About the categories

Apprentice of the Year

This award recognises an individual who has shown outstanding achievement in all areas of their apprenticeship.

This should be a person who:

goes above and beyond
shows commitment to personal development and progression
makes an outstanding contribution
shows a flexible and positive attitude
shows a commitment to our values and behaviours.

Community Support

We all support the community either directly in front-line services or indirectly through back office support or other support functions. This award recognises an individual or team who have made a significant impact in the local community, either directly or indirectly. It covers a wide range of support including:

community wellbeing
front and back-office community support
finance
safety
environment
legal services and more.

This award is for a team or individual who:

regularly exceeds expectations to support the community
actively promotes and champions equality, diversity and inclusion
looks for opportunities to build on and improve support to the community
shows commitment to our values and behaviours.

Customer Service

This award is for the individual or team who provide great customer service and improve and exceed expectations.

This award is for an individual or team who:

goes the extra mile to meet customer needs
maintains high standards of service and customer satisfaction
engages customers with enthusiasm
uses their knowledge base of customer needs to identify and suggest ways to solve problems or improve processes
puts customers and their needs first
shows commitment to our values and behaviours.

Employee of the Year

This award recognises someone who has accomplished an excellent achievement or made an outstanding contribution to the council or has continually provided service to a high standard.

This award is for an individual who:

goes the extra mile in their role, regardless of what type of level their job is
provides outstanding support to their service and the council
may have received internal or external recognition for a significant achievement
act as a positive role model for colleagues
has made a large contribution to one or more of our values and behaviours.

Innovation and Bright Idea

This award supports our values and behaviours of creativity and innovation. It looks to recognise an individual or team who has suggested, developed, revised or implemented a system, tool, process, initiative or program that has improved service delivery or efficiency.

This award is for the individual or team who:

has created and implemented a unique process to improve a service
enhanced service delivery through an innovative idea. For example, a small idea that makes a positive impact
helped create value for money through an innovative idea
improved the work environment through an innovative idea
made a real difference to another team, individual or customer through an innovative idea
shows commitment to our values and behaviours.

Make a Difference to our Customers' Lives

This award recognises an individual or team who continually demonstrates excellent service and aims for opportunities to improve the lives of clients, customers and residents.

This should be an individual or team who:

go the extra mile to support clients, customers and residents
demonstrate excellent practice in caring for our residents, including support and empowering through independent living
looks for opportunities to build on and improve service processes
shows commitment to our values and behaviours.

Manager of the Year

This award recognises a manager or leader who goes the extra mile to support, motivate, develop and inspire others. They show positive leadership behaviours and show commitment to our values and behaviours.

This should be an individual who:

communicates, engages, listens and encourages ideas and suggestions from their team
makes themselves visible, approachable and responsive to the needs of individuals and teams
encourages and empowers others
recognises contributions made by both individuals and the team.

Partnerships

This is awarded to an individual or team who demonstrates excellent performance in partnership with other internally or externally. This can include adding value by working with key organisations within the community or highly effective cross-team directorate partnership that has a positive impact on the project or service.

You can nominate Medway Council employees and the contractors and partners they work with.

This should be a team or individual who:

actively and effectively engage with partners or contractors
work to maintain a positive working relationship with partners or contractors
shows innovation and creativity when working in a partnership to improve a service or process
shows a positive impact on the service that the partnership is delivering and the partner organisation
shows commitment to our values and behaviours.

Team of the Year

This award recognises a team that provides exceptional and positive service through team work. This team:

share values
work well with other teams and individuals
achieve success together.

This team should:

consistently and willingly go above and beyond their service requirements
show a commitment to continuous improvement and our values and behaviours
show excellence in their approach to both internal and external customers, colleagues and the outcomes they deliver
develop new ideas that achieve benefits for the service and the council
build strong and effective relationships beyond the team and sharing best practice.

Unsung Hero or Heroes

This award recognises the achievements of an individual or team who always go above and beyond their job description or step outside of their normal work to help us deliver our objectives. By doing this they have bought change and benefits to customers through their:

creative thinking
commitment
vision
determination
drive.

It's unlikely the winner of this award will have been formally recognised by the council for their efforts in the past.

This should be an individual or team who:

consistently make a difference to the lives of service users, customers and colleagues
go beyond what would normally be expected of them
regularly go out of their way to help others without being asked
provide excellent service to customers and colleagues
embodies the spirit of Medway and believe in what we do, showing commitment to our values.

One Medway Colleagues Choice Award

The winner of this award would be an individual or team who has exemplified the new council values and behaviours during the course of their work. This may be one specific event or achievement, and your nomination could relate to one or multiple values and behaviours. The nomination must give clear examples of how the values and behaviours have been met.

Pride – this may be a colleague or team who have gone over and above in their work to make you feel exceptionally proud. An action that makes the council want to shout it from the rooftops
Caring – this may be a colleague or team who has gone the extra mile to show caring and compassion for others
Respectful – an individual or team who show great respect and thoughtfulness for the people and places of Medway
Trusted – an individual or team who can be relied upon 100% at all times and show professionalism and take accountability for all they do
Ambitious – an individual or team who act as a driving force to support the council’s goals and aspirations for success
Collaborative – an individual or team who effectively communicates, collaborates and engages with others to achieve service and/or organisational success.

How to nominate

You can make a nomination by completing the online form.

The nomination period starts on Monday 3 June 2024 and closes on Friday 28 June 2024.

Make a nomination

If you have any questions about filling in the form, please email makeadifference@medway.gov.uk.

Make a Difference employee recognition awards