UC Davis Health Employee Recognition Programs

WorkLife has three programs to recognize our employees: BEST, STAR, and the Employee Excellence Award.

  • UC Davis Health BEST Rewards - Accessed through a button link on the Insider, BEST Rewards is an online system that can be used to recognize and reward UC Davis Health employees who provide exceptional service. It can be a monetary (a $25 gift card and certificate) or non-monetary recognition and is available for all UCDH staff. The BEST Rewards retirement gift card comes as an e-gift where the employee can redeem their award and select the brand store of their choice. 
  • UC Davis Health Staff Appreciation and Recognition plan (STAR)  The STAR Award  recognizes employees who have gone “above and beyond” in support of the campus’ core values. There are two levels of STAR Plan cash awards in the amount of $500 and $1,000 (minus applicable taxes). 
  • Employee Excellence Awards - These $1,000 awards are granted annually to UC Davis Health employees who have demonstrated excellence in one of the UC Davis Health strategic guiding principles: Kindness, Trust, Inclusion, Social Responsibility, and Teamwork/Collaboration. Nominations open in summer.
  • Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards - The cross-campus Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Awards for Exceptional University Management and Exceptional University Impact recognize and honor staff employees who have demonstrated exceptional initiative to create significant positive impact on the UC Davis community in the past year.

    Awards given for:

    • Exceptional University Management (Managers & Supervisors)
    • Exceptional University Impact (Individual Contributors)

Recognition Toolkit for Managers and Supervisors

  • Recognition Toolkit for Managers 

  •  Thank you Cards (for professional printing)

  • RAG TAG Peer Postcards (for professional printing)


    Other Recognition Programming:

  • Clinical Enterprise Management Recognition Plans (CEMRP) This UC Davis Health award offers financial-recognition payments to employees whose work contributes to attaining or exceeding key objectives of the health system. The maximum payments are $1,000 for staff employees and $1,200 for supervisors. Eligibility includes non-represented career and contract employees who start to work by Dec 31 of the current year an received at least a "meets expectations" on their most recent annual performance evaluation. 
  • Additional UC Davis Health-specific Award Programs - Some individual units and departments sponsor awards (such as Daisy for nurses) specific to certain types/classes of employees or internal groups. Please contact your supervisor for information on those forms of recognition which may be more specific to individual units.
    • The Point of Pride (POP) Award is presented to a staff member (non-nursing and non-physician staff only) who has demonstrated service excellence through their actions and exemplifies UC Davis Health's values of extraordinary compassion, courage, and integrity!

      Please use the link below to access the online nomination form:

      POP Award Nomination Form