Service Milestones

Service Milestones

@Tech

At Georgia Tech, people are our greatest asset. To acknowledge the commitment of our employees and celebrate their accomplishments, the Institute formally recognizes employees’ years of service at one year and then every five-year milestone thereafter.

What to Expect at Each Service Milestone

All full-time benefits eligible employees (staff, faculty, research faculty, and post-docs) who have completed one or five years of consecutive service to Georgia Tech can expect an item of GT memorabilia designed specifically for milestone recipients to celebrate their commitment. It is a token of appreciation for your dedication to Georgia Tech. 

Service Anniversary Gift Pickup

Please stop by the Georgia Tech Human Resources building at 500 Tech Parkway any time Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to retrieve your gift. Your gift must be picked up within 3 months of your service anniversary, otherwise it will be forfeited. See the table below for cut-off dates by which you must retrieve your gift.  

Date you reached your service milestone: 

If you reached your milestone between these dates, you are eligible to pick up your gift any time until the deadline indicated. 

Deadline to retrieve gift: 

July 1 – 31, 2024 

September 30, 2024 

August 1 – August 31, 2024 

October 31, 2024 

September 1 – 30, 2024 

November 27, 2024 

October 1 – 31, 2024 

December 31, 2024 

November 1 – 30, 2024 

January 31, 2025 

December 1 – 31, 2024 

February 28, 2025 

 

Reception: We look forward to celebrating our 10- and 15-year honorees who have reached their milestone between July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025 at a special reception in the spring of 2025. It is a chance to connect with colleagues, share stories, and celebrate your significant contributions to the Institute. Save the Date notices and event details will be sent to you via email in early 2025.  

Service Anniversary Gift: Our team is working out final logistics for you to select a special gift in honor of your years of service and have it shipped to your home. Additional communication will be sent regarding the details as soon as possible. Stay tuned! 

Long Service Dinner: We look forward to celebrating our long service honorees who have reached significant milestones between July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025 at a special dinner in the spring of 2025. It is an elegant affair where you can enjoy good company, reflect on your journey, and create lasting memories. Save the Date notices and event details will be sent to you via email in early 2025.   

Service Anniversary Gift: Our team is working out final logistics for you to select a special gift in honor of your years of service and have it shipped to your home. Additional communication will be sent regarding the details as soon as possible. Stay tuned! 

Employees that retired between July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024 are eligible to attend the 2024 Institute Retirement Celebration on Wednesday, October 16, 2024. More information about what to expect and event details can be found at https://specialevents.gatech.edu/retirement-celebration.   

Service Recognition Events

The Institute will host 2 service recognition events in the spring of 2025: a reception for 10- and 15-year honorees, and a long service dinner for 20+ year honorees. Details coming soon.  

Digital Swag for Service Milestone Honorees

Click Here

Related Policies

Frequently Asked Questions

General FAQs

Who is eligible for the service milestone program?

All full-time, benefits-eligible employees who have completed consecutive years of service to Georgia Tech.

How is service measured?

Service is measured with a combination of “institution seniority date” and “benefits service date” job data in OneUSG Connect.

What does “institution seniority date” mean? What does “benefits service date” mean?

Your “institution seniority date” is essentially your hire date at Georgia Tech. Your “benefits service date” is the date you became eligible to receive USG benefits. We use a combination of the two data points to determine consecutive years of benefits eligible service to Georgia Tech.

My original hire date and the month in which I’m receiving recognition aren’t the same. Why?

There are a variety of reasons this could happen, but most commonly it is because an employee started at Georgia Tech as a Tech-temp, affiliate, or part-time employee and were therefore not benefits-eligible.

Example: An employee starts as a Tech-temp in August 2023 but gets hired as a permanent, full-time employee in October 2023. The employee would be recognized for their 1-year milestone in October 2024 instead of August, since that is the 1-year milestone of them being a benefits-eligible employee).

I think my years of service are wrong! Who should I contact?

Contact your HR partner for support. They can work with our job data team to make sure your dates are correct in the system.

I’ve worked in the USG for XX years; why am I only being celebrated for XX years?

We thank you for your years of USG service, but Georgia Tech’s service milestone program only recognizes consecutive years of benefits-eligible service to Georgia Tech.

I’ve worked on the campus for XX years, but I was an affiliate prior to becoming a full Georgia Tech employee (e.g. dining worker, athletics, etc.). Can I be recognized for a higher year milestone?

Unfortunately, we are only able to recognize employees for their consecutive years of full-time employment with Georgia Tech, which would not include time worked as an affiliate. We are aware of the issue this poses for a few departments on campus and are working toward a solution in the future.   

Can I get a list of upcoming service recognition anniversaries for my department?

The recognition program manager sends notification emails via Smartsheet on the 26th of each month to managers and HR partners who have employees celebrating a milestone the following month. If your department would like a list further in advance, your HR partner can run the following query in OneUSG Connect so your department may keep track of upcoming milestones in advance: 030_HR_EES_DATES_SERVICE.

I am a manager, and one of my direct reports is reaching a milestone. Am I supposed to do something in person for them? Am I supposed to buy a separate gift for them?

We encourage people leaders to personally recognize the milestone within your department in whatever way is most meaningful to your honoree and fellow colleagues. A shout-out in a meeting or a personalized note are great ideas to get started. Departments do have the ability to develop their own length of service program, but it is not expected or required. Please review the Purchase of Gifts for Employees/Students policy before purchasing gifts.

FAQs about Gifts

How do I receive my gift?

If you recently reached your 1- or 5-year service milestone, you may pick up your gift from the Georgia Tech Human Resources building at 500 Tech Parkway NW, any time Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. before the 3-month deadline indicated. Please bring your Buzzcard with you so the staff can easily find you on our list.  

If you recently reached your 10+ year service milestone, we are working out final logistics and will communicate with you shortly.

I am fully remote or not local and can’t pick up my gift in person. Can it be shipped to my home?

Arrangements can be made to ship gifts to your home if

  • You work at an out-of-state Georgia Tech facility OR
  • You are a fully remote employee AND live outside of the metro-Atlanta area.

Please contact Mattie Hamilton to make arrangements.

I celebrated my 10-year anniversary a few years ago (and a 5-year before that), and I don’t remember getting a recognition gift. Can I get it now?

Service milestone recognitions may not have existed yet: In 2017, Staff Council began recognizing only staff for their 1-year milestone, and in 2019, 5-year milestone recognitions began. In 2020, the pandemic led to the cancellation of Staff Council’s monthly gift distribution, but staff and their departments were still notified of their honorees regularly.

Gift distribution varied at times: Throughout 2021 and 2022 the Staff Council gift distribution program underwent changes and, ultimately, gifts were distributed at monthly Staff Council Energy Booths, communicated via email to honorees. Gift pick-up rates, however, were low.

The new program and distribution process are underway: In July 2024, GTHR acquired the service milestone program, which did not previously include faculty and postdocs in the 1- and 5-year gifting, nor did it provide tangible gifts for higher years of service until 25 years. The new iteration of the program provides gifts to all full-time, benefits-eligible employees who have completed consecutive years of service to Georgia Tech in 5-year increments. We are, unfortunately, unable to retroactively provide gifts to employees for their previous years of service missed under the old program; however, we look forward to recognizing you at your next 5-year increment!

Can someone else pick up my gift for me? Can I pick up a gift for someone else?

Yes, someone else may pick up a gift on behalf of another person. We will document their name, in case there are any issues later.  

2024 Service AWARDS HONOREES

Thomas Capitano

10 YEARS

What lessons have you learned throughout your years of service at Georgia Tech that you’d like to give as advice to other employees?

View every day as an opportunity to learn and grow, because Georgia Tech is an institution of constant change, especially within the research administration environment. For those who enjoy learning, this is a wonderful environment for such learning opportunities.

Anita M. Carter

10 YEARS

What has changed the most and what has stayed the same throughout your time at Georgia Tech?

The new Student Center and Exhibition Hall at the center of campus are both amazing new spaces that were not there when I started at Georgia Tech, but one thing that has not changed is that there is always “life” happening all around the Tech Green adjacent to these new spaces. There is always something going on, and that is something special about our campus that I hope never changes!

Michael Evans

10 YEARS

What has changed the most and what has stayed the same throughout your time at Georgia Tech?

Tech is such a fascinating place. I feel like student creativity has blossomed since I started here in 2013. Student organizations like SMILE, Science-Art-Wonder, Seek Discomfort, and Bits of Good highlight how much more students are using creative activities to make an impact both on and off campus.

Britanny McCormick

10 YEARS

What is your fondest memory of Georgia Tech and why does it mean so much to you?

Getting accepted into Georgia Tech’s Evening MBA program. Having had worked at Georgia Tech for eight years prior, I knew the prestige that this school held and was honored and so proud of myself for being accepted to finally become an official Yellow Jacket. Joining the Evening MBA program has been an incredibly fulfilling and life-changing experience.

Ashley Toomey-Flinn

10 YEARS

What is your fondest memory of Georgia Tech and why does it mean so much to you?

I helped to organize the GT20kAway initiative for the Education Abroad Team. We were able to pay for a student’s flight for their study abroad experience in South Korea. It was such a fun day, and the students were very deserving. I remember lots of smiles, laughter, and humility from the student accepting the plane ticket and how our Team came together to celebrate. 

Yolonda Cameron

25 YEARS

What lessons have you learned throughout your years of service at Georgia Tech that you’d like to give as advice to other employees?

A few lessons I’ve learned at Tech and elsewhere: 

  • Consider Everyone and Everything a Teacher: Every encounter and experience holds a lesson or a blessing.  
  • March to the Beat of Your Own Drum: Seek and do what allows you to show up authentically and bring your whole self to work. 
  • Be the Change You Wish to See in the World: If we want the world to be more kind and friendly, we ourselves must embody these qualities. 

Kevin Pittman

25 YEARS

What is your fondest memory of Georgia Tech and why does it mean so much to you?

Graduation: finally getting that diploma in my hands and knowing I’d made it out. Of course, “out” is figurative: I accepted a full-time job in OIT and have remained part of Georgia Tech for over twenty-five and a half years now, changing units to the College of Liberal Arts ten years ago. A lot has happened during my working years, but nothing has quite topped the feeling of earning that diploma. 

Liberty Smith

25 YEARS

What has changed the most and what has stayed the same throughout your time at Georgia Tech?

As much as this campus has grown and evolved over the past 25 years, what amazes me is the changes in TECHnology. On my first day, there were no smartphones or campus WiFi, heck, hardly anyone I knew had laptops. Our mail was the old ACME complex and we used command line interface tools such as Elm and Mutt to access our mail. 

Chandler Coe

25 YEARS

What is your fondest memory of Georgia Tech and why does it mean so much to you?

As a member of the GTRI IT Department, I remember a townhall given by GTRI President Dr. Bob McGrath where when “encouraging the troops” he stated that “No one makes it into GTRI by accident. If you are here, then you are one of the best at what you do.” 

Brett Hulst

25 YEARS

What is your fondest memory of Georgia Tech and why does it mean so much to you?

I met my best friend at Georgia Tech, the day she started working here. Of all the wonderful things that Georgia Tech has afforded me, that is the biggest gift. We became friends through the experience of working on campus on 9/11 in the Housing Department. We chaperoned a study abroad trip at the same time. We were in countless meetings and retreats together and developed our own ways of communication to express or joy or other emotions felt in meetings.