Erie, Pennsylvania (WJET/WFXP/YourErie.com) — Some Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) employees are getting special recognition for their accomplishments this year in improving workplace practices and efficiencies.

PennDOT announced in a release that they’ve acknowledged many employees with Innovation Awards for their work, including tour team members from District 1 — Crawford, Erie, Forest, Mercer, Venango and Warren counties.

“PennDOT employees have demonstrated a tireless dedication to the department’s mission and goals,” said PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. “I’m proud to see so many examples of that dedication and recognize those employees for their creativity in solving problems and improving processes.”

The District 1 employees honored were Josh Austin, Saxon Daugherty, Jill Harry and Vince Mazzocchi.

According to the release, they were recognized for creating a “visitor sign-in system to modernize the process of tracking visitors to the District 1 office and transform a traditional pen-and-paper process into an automated system.” Through their work, they were able to cut down on the processing time and added privacy for visitors.

“When we are able to tackle problems in a way that improves the efficiency of our process, that is a win for our employees and our customers,” said Brian McNulty, District 1 executive.

The annual Innovation Awards Ceremony recognizes some of the best and most innovative ideas cultivated and implemented by PennDOT employees. Those who assessed and improved processes, systems and tools they were using to meet the needs of Pennsylvania drivers are considered for the award.