HRS moving April 23 to new location

The Office of Human Resource Services will be moving to a new location April 23. The new building, located at 903 West University Avenue, will be home to all HRS offices currently located in Stadium West as well as Academic Personnel, currently located in Tigert Hall, and the Education and General/Auxiliaries satellite office, currently located at the Reitz Union.

A new HRS Service Center, expanded training rooms, newly renovated facilities, and a prominent location bridging UF with the Gainesville community are just some of the features of the new site that UF faculty and staff can look forward to.

Although HRS is moving off campus, there are many ways to contact us.

All HRS phone numbers will remain the same. The HRS Service Center will be available from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The HRS web site will continue to serve as UF employees’ main resource for up-to-date information about their benefits, job opportunities, training, and other HR services. The web site also will be continuously updated with information about the move.

The new location at 903 West University Avenue will combine HRS’ offices into one location, creating a one-stop customer experience. Visitors to HRS will enter the main doors, off of University Avenue, and will be greeted by the new HRS Service Center.

UF parking will be available behind the building (orange or blue decal) and in nearby lots. In addition, the RTS bus route 5 has a stop at the new HRS building.

Updates about the move will be provided to staff and faculty through the InfoGator and the HR Forum (for campus-wide HR administrators), by e-mail, and on the HRS web site.

If you have any questions, please contact human-resources@ufl.edu or call 392-1075 (SC 622-1075).

Leave policies updated in March

Recently, the university revised the leave regulation 6C1-1.201, which in turn, enhanced a few existing leave policies effective March 30, 2007. Some of the changes included:

• An employee who transfers to the university from a state agency, state institution, or a state university, may transfer up to 80 hours of sick leave and up to 80 hours of vacation leave.

• An employee who has been placed on Workers’ Compensation Indemnity Pay will not be eligible to any paid holiday benefits. This would include the use of the TEAMS December Personal Leave Days.

• An employee who is reemployed within 180 days may restore his or her sick leave balance upon repayment of the sick leave payout. If none of his or her sick leave was paid out at the time of separation, all sick leave will be restored.

The revised regulation may be viewed in its entirety on the university’s official regulations web site at http://regulations.ufl.edu. Please direct your questions to Central Leave Administration at 392-5732 (SC 622-5732) or e-mail central-leave@ufl.edu.

Don’t forget to submit 2006 flexible spending account claims by April 17

Employees who participated in a medical or dependent care reimbursement account during 2006 must submit claims by April 17, 2007. Claims may be made for money spent on medical or dependent care expenses during 2006.

Reimbursement claim forms are available on the forms section our web site. Please follow the instructions found on the form. People First is pleased to announce the addition of a new, toll-free fax line. You may now fax Medical Expense and Dependent Care documentation to this toll-free number: 1-888-800-5217.

Helpful hints for faster service:

• Include your People First user ID number
• Fax all documents together
• Use white paper only
• Do not highlight items on the original, as this makes the faxed text difficult to read
• Retain the confirmation notice for your records

The current fax number also listed on the Flexible Spending Reimbursement form, 850-425-4608, is still available for use.

Information about your contributions or the status of your claims may also be viewed online. To access any of your benefits information, a user ID and password are needed. If you have misplaced this information, contact the People First Service Center at 1-866-663-4735 for assistance in resetting your ID and password.

For more information, contact University Benefits and Retirement at 392-1225 (SC 622-1225) or benefits@ufl.edu.

2007 Davis Productivity Award winners announced

The Davis Productivity Awards program, which annually honors state government employees throughout Florida, has announced its winners for 2007, including four from the University of Florida.

In addition to honoring “innovation, creativity, and smart work,” the awards program recognizes individuals and work units that have adapted or implemented previous years’ award-winning achievements to create added value. Eligible for nomination are individuals, teams, and work units as well as entire state agencies or their divisions, regions, districts, and institutions. Nominations are accepted each year in the fall with award winners announced in March.

The program presents cash awards ranging from $250 to $2,500 as well as commemorative plaques, certificates of commendation, and letters of honorable mention. The four UF winners are:

FICA Alternative Team: Implemented a New Retirement Plan for Temporary Employees

ePAF Project Team: Streamlined Human Resources Transactions through Enhanced Electronic Forms

Student eBill Implementation Team: Implemented Electronic Billing System that Reduced Paper/Postage

Anthony Bouton: Digitized/Edited Hundreds of Video/Music Clips for Business Classes

For a complete list of team members associated with these awards or for more information about the Davis Productivity Awards program, please visit http://www.hr.ufl.edu/awards/davis. Please join us in congratulating all of UF’s award recipients.

First employee crosses finish line of Pro3 Series

Monica Lindberg had taken an assortment of training courses over the last few years to help her improve her skills as the administrative assistant for IFAS’s Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. But nothing matched the coordinated approach of the courses that fell under the umbrella of Pro3’s fiscal management track.

“For those of us ‘experienced’ employees who have had to touch base with many of the administrative offices on campus, but perhaps never fully understood the extent of their roles and responsibilities, these newly created classes were an eye opener,” she said.

In March, Lindberg became the first employee to become certified in the university’s new Pro3 Series, having completed its fiscal management track. Training and Organizational Development launched the Pro3 Series earlier this fiscal year with a number of new courses designed specifically for UF financial administrators.

The fiscal management track is offered out of a partnership with Finance and Accounting, Audit and Compliance, Division of Sponsored Research, and others. Other tracks of training will soon follow that focus on HR/payroll and academic department support.

Lindberg said she particularly enjoyed the courses “Internal Controls at UF,” “The Color of Money,” and “UF 101: What Every Employee Should Know About UF.” She added that, although she was among the more experienced employees taking the courses, those new to UF would be wise to take advantage of the series.

“This curriculum will really be of benefit to the newest employee,” she said. “From the get go they will get an appreciation for the complexities of UF’s administrative operations.”

The Pro3 Series uses a competency model to ensure learning is focused on key knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to complete UF’s complex support functions. More than 800 participants have attended the series’ offerings since its launch.

“We’ve been so pleased to see campus’s reaction to the series and to already have awarded the first Pro3 certificate,” said Jodi Gentry, HRS’ associate director for Training and Organizational Development. “We really believe our offerings are bridging the gap for employees like Monica.”

For more information about the Pro3 Series, visit Training and Organizational Development’s web site http://www.hr.ufl.edu/training/pro3 or contact the office at 392-4626 (SC 622-4626) or training@ufl.edu. Summer sessions will be open for registration starting May 1.

Participants in the Employee Education Program (EEP) will benefit this year from a simplified, online application as well as some standardized processes for reinstatement in the program.  To better inform employees of the procedures and paperwork associated with participating in the EEP, Human Resource Services, in collaboration with the Registrar’s Office, will provide a short information session on Tuesday, April 17, from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. in Room 316 Stadium West.

The session will cover the following topics:

• Policies and procedures related to the EEP
• Course options and scheduling
• Approval for participation
• Identifying approved courses
• Deadlines for submitting paperwork
• Requirements for attending other academic institutions
• Financial obligations
• Participants' responsibilities
• Helpful contact information

Participating employees are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the upcoming EEP Information Session to learn more about the program. To register for this  session, login to myUFL and navigate to My Self Service > Training and Development. The course code for the information session is GET012 (Employee Education Prog. Info). Registration instructions may be found on the training web site.

For more information about the Employee Education Program and to access the new EEP Online Application, please visit the EEP section of HRS’ web site at http://www.hr.ufl.edu/education/eep or contact Amanda Moore, education coordinator, in Training and Organizational Development at 392-4626 (SC 622-4626) or amanda-moore@ufl.edu.

UF Incentive Efficiency Program designates new chair

The UF Incentive Efficiency Program (IEP) has designated a new chair, Bahar Armaghani, assistant director of Project Management for Facilities, Planning and Construction. Armaghani will replace Karen Kirkman, Associate In, College of Engineering, who has served for more than seven years as both a committee member and as chair.

"We really appreciate Karen Kirkman's contribution to the Incentive Efficiency Program," said Kyle Cavanaugh, Senior Vice President for Administration. "We also welcome Bahar Armaghani into this role."

The IEP, established in 1989 by the Florida Legislature, is an awards program that seeks to improve the quality of Florida’s state universities and rewards employees who suggest permanent, practical, and tangible money-saving ideas or new revenue sources. Cash awards presented to winners are a percentage of the savings realized.

Do you know a way to save the University of Florida money? If so, submit your idea to the IEP committee. Proposals are accepted on an ongoing basis. For additional information, please visit the IEP web site or contact Amanda Moore in Training and Organizational Development at ammoore@ufl.edu or 392-4626 (SC 622-4626).

Employees must report 2006-07 compensatory leave by May 27

All non-exempt and exempt USPS employees may use overtime and special compensatory leave through the end of the fiscal year—June 30—but it must be reported by 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 27.

If you need to use overtime or special compensatory leave before June 30, the leave should be entered accurately for the future date on which you will be absent from work using the Weekly Elapsed Screen in the myUFL system. To do so, enter a future “Week Beginning Date,” click “Refresh Date,” then enter the number of compensatory leave hours (along with the proper time-reporting code; see below) on the anticipated, or projected, date of use. Regardless of the date on which the compensatory leave use will occur through the end of the fiscal year, it must be entered by 5 p.m. on May 27.

After logging in to myUFL, navigate to My Self Service > Time Reporting > Time Reporting Home > Report Weekly Elapsed Time.

Non-exempt employees:

• Begin with a new blank line
• Input the compensatory leave hours to be used and then select the appropriate leave type in the “Time Reporting Code” menu (“OCT” for overtime compensatory leave use and “SCU” for special compensatory leave use)
• Click the “Save” button to save work
• Review the confirmation screen and click “OK”

Exempt USPS employees:

• At the default schedule, change the blank “Time Reporting Code” (TRC) field to the "regular" TRC
• Adjust the hours on that line to reflect the actual hours worked
• Click on “Add a New Line” to input your compensatory leave to be used (“SCU” for special compensatory leave use)
• Click the “Save” button to save work
• Review the confirmation screen and click “OK”

Again, while the compensatory leave use should be reflected on the accurate date of use, it must be physically entered by 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 27, or it will be cashed out automatically during the pay period ending May 31.

Questions? Please contact Central Leave at 392-5732 (SC 622-5732) or Payroll Services at 392-1231 (SC 622-5732).

Open enrollment for adoption benefits currently underway

Open enrollment for the state of Florida’s adoption benefits program began April 2 and will continue through May 31, 2007. Academic Personnel, TEAMS, and USPS employees who have adopted a child on or after October 1, 2000, can apply if permanent custody of the child has been awarded by the Department of Children and Family Services or a Florida-licensed child placement agency.

The monetary benefit available is $10,000 for a special-needs child and $5,000 for non-special needs, subject to withholding taxes. Awarded part-time employees will receive a prorated benefit based on their FTE status at the time of application. All employees must also hold a benefits-eligible position both at the time of application and time of award.

The application must first be certified by University Benefits and Retirement before the employee can mail the application and certified copy of the final order of adoption. DMS must receive all required documents by close of business on May 31, 2007.

Employees who were not awarded a benefit in previous years must reapply in order to be considered for the adoption benefit. Please note that the amount available to fund this program is contingent upon legislative appropriation.

Questions? Contact your nearest HRS satellite office or University Benefits and Retirement at 392-1225 (SC 622-1225) or benefits@ufl.edu.

Reminder -- Health premium increase starting April 2007 affecting Employer and Part-time employee contributions

Based on 2006 Legislative changes, on the April 13 payday, UF will begin paying higher rates for its employees’ health plans. Benefits-eligible full-time UF employees will continue to pay the same amount as in 2006. However, benefits-eligible part-time UF employees will experience a proportional increase based on their FTE beginning in April (for May coverage). Please refer to the article in the February 2007 InfoGator for details on rate increases.

Part-time employees, who have questions or concerns about these changes, should contact University Benefits and Retirement at 392-1225 (SC 622-1225) or benefits@ufl.edu.

Look for lapse in “UF-Sponsored plans” summer deductions without impact to coverage

Employees participating in certain UF-sponsored insurance plans will notice a temporary increase in take-home pay over the summer. Based on your appointment status, your deduction cycle for these university-sponsored plans will vary.

For employees on 12-month appointments, deductions for group term life insurance (Jefferson Pilot) and personal accident insurance (AIG) will stop over the summer. All other “UF-sponsored” benefit deductions will continue.

Employees on 9- and 10-month appointments will not have deductions taken over the summer for group term life (Jefferson Pilot), personal accident (AIG), long-term disability, long-term care (CNA), whole life insurance (Monumental), homeowners/auto insurance (HRH), and direct-assignment dental (Eagles).

The last deductions taken for either group of employees for these plans will be on April 27; they will resume with the September 14 paycheck.

Questions? Contact your nearest HRS satellite office or University Benefits and Retirement at 392-1225 (SC 622-1225) or benefits@ufl.edu.