Next week’s employee recognition festivities have been a long time coming, county leaders say, and the list of recipients has grown to an impressive size.
Genesee County Legislative Chairwoman Shelley Stein gave major kudos to the Human Resources staff charged with event planning Wednesday.
“It’s been 10 long years in the making, and you guys are knocking it out of the park,” Stein said during the Ways & Means Committee meeting. “People are super excited about it … over 200 of our employees are going to receive a milestone recognition. And that just speaks volumes about the employer that the county is, and all of our manager and department heads make that possible.”
That announcement may seem like a glorified promo for the county; however, maintaining more than 200 employees at the municipality for 10 years or more flies in the face of today’s job-hopping mentality. Stein believes it is a testament to worker satisfaction. And perseverance on the part of staff wanting to ensure a recognition event finally happens.
For 10 years, Genesee County ceased such celebrations because of its financial situation, she said.
“We had shared more of our revenue than perhaps we should have at that point, and we had the stress of a nursing home still. We had more of a Medicaid/Medicare responsibility … at that point, we stopped all employee appreciation or recognition,” she said. “And so now with the ability to address a thank you, and to recognize our staff that has chosen to work with the county for the years that they have, this is just an absolutely phenomenal opportunity for us to say, thank you.”
The county’s newsletter issued a written thanks from County Manager Matt Landers and Stein. One of his first goals after being hired as manager was to reinstate the annual recognition event, Landers said.
“Unfortunately, COVID had a different set of plans in mind,” he said. “However, after a couple of years on the job, we are bringing back this event to recognize longevity milestones of the dedicated Genesee County employees who have given so much to our county and residents.”
He referred to the Legislature for allocating funds “to bring Human Resources’ vision to fruition,” he said. Employees are being highlighted for work records of 10 to 60 years. They will be treated to a lunch from Red Osier, an ice cream truck visit and other goodies next week.
After the decade-old pause, summer is the time to bring out the party hats and express “our appreciation and accolades,” Stein said.
“It’s never too late to start anew. During the pause, the county has experienced fiscal stress, the sale of the county nursing home, water restrictions (which continues), and the latest hurdle — a pandemic that truly turned all of our lives on end. During our lives, we have never encountered a true-life pandemic like 2020 through today. We were scared for our health, families, and shutdowns. We banded together, took steps to continue providing services, and were bold in our approach to serving each other and our community members,” she said. “Our frontline public safety and health department members took the brunt of daily information whiplash. Through the constant requests for tools to empower us to respond, we banded together giving courage to each other.
"The fear and fright faded aside as services could be provided. The ability to fight for good health provided strength to us all. Partnerships all across our county were formed and engaged us all. Our confidence was recovered," she said.
