Oro Valley’s “Peak Performance Program” wins award
Published on December 28, 2023
ORO VALLEY, Ariz. (Dec. 28, 2023) – The Town of Oro Valley has won the “Celebrating Innovation in the Workplace” Award from the Society for Human Resource Management of Greater Tucson (SHRM-GT) in the Technology/Process Improvement category for OV Peak Performance, an internal employee program, aimed at improving daily operations, organizational efficiency and customer experiences at the Town of Oro Valley.
This is the second year in a row the Town is being recognized with this award for the employee program. This year, the Peak Performance team was recognized at SHRM-GT’s 2023 Celebrating Innovation in the Workplace Awards ceremony at the Hilton El Conquistador Resort, on Nov. 7, 2023.
“We’re excited to see where our OV Peak Performance journey takes us next,” said TOV Continuous Improvement Analyst Sara Newlin in the acceptance speech. “Through the OV Peak Performance program, every employee is empowered to share their process improvement ideas, take ownership of those processes, and affect positive change within their departments, which then directly impacts the success of the Town as a whole.”
Introduced in 2018, OV Peak Performance is a process improvement initiative based on Lean Six Sigma, a fact-based, data-driven philosophy of improvement utilized worldwide by organizations big and small, from local governments to companies like Honeywell and Amazon. Led by the Town Manager’s Office, OV Peak Performance has created a culture of continuous improvement that empowers employees across the organization to creatively solve problems and identify inefficiencies.
By way of the Peak performance program, in fiscal year 2022/2023 alone, Town employees implemented 30 process improvement initiatives and saved more than $127,000 on estimated time and materials.
The Celebrating Innovation in the Workplace Awards recognize innovative achievements and significant improvements and accomplishments in the Human Resources field, specifically in areas of technology and process improvement, diversity and inclusion, community impact and leadership.
Other notable community members in attendance at the ceremony included: the event’s keynote speaker, Laurice Walker, City of Tucson’s Chief Equity Officer; Jeff Wilkins, Oro Valley’s Town Manager; and distinguished representatives from several regional governments and businesses.
To learn more about the annual event, click here.
Pictured (from left to right): Cathy McCarthy; Sara Newlin, TOV Continuous Improvement Analyst, who gave the acceptance speech and is holding the Celebrating Innovation in the Workplace Award; Jessica Hynd; Chuck Boyer; Matt Jankowski; Jorge Aguilar; and Paul Melcher.