Thirty-four Montgomery County Department of Transportation employees received $223 checks from County Executive Isiah Leggett on Tuesday in recognition of their efforts to save the county money with an innovative idea.
The bonuses are part of a program that encourages county employees to look for ways to save the county money.
Staff from the department’s Sign and Signal Shop established a program for separating and selling the more valuable metals collected as part of the shop’s scrap metal recycling operations. Sales of the metals generated $16,047 in the first year of operation, according to a county news release.
“During these tight economic times, it’s even more important that we encourage employees to find creative ways to reduce the cost of government,” Leggett (D) said in a statement. “Empowering employees helps create more highly-effective employees. The Rewarding Excellence program encourages staff to look for more efficient ways to do business, develops a sense of ownership and fosters an environment of trust and collaboration that helps achieve one of my administration’s key goals—to make county government more responsive and accountable.”
Under the program, developed by the county government and the county employees’ union, employee teams develop project proposals that department heads submit to a review team. Teams whose proposals are put into action are eligible to share equal payouts of up to half of the cost savings, up to $5,000 per team member.
“People in our division occasionally see things that they think could be made more efficient or improved upon in their day-to-day work,” Joe Pospisil, team leader for the Sign and Signal Shop Gainsharing Team, said in the statement. “The Rewarding Excellence/Gainsharing Program gives us the opportunity to explore the ideas we have and find solutions—where before we could only talk about them. You find out it can be a lot of work to improve processes or change habits, but in the end it’s satisfying knowing you’ve helped out. And, the check will be nice too.”
Click here to read more about the Rewarding Excellence Bonus Incentive Awards Program and here to read more about the employees recognized on Tuesday.
Is this a joke? The Montgomery County Board of Education just handed $14.5 million over to one staff member to spend as he likes. No contracts, no competitive bids, no RFPs - just the money to use like Monopoly money. Obviously, times aren't tight at all! MCPS is flush with cash. Even the MCPS Chief Operating Officer said $14.5 million wasn't an amount that anyone should notice.