Goodbye to Michelle Berry, LIA-Access Services, ILL-Borrowing. Michelle left to pursue certification to teach at a Montessori school.

Library Administration staff will hold three training sessions in June on Time & Labor for supervisors of hourly-paid employees (both classified staff and students). We’re targeting these supervisors first as their role with payroll, under Time & Labor, will change more than the role of supervisors of monthly-paid employees. The dates, times, & locations are listed below. I will send Outlook schedule-a-meeting notices; simply RSVP to the session that best fits your schedule.

Subsequent training sessions will be scheduled for other supervisors and for all non-supervisory employees. See News Notes from 5/15/09 for a summary of our move to Time and Labor to track hours (see ‘HR Related Updates”).

Leo

Training info
June 4, 9:00 – 10:30 a.m.; 4F51-A Ellis
June 9, 8:30 – 10:00 a.m., 4F51-A Ellis
June 11, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m., 4F51-A Ellis

One question I’ve received pertains to accessing the myHR website which is the entry to the new timesheet form. We won’t start using the new form until the middle of July, but if you’ve not accessed myHR yet, you might do so between now and July. The instructions follow:
1) Open Internet Explorer
2) Type https://myhr.umsystem.edu in the address field (or click on this link) and hit Enter
3) Type your userid and password (the same as your e-mail information) and hit Enter
4) On the left side of the screen, under ‘Menu,’ click on ‘Self Service’
5) Click on the link ‘Time Reporting’
6) You will see a link to ‘Timesheet’ – it’s not active yet but it will be when we go live.

Other info: You probably noticed a link to ‘Personal Information’ on the ‘Self Service’ page. That link is active and you can click on it to view and actually update personal information. You can also access your Benefits information on the ‘Self Service’ page. Go ahead…try it, you’ll like it.

Leo

* Security Officer (part-time) – 60% FTE; work week nights primarily; Sunday- Thursday (9:30 p.m.-2:30 a.m.) hours are subject to change based on the needs of the libraries. Some weekday and weekend hours may be scheduled on occasion; $10.50/hr. Administration, Ellis Library. NOTE: Anticipated start time is the first week in August to allow for training prior to the start of the fall semester. Training will take place during the day shift. Late-night shift begins with the start of the fall semester.

Duties: Maintain the security and integrity of the library, its employees and its patrons after library administration’s regular hours. Responsible for hourly rounds, closing procedures, locking and unlocking doors as needed, assisting patrons and staff, setting/disarming alarm systems, and responding to any emergency or situation as needed.  Provide security assistance and protection for library staff, patrons and materials and enforce library and security policies and procedures. Conduct regular building patrols, open and close Ellis Library, prevent improper removal of library material, process lost and found articles, investigate and report security incidents (e.g., policy violations, thefts, emergencies, etc.). Perform special projects as assigned. Initiate communication with supervisor regarding security issues, project difficulties, etc. Flexibility in scheduling is essential; must also be willing to respond on short notice to requests for coverage. Must be able to work with minimal direct supervision.

Minimum Qualifications: A high school diploma or an equivalent combination of education and experience. (No driver license is required for our security staff.)

Preferred Qualifications: Strong interpersonal skills; ability to both follow established guidelines and appropriately respond to unique situations; effective communication skills; ability to work in various situations. Must be reachable outside of work hours when in the general area. Prior security experience helpful. Basic computer/keyboarding skills are required. Must be able to pass standard First Aid and CPR courses as well as a security background check as a condition of employment. Ability to meet project deadlines. Ability to establish and maintain positive working relationships with staff.

Goodbye to Michael Kauffman, late-night, part-time, Security Officer. Michael left to pursue a degree in criminal justice at Central Methodist.

I recently shared the information with LMT on several HR-related actions and I want to bring library employees up-to-speed on these items. The following information is meant to provide a summary description. Feel free to ask for additional clarification (AgnewL@missouri.edu). I’ll be happy to gather these into a follow-up Q&A document.

Continuing appointments for graduating student assistants: There is an additional step to the process of keeping student assistants who just graduated and it is due to the hiring freeze – we need to secure Jesse Hall approval. Why? Well, we have been required to convert these students into a staff title each of the past few summers by HR since they no longer qualify to be in the student title. The wrinkle now is, whatever title we use is a classified staff title, thus requiring Jesse Hall approval since their view is that we are ‘establishing’ a position, even though it is very temporary.

What is the library’s process for requesting Jesse Hall approval? My advice is to check within your division for information on your internal approval process. Ultimately, what I need is confirmation that Jim has seen and approved the request before I submit it to Jesse Hall. Besides that, I’ll need a brief description of duties and why it’s essential they continue to be performed, i.e., complete a project, the FTE, hourly rate, and anticipated duration of the continued appointment.

Seasonal Leave: MU has a seasonal leave policy on the books and has used it for some time to provide affected employees with continued access to benefits and time served for retirement calculations. Affected employees typically work in units that experience reduced workloads during the summer, such as food services, residential life. Those employees return to work in the fall. Effective now, the seasonal leave policy has been extended to all campus to provide the same provisions for an affected employee.

The MU Libraries is not expecting to make use of this policy, but those departments who do can place employees on seasonal leave without the employees losing access to benefits or time served for retirement calculations.

I’ll go ahead and use this opportunity to remind staff that the library has an internal process for voluntarily requesting a temporary reduction in FTE. The policy can be accessed at http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/staff/policies/Reduction_of_Hours_memo_2000.htm.

Time and Labor: This is an online payroll system that increases the efficiency of reporting time to Payroll by eliminating the need for individuals, like those in Sheena’s position, to enter the information.
• Who does this affect? All hourly-paid employees, staff and students, will enter time online. Monthly-paid employees will report absences via the online system.
• Can paper copies still be submitted for payment? No.
• When will this start? We are scheduled to ‘go live’ mid-July.
• When will we be trained? Library Administration staff will conduct training for supervisors in June. Non-supervisor employees will be trained after that. Dates/times for both training sessions are to be determined.
• Does this differ much from using the current online Excel-based form? Not really. Employees will enter time In/Out of the office, and will distinguish between work hours and paid leave, and will be able to record release time, e.g., funeral leave, jury duty. The screen looks different and there are few extra bells and whistles, e.g., access to paid leave information, but the process for tracking time is not all that different. My working assumption is that individuals who use the current online form will have little trouble learning the new format.
• How does it work, process-wise? In a nutshell…Employees complete the online form. Supervisors review the information online and make corrections online, if necessary. Once approved, supervisors ‘release’ the time sheet and Sheena reviews it on behalf of Admin. She ‘releases’ it to Payroll who takes it from there.
• Will we adhere to the current timelines for forwarding these new e-timesheets and e-monthly absence forms to library Admin? Yes.
• Is there a users’ guide or such? Yes. There is an online tutorial which can be accessed at https://doit.missouri.edu/training/peoplesoft/HR/timelabor.html.

What other benefits will be realized by this new system?
1) Accuracy will be improved since there is no need to data enter hours/leave information a second time, i.e., in Admin.
2) The system will provide a link to current leave balances that is viewable by both employees and supervisors.
3) The system will not allow an employee to go into negative paid leave balances, thus eliminating the need to calculate repayment made by the employee or salary deduction in the next pay check.

CAPS Center
Since 2003, campus HR, with the support of campus administrators, has organized a handful of Core Administrative Processing Support centers (CAPS centers) which consolidate all PAF processing and related transactions to a central location for a specified grouping of departments/divisions. The MU Libraries will enter into a CAPS Center with Law, Engineering, and Journalism. Starting later this summer, this Center will complete all faculty, staff, and student PAFs for us and these other units.

Recently, UM President Forsee endorsed the centralization of services on each campus, where feasible. Moving to a CAPS Center puts us in-line with that directive.
Why is this advantageous? For 2008, these four units collectively processed 5,701 PAF’s, which HR computed to be equivalent to 1.98 FTE. Library Administration processed 870 PAF’s by itself (.29 FTE). What are the advantages?
• Allows individual departments to concentrate efforts on other mission essential activities.
• Allows for the training of a concentrated group of subject matter experts, i.e., the individuals working in the CAPS Center on our behalf.
• Increases accuracy and efficiency by utilizing subject matter experts.
• Alleviates the need to train at the department level.
• All related new hire/rehire paperwork will be completed at the CAPS Center, e.g., I-9, E-Verify.

Does this mean the HR Assistant position is being eliminated? No. It means we are transferring PAF processing to a CAPS Center. Sheena will stay busy, e.g., serving as our point person for Time and Labor questions and training.

Is there a cost to us? Yes. The CAPS Center will employ two full-time individuals. Our share of that cost is $9,700, prorated based upon our PAF load. In contrast, two units with a higher PAF volume are paying $25,500 each.

Does the library have a voice in the hiring process? Yes. I will be co-interviewing with representatives from the other departments.
Where will this CAPS Center be housed? Engineering has volunteered to house the Center.

How will our employees access the Center? New or rehired employees will visit the CAPS Center prior to their start date to complete the paperwork. While this is a change for individuals hired to work in Ellis, other library employees have had to walk to Ellis to complete their paperwork.

When will the CAPS Center be functional? We hope to hire the two positions this summer and hope to have them on board prior to the fall semester. These individuals could be new to the university or could be transfer employees, possibly from units seeking to downsize.

Again, feel free to ask for clarification on this information. I’ll do my best to answer any and all questions.
Leo

For Staff Recognition Week 2009 (May 18-22), each division will have the responsibility for considering requests to attend events and will have the authority to approve, deny or modify requests, taking into account the needs of the unit. Check with the head of your division regarding the process for requesting time to attend Staff Recognition events.

This follows the procedures implemented in 2000. Everyone’s cooperation is appreciated in making requests that include consideration for your unit’s workload, staffing situation, etc.

Leo Agnew
Personnel Coordinator

5/14/1979, Rich Rexroat
5/1/1988, Alla Barabtarlo
5/9/1996, James Keyzer-Andre
5/9/2000, Jeremy Clark
5/15/2000, Adam Banning
5/12/2003, Gary Cox
5/25/2004, Michelle Baggett
5/9/2005, Felicity Dykas
5/1/2006, Adrienne Arden
5/22/2006, Ralph Sieli
5/7/2007, Ruth Feldkamp
5/21/2007, James Franke-Webb

The Staff Advisory Council has asked Human Resource Services to assist with Staff Recognition Week by coordinating a few seminars again this year. HR is trying to keep marketing costs down and has asked departments to share this information electronically.

For more information on the training, and to access the registration form, go to HR’s web page and sign up!

Seminar dates are May 19-21, 2009 and all sessions are in Memorial Union.

Seminars include:

-Take Charge of Your Finances
-Preparing a Staff Development Award Proposal
-Understanding Retirement
-Interviewing for a Job
-Managing Difficult Bosses and Coworkers
-Experiential Stress Management
-Principles of Investing on a Shoestring Budget
-Developing a Resume

Please take some time to enjoy these seminars presented especially for our Columbia Campus Staff!

All sessions are free and this is a great opportunity to set aside some time for personal and professional development. All sessions will be held at Memorial Union and the speakers are mostly MU staff and faculty who are all experts in their fields. Release time is available with supervisor approval. As an FYI, employees in academic titles have been able to attend on a space-available basis.

With the April 2009 elections date just around the corner, it seems like a good time to review HR 411, the University’s policy on voting and related requests for time off. To highlight the main points:

MU Policy – HR 411 Voting
The main points:
• Employees may be excused from work for time necessary to allow them to vote (this includes time away for absentee voting, if necessary).
• This time may be up to, but not exceed, three (3) successive hours for the purpose of voting.
• Such period of time includes any off-duty time between the opening and closing of the polls (e.g., lunch).
• Employees shall be paid for any time requiring absence from duty to allow up to three (3) successive hours; provided, however, that such absence is requested prior to the election. Such time must be recorded on a time sheet or a monthly absence form.
• Supervisors have the right to specify the time an employee may be absent for voting (e.g. for coverage issues).
• Employees whose work hours permit three (3) successive hours between the opening and closing of the polls when not on duty, will not be eligible for any paid time off for the purpose of voting.

Feel free to contact Leo at 882-9166 or agnewl@missouri.edu if additional information is needed.