All posts by Marlene Heuertz and Maureen De Armond

HR Information Archive

Broadlawns Medical Center to offer reduced medical costs for employees

On Sept. 21, President Martin announced that Broadlawns plans to construct a 12,000 sq. ft. medical clinic at 29th Street and University Avenue. The clinic will be open to employees, students, and the public.

In addition to providing accessible, quality healthcare, the Broadlawns partnership will allow employees participating in Drake’s health plan to realize significant savings when they utilize Broadlawns providers.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2022, employees and their covered dependents will experience lower co-pays, deductibles, and out-of-pocket maximums for Broadlawns services.

It is important to note that the option to seek care through Broadlawns is simply that: an option. Drake’s Wellmark plan and benefits will be unimpacted by the Broadlawns partnership. This new partnership provides another layer of options and choice which you and your covered family members are empowered to consider. We know that choice in healthcare is important to Drake employees, and while we are looking forward to the new clinic, the additional options this partnership will create for Drake employees is news we are proud to share.

If you have not recently driven by Broadlawns Medical Center or one of their community clinics, you might be surprised to learn of many of the new facilities in the Broadlawns network of providers. Broadlawns facilities have undergone significant renovations and enhancements, as Broadlawns continues to invest in cutting-edge technology to provide state-of-the-art medical care. Soon, we’ll have Broadlawns resources within walking distance of campus.

Between now and open enrollment, we will be sharing additional information about the expertise, services, and resources Broadlawns offers. In the meantime, you can click here to learn more about Broadlawns clinics & services or medical staff. Please watch for additional updates and, as always, please be sure to review open enrollment information as it is shared. It will be November before we know it!

— Marlene Heuertz and Maureen De Armond, Human Resources

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Great Colleges To Work For survey: Focus area progress report

A few weeks ago, you read about the three focus areas identified from Great Colleges To Work For (GC2WF) survey results. Last week, we started asking for detailed feedback on the first priority: ensuring a consistent and robust cascade of communication.

Communication has been a focus area based on GC2WF survey results for the past several years. Instead of doing what we have done in the past, we wanted to dig deeper—as the GC2WF survey results provide big-picture insight but not necessarily detail. Last week, we facilitated two brain-storming sessions and we shared a pulse survey both focused on just this first priority. The short survey will only take a minute to complete. It remains open through Oct. 5.

While the brainstorming sessions were not well-attended, those who did participate brought forth meaningful feedback and great ideas. Based on that, and initial pulse survey results, some themes are already emerging. The most prominent is that employees desire greater opportunities to provide input and be heard. Additional themes include:

  • Leadership Visibility: Many faculty and staff would appreciate increased visibility of leadership and more face-to-face interactions, especially after the separation and isolation experienced during the pandemic.
  • Townhalls/Team Meetings: Townhalls and department/unit meetings facilitated by the relevant President’s or Dean’s Council member appear to be meaningful to both faculty and staff. Such events should reserve time for questions and discussion and not merely be events for information flowing out.
  • Institutional and Departmental Planning: Additional opportunities to get involved in planning—both at the institutional level and within departments—would be appreciated. There seems to be continued interest in utilizing focus groups, task forces, surveys, and pro-actively engaging faculty/staff who are subject-matter-experts in the area.
  • Training for Managers: Training for front-line managers to better appreciate the connection between communication and employee engagement and active-listening would be valuable. Additional manager training may also help level-set, as there seems to be wide variations in how employees view the effectiveness of their mangers in communicating.
  • Leverage Faculty Senate & All Staff Council: Better utilize and leverage these bodies for sharing information, collaborating on projects and improvements, and using as sounding boards.
  • Benchmarking: Fresh benchmarking on best practices internal communication—not just within higher education but other industries, too. Information sharing is something that evolves and requires a complex solution, given employees’ varied preferences.

If you have additional ideas or suggestions relating to this focus area, there is still time to respond to the survey. Please also feel free to share thoughts directly with Nate or Maureen. In fact, if you have thoughts, ideas, or suggestions relating to the GC2WF survey in any way, please reach out to us. We want to take more intentional and meaningful steps to respond and react to the survey responses. Let us know if there are additional efforts we should be considering.

Once the pulse survey period is closed, we will work on a more comprehensive outline of areas for improvement, reconsideration, and innovation and go from there.

Later this month, we will turn our attention to the second priority area focusing on facilitating reconnection and attending to our culture. We will again provide opportunities for you to provide insight and input into how to make improvements in this important area.

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources, and Nate Reagen, Office of the President

HR Information Archive

Join the Eat Right for Life challenge

There is a vast amount of information on nutrition, and it is easy to get confused by all the related studies and theories. But, healthy eating doesn’t have to be complicated. To help sort it all out, we are bringing back the Eat Right for Life challenge.

This five-week program begins Monday, Oct. 11. It works well as both a starter program for our first timers and a refresher program for those tackling it again.

During the challenge you will read a chapter a week from the book Eat Right for Life by Ann G. Kulze, M.D., assess your current eating habits, select a weekly nutrition goal from a list provided, and track your progress. Along the way you will receive additional resources and tips.

To register, send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

HR Information Archive

HR welcomes Trevon Smith, department is fully staffed

Can you believe it? Human Resources has not been fully staffed since June 2020. At times, we were down three people out of a seven-person team. This has made for some challenging times.

On Monday, Sept. 27, we were thrilled to have Trevon Smith join the HR team. We now have a full bench—we even have a student employee! Exciting times for us and we hope this will mean quicker response times, increased training opportunities, updated processes, and greater service for you when you need HR assistance or have a question for us.

Trevon joins us in a new role—HR Generalist. Trevon joins us from the insurance world and has a wealth of HR experience. He’s a certified HR professional, has an extensive background in benefits and disability, and he is delightful.

We will be positioning Trevon as our “go to” HR professional to help employees with HR questions. He’ll be able to assist with common questions, triage inquiries when volume is high, and redirect more complex and time-consuming matters to the right subject matter experts. We want to give Trevon a few weeks to settle into the new role. Then, we will share with campus details about a new HR customer service model—which we think will better serve you in many ways.

As you may recall, Teresa Downs joined our team last month and she really hit the ground running. With a focus on data, she’ll often be behind the scenes, but she will be helping us with workflow and our internal processes. Her work will have a direct impact on our ability to quickly and efficiently serve Drake employees.

Anthony Leto has been moved into a Talent Acquisition role and we definitely have our work cut out for us there. The recruitment space right now is both challenging and unpredictable. You may see us trying out new tactics to more proactively attracts candidates. We will work on long-term strategies, but we, like many other employers, are facing unique challenges in attracting good candidates right now. With certain positions, this has not been an issue. With other positions, it’s been tough. We will now have more dedicated time to attend to both short- and long-term recruitment practices.

While we have a long list of projects to tackle, we are thrilled to have the key pieces in place. Thank you for your support and patience. More to come later this month about our new customer service model.

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources

For Students Archive

Drake Student Health walk-in flu vaccine clinic

Drake’s Student Health Center is holding a walk-in flu vaccine clinic on Tuesday, Oct. 5, from 9–11 a.m. and 1–3 p.m. There is a $25 fee, which can be paid via debit/credit card, cash, or check.

For students with prescription insurance, flu shots are also available free of charge through the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and Hy-Vee. Find more information and schedule an appointment.

— Jackie Robinson, Student Health Center

For Students Archive

Summer 2022 travel seminar applications live

Applications are live for Summer 2022 travel seminars. Priority deadline for applications is Dec.r 15. Start an application today.

Summer 2022 travel seminars are:

Additionally, information sessions for each of the Summer 2022 travel seminars will be held in the coming weeks. For Germany and Poland, a virtual session will take place on Friday, Oct. 8, at 12 p.m. For Uganda, a hybrid session is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 11, at 5 p.m. in Meredith Hall, Room 102.  Session links and additional information on these events can be found on the University calendar.

To apply for a travel seminar, visit Terra Dotta, Drake’s online application portal. Use your Drake ID and password to login.

For questions about a specific travel seminar, contact the course instructor. For general study abroad questions or issues with Terra Dotta, contact studyabroad@drake.edu.

— Nathan Jacobson, Education Abroad Coordinator

For Staff Archive

Task force on remote work finalizing recommendations

The task force that was assembled to consider the future of remote work and flexible schedules for staff is finalizing its general recommendation and will soon be soliciting the feedback of University leadership.

The task force first met on June 29 and has been diligently working to consider how Drake may best take the lessons learned from the pandemic to rethink and modernize its policies and practices guiding when, where, and how staff work.

“Following the valuable feedback received from campus, the task force has been focused on bringing a more modern look and feel to the proposed policies and guidance. We are working toward building a framework that will stimulate workplace culture and be sustainable for the future,” said task force member Heather Travis, associate chief financial officer/controller.

Once the President’s Council has had the opportunity to review and consider the task force’s recommendations, the task force will schedule a virtual “Task Force Debrief,” where staff can learn more about the collaborative process the task force applied to its work, including the importance of the feedback provided in the staff survey. This would also be a good opportunity to hear ideas and suggestions on where the task force approach may work in other policy, operational, and strategy spaces.

The task force will share additional details with campus about its recommendations and outline next steps once it is clear which recommendations are being adopted. It is possible the President’s Council will have some suggestions that will require an additional round of work by the task force. In short, we want to be transparent with campus, but we also want to be sure that the final versions of recommendations are shared to avoid confusion or the circulation of outdated drafts.

The task force does want to share now that the approach it is recommending is to consolidate remote work and flexible work options into one holistic policy, a Customized Work Arrangement Policy. If that policy moves forward, it will undergo Drake’s normal policy review process, where it will be posted for comment for at least 15 days. Any staff member with a question, comment, or suggestion will be empowered to share their thoughts through the existing policy review process.

The task force is excited to be wrapping up this stage of the work and is looking forward to next steps.

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources

Strategic Updates Archive

Faculty and Staff: Please complete the Survey of Administrative Services—Your input is very important

An important aspect of our Continuous Improvement Plan is assessing our performance in delivering services to the campus. To that end, I encourage you to complete this year’s survey of administrative services. It is completely anonymous and often takes less than five minutes to complete.

The survey focuses on six areas: Facilities Planning and Management, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology Services, Public Safety, and University Communications and Marketing. You will only be asked to provide feedback on the services which you worked with in the past year. The survey was developed by the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment in collaboration with several other of our colleagues.

Continuous improvement efforts such as this drive intentional and strategic action. Your input is reviewed, and acted upon as your feedback helps us better meet the needs of our University. Direct action plans are developed as a result of your input.

Thank you in advance for your participation by Tuesday, Oct. 19.

— Nate Reagen, Office of the President

For Staff Archive

All Staff Council and HR to host virtual town hall for staff

All Staff Council (ASC) and Human Resources are teaming up to facilitate a virtual town hall for staff tentatively planned for Friday, Oct. 22, at 1:30 p.m. While we want staff members to feel comfortable, empowered, and encouraged to bring questions to the town hall, we want to gage the amount of time needed to have a productive and meaningful dialogue. Consequently, we invite staff to submit questions to ASC ahead of time.

Final decisions regarding the meeting date and time will be based on the topics and volume of questions received. We ask that questions be of general interest to staff and can be directed to All Staff Council and/or Human Resources. We will reserve time during the town hall for interactive dialogue but believe we can best plan and schedule the event if we have some sampling of the ASC and HR questions that are top of mind for staff.

At present, HR’s new Executive Director Maureen De Armond will kick off the event with a few comments about early observations at Drake and describe some of the HR initiatives staff should expect to hear more of in the coming months.

Members of the ASC Executive Committee, including Andy Verlengia, Jenny Jones, Sara Heijerman, and Linda Feiden, will be present to share information about upcoming ASC events and describe some of the ASC priorities for the academic year.

If this sounds like an event you are interested in attending, save the date: Friday, Oct. 22, at 1:30 p.m. As soon as we solidify the date and time, we will provide an update with meeting details.

— Andy Verlengia, Director, Alumni Relations

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Tuition exchange applications now open for 2022–2023

Full-time employees in a regular position at Drake are eligible to participate in two tuition exchange programs, which offer waived or discounted tuition at other participating institutions for employees, their spouse/partner, or eligible dependent(s).

Those wishing to apply for tuition exchange in the 2022–2023 academic year can apply now. Applications are only for students not currently participating in tuition exchange—those who are receiving tuition exchange during this academic year will automatically be re-certified for consideration in the 2022–2023 academic year (assuming the employee is still eligible).

There are three main steps in the tuition exchange application process:

  1. Employee submits the tuition exchange application (and the student should also apply for admission at the schools listed on the application).
  2. Drake’s Office of Student Financial Planning will confirm and certify the employee’s eligibility to participate in the tuition exchange program. This is done on a rolling basis as applications are received.
  3. Each school listed on the application will determine whether they can offer the student a tuition exchange award.

Schools have different application deadlines and timelines for announcing award determinations. It is the employee’s responsibility to submit the tuition exchange application early enough to allow time for step #2 to be completed in advance of each school’s deadlines.

Details about each of Drake’s tuition exchange programs are provided below:

Tuition Exchange, Inc. (TE)
TE has over 670 participating schools. Visit tuitionexchange.org to learn more, view participating schools, and to submit an application.

Council of Independent Colleges & Universities Tuition Exchange Program (CIC-TEP)
CIC-TEP has over 440 participating schools. Visit cic.edu/tep to learn more, view participating schools, and to submit an application.

— Ryan Zantingh, Director of Financial Aid