Last semester, 168 faculty and staff participated in at least one BUILD (Bulldogs United In Learning Drake) session and many attended multiple classes. Congratulations to the following individuals for completing at least eight hours of BUILD class credit. This shows a true commitment to learning.

• Sonja Brightwell
• Mindy Clem
• Christine Ditter
• Linda Feiden
• Caron Findlay
• Sheila Goodwin
• Kris Magill
• Debra Wiley

Two names were randomly drawn from those who attended at least one class. The winners are Bridget Arrasmith and Alice Cronin. Each will receive an email with a link to a catalog where they may select a prize of their choice.

BUILD sessions are available to all faculty and staff. The sessions, lasting from 1 to 3 hours, assist individuals with learning a new skill, improving health, or strengthening professional knowledge.

A list of the remaining classes for the spring semester, including a registration form, is available through blueView’s Employee tab, in the Learning and Development channel.

If you have suggestions for sessions for the 2018-2019 BUILD program or would like additional information, please contact Human Resources at drakehr@drake.edu.

—Linda Feiden, Human Resources

Bulldog Pack Rewards Program is a points-based scorecard dedicated to helping you enhance your quality of life in five areas: physical, financial, community, social, and occupational. Earn points by participating in various activities and making healthy choices. Reach 100 points by June 1 and be placed in a drawing for a chance to win your choice of prizes from a wellness catalog.

The Bulldog Pack Rewards Program scorecard is available to all full-time and part-time faculty and staff, regardless of enrollment in the Drake Medical Plan. Click here for instructions on how to access the scorecard and start earning points now.

Please note that the annual biometric/wellness screening is separate from this scorecard. This item is only for current employees on Drake’s medical plan and must be completed annually to receive the wellness premium incentive.

For more information, contact Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu.

—Linda Feiden, Human Resources

When was the last time that you looked at your paystub? Your paystub provides more information than just pay. It provides information about benefits, deductions, and taxes, as well as the amounts that Drake contributes toward the benefits that you enjoy as an employee.

Paystub anatomy 101

View a sample of a paystub for a Drake employee who makes $50,000 a year and is paid on a monthly basis. This sample is for the last pay period for 2017 (December) and, for simplicity, this sample does not include pay period information and only includes year-to-date totals. This is to better display pay and benefits information on an annual basis. Actual paystubs include pay period specific information.

The top of the paystub

• Your Drake ID number, name, and address
• The pay date and pay period

Earnings section

• Includes job title, type(s) of earnings, and amount totals. For this example, only regular hours worked is listed as an earnings type.
• If applicable to you, this section includes items such as overload pay and cell phone stipend for those paid monthly, and holiday, vacation, sick leave, personal for those paid bi-weekly.

Benefits, deductions, and taxes section

• Provides the amount you have paid in taxes
• Lists the amount you have contributed to elected/eligible benefits. This example includes family dental, flexible spending medical, family medical, TIAA mandatory, and TIAA voluntary.
• Provides the amounts that Drake has contributed to not only your elected and eligible benefits, but also the benefits that Drake pays for on your behalf, such as the flexible spending fee, life insurance, and long-term disability.

Federally taxable benefits section

• Includes other taxable benefits, the most significant being graduate tuition waiver. This particular employee received a value of $10,000 worth of tuition benefit and only had to pay the applicable taxes.
• Since the undergraduate tuition benefit is not taxable, it is not displayed on your pay stub. For the 2017-18 academic year, tuition for entering first-year students is $38,916 and for returning students is $36,112, so you need to add this and/or any part-time undergraduate tuition benefit to your total benefits for the year.

In this example, Drake provided a total of $19,683.04 in employer contributions and an additional $10,143.31 in taxable benefits. Therefore, for 2017, this employee has total benefits with a value of nearly $30,000.

Now it’s your turn

If you haven’t reviewed your paystubs in a while, or if you have never viewed your pay stub online, it’s easy:

• Log in to blueView
• Select the Employee tab
• In the Payroll Information channel, click on the Pay Stub link
• From the drop-down menu, select the Pay Stub Year that you want to look at and click on Display; To view your year-end totals for 2017, select Pay Stub Year 2017
• From the Pay Stubs for 2017 list, select December if you are paid monthly or the last pay stub in December for bi-weekly.

—Gary Johnson, Human Resources