Shownotes
Technically, the ERC’s goals are to support positive work morale, celebrate employee milestones, and fundraiser for the annual holiday party. But, as Tobin Shepherd and Wes Baxter share, it’s also about being fun, creative, and maybe even a little bit weird (in a good way)!
Tune into this episode for a glimpse into the wild and wonderful world of ERC.
Let me know what you think of this podcast, as well as any ideas you have for an episode. Email me at kwhite@coaaa.org!
Copyright 2024 Central Ohio Area Agency On Aging
Transcripts
Welcome to Pretend I Know Nothing About, I'm Katie White, your host, administrator of COAAA. Today's episode is about ERC, the Employee Recognition Committee. Let's get into it. This episode is an exciting one. The ERC, the fun committee. All kinds of great nicknames. But before we get going on our questions, I'm going to have my two guests introduce themselves. So, Tobin, let's start with you.
Tobin [:Hi. My name is Tobin Shepherd. I've been on the ERC for it feels like forever, probably close to ten years, maybe nine years. Nine to ten years.
Katie White [:And what department are you with?
Tobin [:Oh, I'm with the passport program.
Katie White [:Okay, great. And Wes?
Wesley [:Okay. My name is Wesley Baxter. I'm a passport case manager, and I've been part of the ERC since I pretty much started. That was like an seven. And Tobin, you came shortly after I did.
Tobin [:I'll take your word for it.
Wesley [:Yeah, so we've been on since then, but I think it started in the mid ninety s ERC did.
Katie White [:Okay.
Tobin [:Yeah.
Katie White [:So, yeah, let's start there a little bit about the history and because there's no one else in here to fact check us, basically, whatever you guys say is kind of what goes. So what's the history of ERC? Why did it start and that sort of thing?
Tobin [:Well, when the Earth cooled, it became a solid mass.
Katie White [:Good starting place, good foundation.
Tobin [:Let me fast forward a few billion years.
Katie White [:Okay, great.
Tobin [:It's my understanding that the committee itself started thanks to Lynn Dobbs, who is still here. Fantastic. Love her. She put together a committee that was geared at trying to acknowledge the milestones that people have in their lives. They used to pass a hat to collect money. Those days came to an end, and the agency continued to grow bigger and bigger, and it sort of evolved into what we have here today.
Katie White [:Okay, and so, Wes, what are some of those key things that ERC does right now?
Wesley [:Well, historically, like, you know, they would just take donations from people, like in all staff meetings, things like that, and put that towards purchasing flowers if somebody was in somebody's family was hospitalized or they had a death in the family, something like that. It was just kind of a chip in thing to show that we appreciate and value each other. And then it's morphed. Since then, we started to put on like, a holiday kind of spectacular at the end of the year, where we'd rent out a banquet hall and have food and music and games. And that was pretty low key for those first few years. And then Tobin came to, you know, we met, we sat together, and another one of our cohorts a lot of people see us pallet around together. Deanna Winkleman, I'll shout her out here too. I told those two, like, hey, if I'm going to be on this committee, I got to have you guys with me a little bit, because the three Musketeers. Yeah. And they're just full of good ideas and fun and spontaneous, and we've kind of went with it from then. And Tobin has always been kind of like the star. He's been the one that's wanted to do the MC for the ERC. And that's probably the least desirable job on the ERC, is getting him up in front of crowds.
Katie White [:Tobin loves a mic.
Tobin [:Yeah, I'm wired wrong. Where most people get nervous in front of large groups of people, the more people I'm in front of, the more comfortable I become. Well, I owe this to 16 years of working at a can we name drop? I'll just say, of course. I worked at Cosi for 16 years, where I did demonstrations all the time. So I'm very comfortable in front of large groups of people, especially when I don't know them, with the safety net of knowing that once when I'm done, they will not remember me and I will not remember them.
Katie White [:Okay, so then are you very nervous right now, since there's only four of us in the room?
Tobin [:More nervous if there were? Well, I guess yes.
Katie White [:Okay, so if it was 400, you'd feel more comfortable?
Tobin [:I would be completely natural in front of 400 people.
Katie White [:Okay. Next time, we'll film it in front of a live audience, live studio, so that you can just fully flourish in front of the group.
Tobin [:I don't know if the world's ready for the full Tobin.
Katie White [:If it's anything like the Tobin that's on our holiday videos, I'm not sure that the world's ready either. So, Bereavement, what about any birthdays or recognitions? Remind me what else you guys recognize.
Wesley [:We recognize people for social Work month, nurses week, paraprofessionals admin week or day. I believe that is. But we'll do those throughout the year, and sometimes we capitalize on whatever season it is. It could be like, maybe a costume contest at Halloween. We've created our own trophies for some of these challenges that we have, these little fundraisers that we put on, and we have some of the ones that we just kind of do annually. But we're always trying to dream up better ideas, new material, new bits, whatever we can do to keep it fresh and exciting, boost the morale. That's really the goal.
Katie White [:Yeah. And so a couple of things that happened recently. You guys had a grill and chill, and there was a corn roll. Oh, chill and grill. Excuse me. That is a big difference.
Wesley [:Before you can chill, do you I.
Katie White [:Never grill, so I'm always chill. I don't know. I'm never working. Yeah.
Wesley [:Spitting bars.
Katie White [:I don't smell like hot dogs. So there was a cornhole contest, and there were homemade trophies, which were amazing. But the other one that I love that you guys do is the chili cook off.
Wesley [:Chili.
Tobin [:Oh, yes.
Katie White [:And there's a Mac and cheese cook off, and there's a March MacNess.
Tobin [:March mac. Tell us more about those yeah, those are events that we try to put on annually. Most of them started as just bad ideas and jokes around a table that evolved into something like the March Madness. We wanted to do something to connect to the NCAA March Madness Tournament that was going on, and we were looking for something and the idea of cheese and carbs and activity around that just really stuck. So we decided to do a macaroni contest.
Katie White [:That's right.
Tobin [:We did not know what to name it, so we were sitting around the table just batting around ideas, and then the phrase March MacNess just spilled out.
Katie White [:It's perfect.
Tobin [:And next thing you know, boom.
Wesley [:Notice a lot of these events that we have all revolve around. Food and lunchtime.
Katie White [:Sure. Yeah. Breaking bread and connection, that's really a lot about what this committee is right, is like finding a space to connect with your coworkers, have some fun, let your guard down. I mean, everybody here has really difficult jobs that are emotionally draining. And so if you can get weird and eat macaroni and cheese, that's good from around.
Wesley [:Some of my best friends work at this agency just to kind of throw in like, a little bit of a shameless plug. I mean, we've got a lot of good people here and we're all busy, like you said, so we just need to sometimes breathe, and that lets us keep our battery full. So that's what we try to do is just bring some fun to the.
Katie White [:Agency and it works. It's great. I love the, ERC events. And so ERC is a committee. How many people are on it, when do you meet, and how does one join the committee?
Tobin [:Those are all very good questions, which I will now defer to Wes for an answer.
Wesley [:Well, okay. You're going to get a little bit of a glimpse how the sausage is made in the ERC here. I love being on this committee, and I've been on it for so long because it's probably the only committee you can be on and just wing it constantly. So we have about a dozen people on ERC. We got a really good group right now, and it's comprised of people from departments all across the agency. We meet monthly and kind of just figure out, okay, next month, what's the big event that we're going to do, who's going to do what? I'll do that. So we're just assigning tasks and then kind of brainstorming for the future. So we just had a meeting and we're trying to put together another event this summer and just the groundwork is laid right now. I'd like it to be outside the agency. We used to go to Slammers all the time, and they have a good relationship with COA. We were next door to them downtown for 30 some years, probably. And we would patron them a lot for lunch and this and that. So they kind of just adopted us as, like, a pseudo group, and we can kind of go in there and just say, hey, we want to bring over, like, 40 people on this random day after work and have a little costume contest, or maybe we do a karaoke event, something like that. They love it. They've done a really good job for us. We're going to get a hold of them and see what we can put together for this summer. So that's something that's kind of coming up on the horizon, but that's just an example of kind of like, what we're doing. We're just trying to figure out what seems like fun and what people are going to enjoy and try to make it happen.
Katie White [:I love it, and I have been able to attend a few of the meetings and try to get to as many as I can, but I know I've missed a few lately.
Tobin [:Only a few?
Katie White [:Only a few. But what I love about it is it is people from across the agency, all various positions, and you do you really just kind of sit around and brainstorm, like, how's everybody doing? What do we feel like we should do? What's going on now? What do we think would bring some joy? And it's either these robust events that take a ton of planning and effort that you all do, and I hope people really understand how much goes into something like a grill and chill. Did I get it right? Grill first, chill later.
Wesley [:I don't know.
Katie White [:Yeah, okay.
Wesley [:Actually, I think I got that wrong earlier. I think it is always chill first, then grill. Chill and grills. Anyway.
Katie White [:Well, potato, potatoes or something just fun and kind of surprising. Like the ice cream truck came the other day, right. And so it's just these really fun, random sort of things that fill people up, I think. And so, yeah, super appreciate that. Okay, Tobin, what's your favorite thing about ERC? Whether it's, like, one specific event that you've done or meetings, what's your favorite thing about ERC?
Tobin [:So I had a long labored pause there. I was trying to process my favorite thing here. I like sitting around and coming up with ideas, and not just the coming up with the ideas, but actually seeing them come to life. The pandemic put us in a really weird situation. We were used to doing things in person, so we had to learn how to do the ERC, but do it in a way that was still safe, fun, and 99.9% over zoom. As a result, we started to really think outside the box, and having to create these ideas on the fly and figure out what we can and cannot do, really. It fired me up. I enjoyed it a lot that's when we made our first official ERC holiday video, it was a lot of work, a lot of doing things that I've never done before. Video editing, imagining what a full 20 minutes show would look like and producing it. But it was so much fun to see that go out, to hear the responses from my coworkers on what they liked, some what they didn't like, but mostly what they liked. The jokes, revisiting those jokes with people later on. It's a blast.
Katie White [:Good. I like that. How about you, Wes? What's your favorite?
Wesley [:Just like, you know, I really enjoy brainstorming some of these ideas, and we don't hold jobs where it's not our nine to five to provide entertainment. So it kind of scratches. That itch. And I have that. I know Tobin does, too. We like to talk about, well, this is going to blow people's minds if we do. This is it so stupid. It's not going to land. There's a lot of talk like that. It's fun, it's exhilarating. And then when you see the final product, there's a good payoff there. But I will kind of also add to that. I think Tobin and I both get a little more visibility correct. In the agency just being on this committee, because we're up talking about it at all staffs and putting out emails. And that's allowed me to meet some people that I probably wouldn't have met in a different department elsewhere. And then when you're passing in the hallway, it's like, hey, how you doing? Good. I love that aspect of it, too.
Katie White [:Because department connections, it fulfills us.
Wesley [:The ERC fulfills us because we're both kind of people that just joy mixing it up, even informally with others and just having a laugh. It gets that done for us also.
Katie White [:So when ERC started, the agency was much smaller, really around 100 people, 150 people. That is a very different approach and task to take on in recognizing and connecting. Fast forward now, if we were fully staffed, we'd be 400 people. And little things like, we can't even fit all of us in a room here at the same time. Right. And so just really appreciate the way that the whole committee has kind of come together creatively over the years to think, okay, how do we celebrate 200 people? How do we celebrate 300 people? How do we celebrate 400 people? And make sure people feel really recognized and seen here.
Tobin [: and: Katie White [:Right. Not that we could afford anyway.
Tobin [:Not that we can afford. Yeah.
Katie White [:So it's interesting to really think about how do we have those same types of connections and sort of small feeling of knowing people when we're no longer a small agency. So I know we're having some conversations about it, and I've been reading a lot about employee wellness and well being, and there is a lot to recognition, quantity over quality, like sometimes having those nice big events, but then other times just really raising people up and recognizing great work on a challenging case or something like that. So excited to kind of see how we evolve into just raising people up for doing their great job day in and day out, because it is a really hard job day in and day.
Wesley [:Yeah. We had to evolve quite a bit as a committee, like Tobin mentioned, like, during the pandemic and things. And now afterwards, everybody's kind of tweaked the way that they allow people to work remotely across the country, really globally. So we were used to putting on events where we knew so many people were going to be in the office that day, and we were like, okay, we can expect this kind of a crowd now. It's kind of like we don't really know who's going to be in and who's not. So we're sending a lot of emails for RSVPs. And when we do that, we're trying to get, like, a good number because we want to be good stewards of all the money that we raise also. And when we put it back, we want to have enough to deliver a quality product like our fall fest. Yes. So, yeah, we've kind of done a little bit different with that. It's not so much the holiday party, end of the year kind of party anymore. We needed to do something where we could be outside with decent enough weather to have everybody be able to adjoin. So we have something coming again this fall. There's going to be more details to follow, but we think we got some good ideas.
Tobin [:Give them a little nugget.
Wesley [:Go. Well, we talked about doing some kind of, like almost make it like the COA County Fair Carnival, something like that. Maybe have, like, a little midway going down the middle with different games and prizes you can win. Karaoke was great last year. Tobin, you were on that mic all afternoon.
Tobin [:Yeah, I just didn't want to do any of the cleanup.
Wesley [:Know, people can expect those kind of things. And also probably food trucks. Yeah. We want to just kind of give it a little bit of a theme, though, so maybe like elephant ears, funnel cakes, different things like that, if we can pull it off. But there's a lot of work to be done before we get there.
Katie White [:And just so everybody's aware, some people listening to this podcast area, probably new to the agency, all of the work of ERC is done on donations and fundraisers. And so as a city entity, we aren't allowed to use any of our funds for these types of things. So not only the hustle and grind of what should we do? And pulling off an event, but also the fundraising and things that go into it. So hats off to all of you. And what are the odds that you can name all the committee members right now? Can we give them shout outs? Yeah, you could pull up your phone if you need to.
Wesley [:So on. The committee currently are grant Ames, wes Baxter, maddie Cassidy, tabby King, caleb Cole He just came off the committee. He's got new employment elsewhere, so we wish him the best of luck. Jesse Lutchens, Melissa McMillan, daryl Miller, who does a lot of our clerical work. She gets a little special shout out there. Chelsea Russell, kayla Seymour, joe shayner Tobin, of course. Haley Smiley and Katie.
Katie White [:And Carrie Oswald.
Wesley [:Carrie Oswald? Yep. That's who our current committee is. And it is a fantastic group.
Tobin [:I will say I agree, and I.
Katie White [:Only half get credit. I like to show up and try to just say yes and like, what do we need to get this done?
Tobin [:Let me know and go, don't sell yourself short.
Wesley [:That's exactly what we do need.
Katie White [:Well, I am short.
Tobin [:Well, as another short person, don't sell yourself shorter than we already are.
Katie White [:Okay. All right.
Tobin [:You serve a very important role on the committee. It's great to have you on, because when we get these big ideas, there's always a hesitation of, well, are we going to be able to pull this off? At least when you're on the committee, we say, well, we'll just turn to Katie.
Katie White [:Yeah, we'll just have Katie do it. Well, thanks. And I enjoy it because I also need a space to kind know, let my guard down and be a little strange and be creative. So it's fun. It's a fun room to be in. And of course, the events are area.
Wesley [:If I might interject an anecdote here. I think I remember, Katie, you came to the first Chill and Grill shortly after you came here last summer.
Katie White [:Spring, yes.
Wesley [:And that was a good way to meet a lot of the people.
Katie White [:It was.
Wesley [:And kind of to find out who's who and who you need to talk to more and so on and so forth. And I know a lot of the staff that made a huge difference with them, too, because everybody's always a little nervous when somebody's coming in.
Katie White [:Absolutely.
Wesley [:And they got to meet you and see how down to earth you are and how you appreciate the fun aspects of this agency also.
Katie White [:So it was great, hopefully, meeting a new director as I have, like, cheetos all over my face and hands and stuff. And you can kind of she's yeah, she's pretty laid back.
Wesley [:She's one of the cool ones.
Tobin [:She eats cheetos, like exactly.
Katie White [:Oh, even, you know, new directors get cheeto dust. So, last but not least, if someone wanted to join the ERC or learn more about the ERC, what would they do? How do they find information about you guys?
Tobin [:Well, to join the ERC, it's very, very complicated. You have to fill out a form. There's no forms to fill out. You actually just show up for a meeting.
Katie White [:Oh, great. Okay.
Tobin [:It's pretty straightforward.
Wesley [: ird Tuesday of every month at: Tobin [:I can't remember the third Thursday of every month.
Wesley [:If somebody is wanting to join the ERC, send Tobin or myself an email. We'll give you the details of when to show up next, and you're basically in at that point. And then we'll start to use you for whatever you're good at. If you have good artistic skills, we might have you drawing caricatures. If you're a green thumb, we might have you planting flowers. Who knows? Everybody has, like, a different level at different times of how involved they are in the ERC. So even if you're in the committee and you're very big time, busy month or something like that, some people just kind of naturally just kind of take a seat for a little while and somebody else steps up. And we've never had any problems managing things that way.
Katie White [:Good. And you have an email, right? Erc@coa.org, correct?
Wesley [:That is correct.
Katie White [:Someone could send it there and then is there anything on the intranet about it?
Tobin [:I believe it has a list of all of our names on the intranet, as well as the ERC's mission and goal.
Katie White [:Okay, great. Well, thank you both so much for talking ERC and all the ERC members out there, thank you for your work and your dedication in making Field AAA an even better place to work. Thanks, guys.
Wesley [:We thank everyone for all the support over the years.
Katie White [:Hashtag they're taking donations.
Tobin [:Always taking donations.
