WorkOne Indy staff gathered today to reflect on a year of service to Marion County residents, taking time that is normally used for enrichment and teamwork to for a celebration that was both enriching and unifying.

Staff members voted for their peers in four categories to recognize achievement in categories that identified excellence in behind-the-scenes support, positive attitude, professional growth, and overall excellence. Winners were recognized with their nominations read aloud for the group for traits like customer service with complex clients, problem-solving through tricky situations, and their willingness to support colleagues with new ideas and friendly support.

Tori Robinson, a RES Operations Supervisor and winner of the “Brightest Star” award, spoke of one of her clients who was struggling – going through ABE classes to brush up on skills while also dealing with an abusive relationship.  “Every time she came in I encouraged her to continue to apply to jobs, and keep faith,” Tori said. “Weeks later, instead of her coming in with the frown, she came into the office with a big smile just to say that she now found her dream job!”

Tori cited compassion – especially for difficult clients who find success – as a key motivator that drives staff when working daily to help people with their career.

“These sort of events are not just about recognizing hard work – they bring staff together in a way that builds chemistry and understanding so that our staff identify as a team with a common goal.”

Penny Dunning, EmployIndy's Director of Career Services

As EmployIndy has guided WorkOne Indy to lean into a service model that stresses consistency, staff are encouraged to learn from each other and identify best practices for career navigation of clients. This concept is expanding beyond the walls of the WorkOne Indy offices and into numerous organizations around Indianapolis as EmployIndy continues to build relationships with community partners to regularly house WorkOne Indy staff in places like libraries, Ivy Tech, and adult education providers.

With EmployIndy acting as the central guide and intermediary of Indy's entire workforce ecosystem, this idea of sharing and recognizing efforts goes beyond WorkOne Indy. Best practices are being identified between service providers, programs, and community partners across the ecosystem – and EmployIndy has developed Ecosystem Enrichment meetings and the Employing Indy newsletter to share these valuable ideas.

But today it was about WorkOne Indy staff like Tori, who earned her award for her willingness to try new ideas and encourage coworkers to innovate. “We all work hard,” she said, “and knowing that we are consciously identifying and learning from each other's accomplishments is important to help us feel like a cohesive unit.”

Check out photos from the event below, and let EmployIndy know about your workforce development success story so we can feature it.