The employees of the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit have entered the New Year 2022 in jubilation after management rewarded each staff with a shopping a voucher worth Ugx 100,000/- as a token of appreciation for their dedicated service and commitment in 2021

This noble way of appreciating the Unit’s staff comes after the majority missed attending last year’s Directors Awards Ceremony held on 10^th December 2021 due to the need to observe the COVID19 Standard Operating Procedures (S.O.Ps).

Due to the escalating numbers of COVID19 cases in the country, the Management through the Human Resource Office asked majority of the staff to virtually attend last year’s Awards ceremony held on 10th December 2021.  A request that was honoured by the staff, who accepted to remotely attend the prestigious awards ceremony.

Every year before the Christmas break the Unit often holds the Directors Awards Ceremony where best employees are recognised for their outstanding performance. During the event all the Unit staff meet and celebrate the overall achievements of the Unit as one. However, last year’s physical attendance of the ceremony was limited to a selected few to represent their Sections and Field Stations while others had to attend the event online.

This prompted the management to show the employees, especially those that attended the ceremony virtually, how much they appreciated all their hard work. A statement via email to all staff from the Human Resource Office in part read;

“Since we were not able to congregate as one big family to have our end of year get together in December, Management in consultation with Human Resource and the welfare champions found it desirable to issue out shopping vouchers to staff which can be used to procure items to celebrate with loved ones at home”.

This surprise gift from the management has been welcomed by the Unit staff who applauded the Human Resource Office for caring about the welfare of all the employees. These revealed that staff need to feel appreciated and valued for working hard especially when they work tirelessly all year round to achieve company targets during a pandemic.