Honoring excellence: Children’s Home Society recognizes outstanding employees

This paid piece is sponsored by Children’s Home Society.

“The most valuable assets of an organization are its employees” is a familiar management maxim. And nowhere is this truer than at Children’s Home Society of South Dakota.

“Without our highly trained, caring staff, we wouldn’t be here,” CEO Michelle Lavallee said. “Our programs and services are known for excellence — and that’s because our employees are excellent.”

In the past few years, CHS has increased wages, added benefits and started leadership training.

“It’s part of a concerted effort to show our employees how much they are valued and appreciated,” Lavallee said.

As a result, turnover has dropped significantly, and employee satisfaction has risen.

“CHS seeks to be the premier place of employment for people in social service careers,” she said. “We want the best people in the region on our team.”

CHS has six programs with a wide variety of positions.

“On staff, we have nurses, teachers, mental health therapists, occupational and speech therapists, social workers, fundraisers, IT experts, maintenance workers, marketers, accountants and much more,” Lavallee said.

Rising Star and Employee of the Year

In mid-February, CHS held employee appreciation events in Sioux Falls and Rapid City, featuring live music, refreshments and, best of all, awards.

In years past, exemplary employees received the Excellence in Caring Award. Since 2021, CHS has presented the Rising Star award of $500 for an employee with 12 to 24 months of service, and the Employee of the Year award of $2,000 for an employee with more than two years of service.

CHS employees nominated 64 of their peers for the two awards. A group of CHS board members volunteered their time to judge nominations based on how the nominees demonstrated the CHS mission, vision and core values of kindness, tenacity and being better together.

“The awards process is an excellent way to show our gratitude and admiration to top employees,” Lavallee said. “It also helps everyone renew their focus on our mission.”

At the events, excerpts from the winners’ nominations are read.

Noah Brown, a youth care provider at Children’s Home Shelter for Family Safety, received the Employee of the Year award.

Here’s how he was described:

“Anyone at the shelter could tell you how kind Noah is. He has a gentle nature with everyone, always comes in with a smile, gives equal attention to each child and genuinely cares about helping the kids in our care.

“He’s also a master of setting aside his own personal feelings when it comes to doing activities with the kids. For instance, if they want to go play in the chilly, snowpacked yard, he will brave the elements and go with them! He’s truly there to help make kids’ stay at the shelter less stressful and more fun. 

“No matter how chaotic a day it is, Noah comes into work with a positive attitude that can so easily change the energy of a room for the better. There is no doubt that both staff and clients are treated with respect and an honest heart when he is there.”

The Rising Star of the Year was Molly Howard, a residential youth counselor at Sioux Falls Children’s Home.

Her nomination read in part:

“Tenacity is one of the most representative words to describe Molly. She is tenacious with children, in problem-solving with her team and in showing up on the hard days. 

Molly is self-reflective, always looking to improve so she can be the best version of herself. She returns after a tough day and will try again, learning new strategies, working through difficult moments and finding humor in the most stressful times.”

CHS secretly invited the families of both winners to the employee appreciation event and brought them out as the winners were announced.

“It was powerful and moving,” Lavallee said. “The winners and their families were so proud.”

Years of service awards

CHS employees with three, five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 years of service also received awards at the events. Names of the service award recipients are listed below.

“For the first time ever, we showed our appreciation for staff longevity with cash awards,” Lavallee said. “Employees received $100 for each year of service, so the three-year service award was $300, and the 35-year service award was $3,500!”

According to Lavallee, the change was well received, and the cash awards will become the new standard practice. “We are always looking for ways to add to our total rewards package,” she said.

“CHS will always celebrate its employees,” Lavallee said. “They’re not just an asset to CHS. They’re a tremendous asset to our clients and our community.”

Lavallee explained that the nature of CHS’ work makes employee longevity even more important.

“We work hard to gain the trust of the vulnerable people we serve,” she said. “Many of them have not experienced much stability in their lives.

“For example, a young child in residential treatment may be mistrustful of adults after being neglected or abused. Forming relationships with safe adults is part of their therapeutic care. If those adults are constantly turning over, the healing of the child can happen more slowly.”

Because CHS residential treatment facilities and the Shelter for Family Safety are staffed around the clock, not all employees were able to attend the employee appreciation events. They enjoyed pizza parties instead. Their names also were entered for door prize drawings for a day of PTO and $100 gift cards for CHS apparel.

Congratulations to all CHS employees recognized for their years of service.

Learn more about opportunities at CHS at chssd.org.