HR Connection Newsletter

VOLUME 6 SUMMER 2007

Table of Contents

• Save the Date
  • Employee Appreciation Day 2007
  • 2007 Staff Service Awards
  • 2007 Staff Excellence Awards
  • 2007 Staff Meeting with President Michael Young and Suzan Young
• Volunteers Needed for Employee Appreciation Day
• Benefits Corner
• Wellness Program
• Other Important Reminders
  • Flexible Spending Accounts
  • Retirement Investment Options
• Meet Aimee Wilson, New Manager of Compensation Administration
• Training and Development
• New Employee Enrichment Program
• Professional Development Workshops Available at No Cost to U Employees
• 2007 Winter Holiday Closure Schedule
• Remaining Holidays for 2007
• HR Directory



• HR Connection Home Page

The Staff Service Awards is an annual event recognizing staff employees from across campus who have dedicated 25, 30, 35, 40 or more years of service in five year increments to the University of Utah. This year’s awards luncheon will recognize 130 staff employees and will be held on Thursday, August 30, 2007 in the Ballroom in the Union Building at noon.

A list of recipients is available at www.hr.utah.edu/etc/ssa/ssa07/ssa07.pdf. If you would like to attend the luncheon to recognize a co-worker, tickets are available for $11.00. The last day to RSVP with payment is Thursday, August 23, 2007. For tickets or more information, please contact Terri Crow at 585-0928 or email terri.crow@utah.edu.

2007 Staff Excellence Awards

The Staff Excellence Awards, formally called the Presidential Staff Awards, were established to recognize superior service and ongoing contributions by the University of Utah’s full-time staff. Twenty-three staff employees have been selected for their district’s Staff Awards. These winners will be the pool from which the final six recipients of the Staff Excellence Awards will be selected.

The six winners of the Staff Excellence Award will be announced at a special luncheon on Tuesday, September 11, 2007 in the Ballroom of the Union Building at noon. Each Staff Excellence Award winner will receive an honorarium of $3000, a special plaque, and their name added to the Perpetual Plaque that resides in the HR Building at 420 Wakara Way.

For a list of District Staff Award winners go to www.hr.utah.edu/etc/psa/sea07.php. If you would like to attend, tickets are available for $15.00 each. Contact Terri Crow at 585-0928 or email terri.crow@utah.edu. Reservations with payment must be made by Wednesday, September 5, 2007.

2007 Staff Meeting with President Michael Young and Suzan Young

Save the date! The annual Staff Meeting with President Michael Young and Suzan Young will be held Monday, October 15, 2007. Details about this event will be coming soon.

The Fourth Annual Employee Appreciation Day will be on Thursday, September 27, 2007 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Olympic Cauldron Park at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Don’t wait in line for your chance to win athletic tickets...volunteer for Employee Appreciation Day. Each volunteer will receive a volunteer t-shirt and a pair of UU basketball tickets. With supervisor permission, employees are encouraged to volunteer. Please respond by Friday, August 17, 2007 to Carolyn Hebert at chebert@sa.utah.edu.

Visit web.utah.edu/employeeday for more information. Take a break and have some fun...volunteer today!

To complete the Health Quotient go to www.webmdhealth.com/utah.

To learn more about the program please visit www.hr.utah.edu/wellu/ or contact the Benefits Department at 581.7447.

Watch for more information at Employee Appreciation Day!

• 2006/2007 Plan Year
  • All claims for reimbursement of eligible expenses incurred July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007 need to be submitted to ASI Flex by September 30, 2007.
  • The “Grace Period” claim extension allows participants to use their remaining 2006/2007 Plan Year FSA dollars for eligible expenses incurred between July 1, 2007 through September 15, 2007 (request for reimbursement must be submitted to ASI Flex by September 30, 2007). After September 30, 2007 any unused monies left in your FSA account from the 2006/2007 Plan Year will be forfeited.
• If you have any questions on your account balance for the 2006/2007 Plan Year or the 2007/2008 Plan Year, contact ASI Flex at 1.800.659.3035. Customer Service Agents are available:
  • Monday through Friday 6:00 am to 6:00 pm MST, and
  • Saturday 8:00 am -12:00 pm MST
• For forms or information on eligible expenses, see ASI Flex’s website at www.asiflex.com.

Planning for retirement can be a difficult task. For help with your retirement planning, schedule a confidential one-on-one counseling session with one, two or all three of the University’s retirement plan Investment Providers.

To schedule an appointment:

For more information on the University’s retirement plans or links to the investment providers’ University microsites go to www.hr.utah.edu/ben/retirement.

Aimee Wilson is the new manager of Compensation Administration. She joined the Division of Human Resources in May and will oversee the combined compensation and payroll areas of human resources. Prior to The University of Utah, she worked at Valley Mental Health and brings with her 15 years of experience in administration and human resources.

We are excited to have Aimee join our team!

The Employee Enrichment Program (EEP) is a unique learning opportunity that will help you become a more effective employee at the University of Utah. The EEP offers three separate programs to choose from: Outstanding Customer Service, Professional Development, & Interpersonal Communication. Each program consists of 3 interactive workshops designed to deliver useful and powerful content to make your employment at the University more successful.

Upon completion of the program you will receive:

• Letter of Content. Learned content from the training department, which illustrates the information and concepts that the program covered.
• Certificate of Successful Completion. A handsome document that trumpets your accomplishment. This document is sent to both you and your supervisor.

The Human Resources Training and Development Department offers a variety of professional development workshops for all university staff and faculty at no cost. These workshops fall into categories such as management and leadership development, customer service, communication skills, and personal development. Examples of classes include Managing Employee Performance, Customer CARE Essentials, Interpersonal Communications, and Assertiveness Skills. Each workshop is offered several times throughout the year. We can also bring our workshops on-site to your department or to an off-site retreat for a small fee. For more information and a workshop schedule, please visit the Training and Development web site at http://www.hr.utah.edu/training/ or call us at 585-2300.

Employees will be paid their regular rate for work hours scheduled but not worked on Monday, December 24th. Information on the University Closure Day process can be found at www.hr.utah.edu/comp/proc/sect_14.php. If you have any additional questions please contact your service team.

This holiday closing schedule does not apply to employees of University Hospitals and Clinics and identified employees in Health Sciences departments, and other departments providing critical services. Please notify members of your staff who are affected.