able to choose either a service pin (newly redesigned) or an award. Awards are not available for purchase, per the university's trademarks policy. Awards cannot be exchanged and awards cannot be traded in for cash value.

If you receive an email within a week after your service anniversary date inviting you to visit a secure portal to select an award, look for a 'from' email address of awardcenter@octanner.com. These emails have been approved by Stanford and are legitimate, and the link to the portal is secure.

No. Visit the Administrative Guide memo 2.2.10: Gifts and Awards for University Employees for details.

Yes! The Celebrating Staff Careers event honors long-serving staff, starting at 25 years of service (and in five-year increments thereafter) and is now part of the Stanford Celebrates You program. Visit the Celebrating Staff Careers site to learn more.

Because schools and units may have already recognized staff with service milestones starting at 5 years (and in five-year increments thereafter) that took place in the first half of 2018, the Stanford Celebrates You team will be working with human resources managers to determine which staff may be eligible to receive an award retroactively during this transition year.

If you had a service milestone of 5 years or more (in five-year increments) between January 1 and July 22, 2018, and did not already receive an award, a one-time "catch-up" will occur in late August 2018 to notify eligible staff to select an award. If you do not receive an email invitation to select an award by fall quarter, please contact your school or unit human resources manager.

Each school and unit will determine how, if at all, their local practices to recognize staff service may change with the new university-wide program, Stanford Celebrates You. Please check with your manager if you have specific questions about local staff service recognition.

If your role is one that has been identified by your human resources manager as not regularly using computers or mobile devices as part of your work, you will receive a printed letter in interdepartmental mail. The letter will include the URL of the award portal, and an access code that must be entered to select your award. If you don’t have access to a computer, you may call 1-888-750-2333 to place your order.

The vendor that is managing the secure portal has a help desk with customer service representatives who can help you place an order, track your order, or if you have any other issues with your order. Please contact: orders@octanner.com or call 1-888-708-7080; 8:30am to 12:00am, EST.

You may receive an email notification and see that the service anniversary date or the length of service are incorrect. Please talk with your school or unit human resources manager, who will work with the Stanford Celebrates You team to investigate. View a list of human resources managers.