April 2024 HR Newsletter
Inside this Edition
UPDATES AND REMINDERS
EMPLOYEE GROWTH
Learning & Development Opportunities
Best Practices in Goal Setting and Feedback
WELLNESS
Recruiting Wellness Ambassadors
EVENTS
Employee Recognition Ceremony – May 9th
People First Update
As part of the implementation phase of the People First HR Transformation initiative, several changes are happening in HR this spring. Beginning April 1, we have changed our name to Human Resources (previously Human Resource Management) and have launched the first two Centers of Excellence: Talent Acquisition and People Support. This new model brings together HRM and HR-SSC staff into one organization, with new roles, teams and responsibilities designed to best support all KU employees through strategic services, efficiencies and future technologies in the workplace.
The People First initiative is a multi-year project to bring campus a strategic HR organization that is focused on enhancing and streamlining resources, programs and technology while expanding expertise and delivering exceptional service. Teams have been identified within the new Talent Acquisition and People Support Centers of Excellence, and roles are in the process of transitioning. At this time, please continue to reach out to your assigned HR contact(s) to ensure continuity of services. Changes will be evolving to ensure that activities over the summer continue to be managed with a high level of service and care. We will provide more information as the implementation progresses to ensure you know who to contact for HR assistance.
I appreciate and respect the flexibility and positive attitude of our HR staff members and the trust they’ve shown in leadership and the People First Steering Committee and Working Group. Seeing them engage in this new model, manage the change and demonstrate a willingness to grow in their field of expertise during a transitional time is inspiring. It is absolutely an honor and privilege to work with these HR employees along with our HR partners in units across campus.
More details and updates about the transition are available on the People First website.
Rock Chalk!
Angie Loving, SPHR, CDR
Interim Vice Provost
Juneteenth
This year, June 19th (Juneteenth) has been designated by the Governor as a paid holiday for eligible employees. Classes will not be in session. Employees are not expected to work unless required by their supervisor and work time will follow the Holiday Compensatory Time Policy. Keep a look out for programming by following the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, KU calendar of events and local Lawrence activities.
See the HR Holidays webpage for a full holiday schedule.
Benefits Updates
Kansas Board of Regents Quarterly “Retirement Readiness” Newsletter
In this second quarter edition of “Retirement Readiness" learn how to enhance your fiscal wellness through the National Financial Literacy campaign during the month of April. Feel free to schedule a meeting with a TIAA or Voya representative, by using the QR code included in the newsletter.
Please visit the KBOR retirement company partner sites for additional information about this annual campaign:
https://www.tiaa.org/public/land/financialwellness
https://www.voya.com/page/voya-financial-literacy-knowledge-center
All benefits-eligible employees may participate in the Voluntary Plan. The Mandatory Plan is available for eligible faculty and unclassified professional staff.
2024 Financial Planning Awareness & Pre-Retirement Seminars
Thank you to everyone that attended the 2024 Financial Planning Awareness & Pre-Retirement Seminars. The taped seminars will be available on our website by April 15th, 2024. The videos can be accessed from the event website.
Designated Beneficiaries for Life Insurance and Retirement Plans
The basic group life insurance and optional group life insurance programs are administered by KPERS for all eligible employees. To update a Beneficiary designation for those life insurance programs, staff with KPERS as their mandatory retirement plan can login to their KPERS account to update beneficiary designations. Faculty and staff with the Kansas Board of Regents 403(b) retirement plan as their mandatory plan, with TIAA or Voya, can update beneficiary designations for life insurance coverage by completing this Designation of Beneficiary for Life Insurance form and emailing it to Benefits@ku.edu
3G Processing Deadlines
3G processing opened on March 18th for summer and fall appointments. To ensure timely pay and benefits for our 3G employees, please make sure to submit forms timely. See deadlines below.
Note, Fall GTA forms should be held until further notice.
Questions can be directed to your regular contacts for student hiring or to Jody Milford, jmilford@ku.edu.
Summer 2024 3G Deadlines: forappointment effective dates after 5/16 and before 8/18.
Wednesday, April 3rd - Department submitter deadline to collect Summer hiring information.
Wednesday, April 10th - Department submitter deadline to route all Summer 3G forms.
Fall 2024 3G Deadlines: for appointment effective dates after 8/18.
Friday, June 14th- Dept submitter deadline to collect Fall hiring information.
Tuesday, June 25th - Dept submitter deadline to route all Fall 3G forms.
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SPC (Summer pay Collection) opened for entry and processing on April 1. Key process dates are listed below.
Questions should be directed to summerpay@ku.edu.
2024 SPC Key Dates and Deadlines:
Monday, April 15th – First SPN (Summer Pay Notification) run.
Friday, April 19th – Departmental deadline for all Summer Teaching Appointments (5/16 - 8/17) AND for all other summer pay activities to be paid 5/16 - 6/22.
Friday, May 10th – Departmental deadline to have all summer pay transactions to HR for effective dates 6/23 – 8/17.
Sunday, August 18th - SPC closes for the year.
Vacation Accruals
It is getting close to that time of the year where eligible employees may have accrued their 176 vacation hours for the fiscal year (FY) 2024.
Employees can view the total hours accrued for the current fiscal year: hr.ku.edu select the Time and Absence tile, Absence Balances and select the Vacation Leave Balance. The Earned field reflects the number of vacation hours accumulated as of the last payroll period completed.
A regular full-time employee who worked all fiscal year and has accrued eight hours each payroll period will reach the 176 hours on the 22nd payroll period (8 hours X 22 payroll periods = 176 hours). This means on the 23rd payroll period they will stop accumulating vacation until the first period of the new fiscal year. The 23rd payroll period dates 4/14/24-4/27/24 paid 5/10/24. The first payroll period of FY25 is 6/9/24-6/22/24 paid 7/5/24. Accruals are accumulated at the end of the payroll period.
Sick leave accrues every payroll period and does not have a maximum.
Full help document is located at Vacation Accruals.
Learning & Development Opportunities
New Training in the Compassionate Communication Training Series --
Boosting Morale Through Daily Celebrations: Sharing Appreciation Using Compassionate Communication (NEW)
Prerequisite: Introduction to Compassionate Communication
Learn the richness of appreciative feedback in Compassionate Communication and what makes it different from giving praise, compliments, and approval. This type of feedback gives you the opportunity to go beyond a "thank you” and share exactly how another person has made a contribution to you that you find meaningful. Appreciative feedback offers an opportunity to touch more deeply what is meaningful for us and name it with gratitude. This can lead to deeper connections at work, more fulfilling work relationships, and a greater clarity and understanding of how life is enhanced by one another. Strategies for sharing and receiving appreciation are included.
Wednesday, May 22 | 1 – 4 p.m. | 204 JRP on Lawrence campus
Giving and Receiving Feedback (NEW)
The training provides an overview of three types of feedback and an opportunity to practice each type. Also, learn three models of feedback, common mistakes when giving feedback, and tips to making a feedback conversation more of a dialogue between two people rather than a monologue by the giver of feedback. The second half of the training focuses on how to get better at receiving feedback—taking it in, understanding it, and navigating a feedback conversation. Learn how feedback can easily trigger our defensiveness, and how common ways of listening to feedback make it harder to hear and easier to reject. Learn about soliciting feedback, having blind spots concerning how others see us, and identifying when boundaries around receiving feedback may be necessary.
Tuesday, May 14 | 1 – 4 p.m. | 204 JRP on Lawrence campus
Thursday, June 6 | 9 a.m. – noon | Zoom
Managing Difficult Conversations with Considerations for Supervisors (NEW)
Similar to the content of our regularly-offered Managing Difficult Conversations training but includes information specifically for supervisors having tough conversations with staff they supervise. The training uses a five-step framework to prepare for and have a difficult conversation from the book, Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most. Bring with you an idea of a difficult conversation you need to have and during class you can workshop your conversation using the framework as your guide.
The training will take place:
Monday, April 29 | 1 – 4 p.m. | JRP 204 on Lawrence campus
Workplace Meditation & Chair Yoga (NEW)
This session is an introduction to meditation and yoga. Learn how to incorporate meditation and yoga poses into your workday with the goal of relieving stress and calming the mind. All movements will be gentle and can be done while seated in a chair. Instructor is Erin Sampson, a certified yoga trainer who has been practicing yoga since 2008 and is an HR employee.
Tuesday, April 23 | 10 – 11 a.m. | JRP 204 on Lawrence campus
FY24 Staff Evaluation Dates
The timeline for the Unclassified Professional Staff (UPS) and University Support Staff (USS) evaluation process is:
- To do immediately — Set or update goals on the FY 24 goal plan in the MyTalent system
- May 15, 2024 — Staff members receive notice that their self-evaluation is ready for them to complete in the system
- June 30, 2024 — Staff self-evaluation due
- August 28, 2024 — Supervisor’s evaluation of staff members due
- August 30, 2024 – Employee acknowledgement due
- September 3, 2024 – Supervisor acknowledgement due
All staff evaluations must be completed by September 3, 2024.
Best Practices in Goal Setting and Feedback
If not already done, supervisors should meet one-on-one with the staff they supervise to identify their goals and expectations for the FY 2024 evaluation period. Annual goal setting ensures that staff know what is expected in their positions and clearly communicates priorities for work and the unit overall.
If goals and expectations have been established, this message can serve as a reminder for supervisors to check in with staff on progress and to provide feedback on their performance toward the responsibilities of their position and the expectations that have been identified.
We encourage staff and supervisors to view the video on Best Practices in Goal Setting, and presentation on Providing Feedback, to support their engagement and discussions on these topics.
Goals are to be documented in writing on the staff member’s goal plan in MyTalent. It is also recommended that feedback be documented on the staff member’s goal plan as well. All available instructions and tutorial videos are on the Human Resources website.
Recruiting Wellness Ambassadors
Would you like to be part of a team focused on promoting an engaging and meaningful wellness experience for all employees at KU? Apply to become a Wellness Ambassador!
The goal of this program is to positively influence all aspects of the culture at the University of Kansas by increasing communication and engagement around health and wellbeing resources, activities, and events across the KU community. Together, we can strengthen our network of support and build the thriving culture of wellbeing that we envision.
We’re hoping to have a Wellness Ambassador placed in every department by the fall of 2024. For more details on the position and a link to the application, please see the KU Wellness Ambassadors page on Employee Wellness.
New CSA Program
Would you like the convenience of picking up a bag of fresh local produce directly from a local farmer on campus every week? Crops to Campus is a new KU Employee Wellness Committee partnership with Rolling Prairie Farm Alliance, a cooperative of nine local farms, providing a weekly subscription service for the KU community. An initial admin fee and $25/week gets you a bag of the freshest seasonal vegetables that Northeast Kansas has to offer delivered right here to the Lawrence campus for your convenience.
Subscriptions begin the first week of May and run through October. KU’s pick-up time & location is every Thursday from 4pm-6pm in the back drive-through of Price Computing Center, 1001 Sunnyside Ave. For more details and to reserve your subscription, please visit Rolling Prairie Farm Alliance.
Free Weekly Yoga
Sessions through the end of the spring semester have been posted and are open for registration. There is currently a 25-person capacity for each session, so please see the schedule and register for whichever session(s) work best for you.
Never tried yoga? All levels and abilities are welcome!
Wellness Committee Events
The Wonders of KU Grounds in Spring Wednesday, April 24, 2024 12:10 - 12:50 p.m.
Back by popular demand! Join us for a walking discussion on campus with Landscape Manager, Joe Fearn, as we discuss how KU Grounds seeks to integrate nature and ecology into a built environment. We’ll talk native plants, insects, birds, habitat, shelter, etc. We’ll meet at the Jayhawk sculpture in front of Strong Hall and walk to Watkins Library.
- Registration is open: Move-N-Learns
- KU affiliates can email wellness@ku.edu to register
Guide: Joe Fearn, Landscape Manager, KU Grounds
Food Truck Wednesdays
The university will host Food Truck Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Wednesday in April. There will be four different trucks parked in different locations on campus.
Full menus, truck locations and updates are posted on the HR Food Truck page.
Employee Recognition Ceremony – May 9th
Mark your calendar for the annual Employee Recognition Ceremony, to be held Thursday, May 9th at 1:30 PM at the Kansas Union Ballroom!
Awards and acknowledgments presented at the ceremony include:
- Recognition of Employee of the Month winners from the past year
- Announcement of two Employees of the Year
- KU Years of Service Awards
- Team of the Year Award
More information, including the list of service award honorees, to come.
The Big Event
The Big Event is a non-need-based student group that connects the KU campus with the Lawrence community. By recruiting thousands of student, faculty, and staff volunteers to work at hundreds of local job sites during one day of service, we are able to say thank you to the community that surrounds us all year. The Big Event volunteers provide a helping hand to Lawrence residents by completing projects in their neighborhoods. This year the Big Event is on April 20th from 9-2. Learn more and register to be a volunteer on the Big Event webpage.