If you worked and were you paid by Drake in 2022, your W-2 is available online through myDrake’s Employee Dashboard. To access and print your W-2, look to the “Taxes” section of the Employee Dashboard. Within this section, click “W-2 Wage and Tax Statement” and select the tax year for 2022. Instructions are available for your reference. If you have questions, contact Human Resources at 515–271–3133.
— Debra Wiley, Human Resources
We are excited about our upcoming spring term faculty/staff DU Well schedule. Programs include:
DU Well Mystery Challenge (Feb. 1-28)
Random Acts of Kindness Week (Feb. 13-17)
Do It for a Day! (March 20 – April 16)
“Walk this May” Challenge (May 1-28)
DU Well strives to help you do well for yourself and others. This includes feeling good and having energy to get things done, having a strong support system, managing your financial resources, learning new things, finding ways to enhance your mental wellbeing, and being involved with your community.
Read more about these opportunities on myDrake under Employee Wellness Programs. Then dip your toe in the water or jump all in! Now is a great time to start something new.
— Linda Feiden, Human Resources
Bulldogs United in Learning Drake (BUILD) is a learning and development series available to faculty and staff who wish to enhance their professional skills, improve their wellbeing, and expand their boundaries.
The 2023 Spring Term BUILD schedule is available in the Learning and Development section on myDrake. To register for any class, please send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu.
BUILD classes are a great way to capture valuable information in a quick format and network with other faculty and staff across campus. If you are interested in more in-depth training on topics, such as Excel (a very popular BUILD class), you are encouraged to look into Drake University’s tuition benefits programs such as the tuition waiver program. Even if you are not looking to pursue a degree, you may register as a non-degree/guest student and take up to 9 credit hours (undergraduate only) per academic term. You will need to complete the Non-Degree Seeking Student Registration Request Form. For Spring 2023 the last day to submit your registration form is Wednesday, Jan. 18.
For more information, please contact the Office of the Registrar.
— Linda Feiden, Human Resources
The Jobs@Drake page is live. Check it out: https://jobs.drake.edu/.
Moving forward, new job openings will be posted here. Any positions currently open will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, as we slowly transition from HireTouch. HireTouch will officially sunset on Dec. 31. We’ll likely use most of December, up until the winter break, to train, work out bugs, and post jobs on the new system.
We will be contacting search chairs of current searches to assess their positions. From Thanksgiving through the start of the new year is a tough time for recruitment—which makes this an ideal time to move to a new ATS. Whenever possible, we are encouraging staff positions to be held until the first week of January, as we do not expect robust job applications coming in over the next month. If you cannot wait, no problem. If you can wait, we think that is a better strategy.
Open faculty positions will require a case-by-case assessment, depending on where the search is and whether the search committee wants to continue to actively solicit additional applications.
Last week, Drake HR facilitated three introductory sessions for managers, the last of which was recorded. Anyone interested in viewing the recording can access it on our Recruitment and Selection page. This is also where we are posting Jobs@Drake guides and a series of short “how to” videos (these are still in the works and will be likely be updated in the first few weeks and months of using Jobs@Drake, as we get to know the system better). Please check this site regularly for on-demand resources and information about Jobs@Drake. We’ll be enhancing our recruitment resources on this page, too. For example, check out the behavior-based interview questions!
Naturally, anyone with questions or in need of support should just contact us. While we have a new generic email for recruitment matters (jobs@drake.edu), you are welcome to contact us directly.
More opportunities for large group, small group, and 1:1 training are coming. We’ll be reaching out to key groups and individuals. If you are excited to get into the new system, let us know. We can make time with you right away.
— Kris Brewster, ITS; Maureen De Armond, HR
Time is running out for open enrollment! If you need to change your benefit elections, update your spouse/dependents, enroll or re-enroll in a Flexible Spending Account, add on the new Avēsis vision hardware coverage…do it today! The Benefits Portal is available through my.drake.edu (see the top tile under Human Resources on the left-hand side of the screen).
Open enrollment ends on Nov. 30, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. sharp.
The new Plan Year starts Jan. 1, 2023. If you have not enrolled in benefits for 2023 yet, please don’t wait until the last minute. If you have any questions or problems navigating the benefits portal, reach out to us at drakehr@drake.edu or contact Marlene directly at marlene.heuertz@drake.edu.
Thank you! We appreciate the questions, comments, and suggestions that we have been receiving all month. If you have additional feedback for us about the benefits offered by Drake University, how benefits are managed, or the communications and events we offered during Open Enrollment, please let us know! Your opinions matter and we want to hear them. You can reach out to us via email or use our short “how are we doing” survey to offer anonymous feedback.
Whether it is praise, constructive criticism, or a new idea, we would love to hear from you.
— Marlene Heuertz and Maureen De Armond, Human Resources
Give yourself the gift of healthier habits this year with the DU Well Holiday Challenge.
This 5-week program includes healthy steps you can build on each week and continue through the new year. Each week you will receive an email newsletter with that week’s challenge, along with supporting tools to help you succeed. You will also be given a personal success tracker to track your progress throughout the challenge. For those interested in maintaining their weight over the holidays, there’s a section to record your weight. This is completely optional, but a great way to help keep you on pace. And of course, there will be prizes!
To get started, send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu. Deadline to register is Monday, Nov. 28.
— Linda Feiden, Human Resources
This is your final reminder. Employees on Drake’s health plan, who want to receive the wellness health insurance premium discount in 2023 – a savings of $32 per month – need to complete a physical with their primary care physician (PCP) by Nov. 30, 2022 and submit a Premium Discount-Annual Physical Form by Dec. 2, 2022.
If you had a physical since Dec. 1, 2021, but haven’t turned in your completed form, please do so now. If you haven’t scheduled your annual physical yet with your PCP, you are running out of time. Please email linda.feiden@drake.edu with questions.
— Linda Feiden, Human Resources
As many of you know, Drake’s health insurance plan is a self-insured plan. While Wellmark facilitates the claims process, Drake pays the claims. We have certain fiduciary obligations in administering the plan. We must act solely in the interest of our employees for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits and defraying reasonable expenses relating to plan administration. Part of these obligations include ensuring that only people who are eligible for coverage are on the plan—this includes employees, dependent children, spouses, and domestic partners.
If you decide to elect coverage, you can include eligible children on the health insurance plan until they reach age 26. Our health plan will discontinue coverage on the last day of the month in which your child turns 26. Certain exceptions apply for disabled dependent children older than age 26 who meet specific criteria.
If your spouse or domestic partner is enrolled in our plan, and you experience a divorce or dissolution of a relationship, your spouse’s/domestic partner’s health insurance coverage will be discontinued when the divorce/dissolution is final. The plan requires you to inform us of such changes and there are penalties if you do not.
| Requirement to Notify Group Sponsor: You must notify your employer or group sponsor within 60 days of most events that change the coverage status of members and within 60 days of events related to divorce or annulment, legal separation, your dependent child losing eligibility for this coverage, Medicaid or CHIP eligibility. If you do not provide timely notification of an event that requires you to remove an affected family member, your coverage may be terminated. If you do not provide timely notification of a coverage enrollment event, the affected person may not enroll until an annual group enrollment period. (Blue Choice Plan, p.77; Blue Alliance Select Plan, p.75). |
As part of our diligence in administering our health insurance plan, we will be conducting a dependent audit in 2023. That means, we will be ensuring that only eligible children, spouses and domestic partners are on the plan. If you have failed to report any changes in status, you still have time to make corrections for 2023. If you have enrolled a dependent in the plan who is not eligible, you still have time to make that correction, too. If you have a dependent child who is under age 26, they may remain on the plan through the end of the month in which they turn 26.
If someone is covered by our plan and they lose eligibility during the 2023 plan year, please contact Drake Human Resources (drakehr@drake.edu), so we can make necessary changes and determine whether access to coverage through COBRA may apply.
— Marlene Heuertz and Maureen De Armond, Human Resources
We have updated the digital benefits guide for plan year 2023. This one-stop resource will serve as a handy reference for employees throughout the coming year and as a helpful recruitment tool for applicants. In fact, the digital benefits guide was created for two primary audiences: with prospective employees during the recruitment process and with current employees as an “any time” reference.
While no guide can anticipate every question or outline every benefit detail, the digital benefits guide was designed to address the most frequently asked questions posed by prospective, new, and existing employees. If you have not yet reviewed the digital benefits guide, please consider taking a look as you are bound to learn something new about the great benefits offered to Drake employees and their families.
Separate from the digital benefits guide is a list of perks and discounts available to Drake employees. This list is regularly updated and worth a look periodically to check out what is new.
To explore these documents: Visit Drake HR’s internal Benefits Page. The digital benefits guide is always featured at the top of the page. You can find the Perks & Discounts link under “Benefit Information Resources,” by scrolling down. For applicants, we also have these items posted on the public-facing website (no my.drake log in necessary) here.
— Marlene Heuertz and Maureen De Armond, Human Resources
In collaboration with our benefits partners, Drake Human Resources hosted in-person and virtual benefits overview sessions on Nov. 18. Our speakers provided an overview of what remains the same and what has changed and fielded questions from those in attendance. The virtual session was recorded, and you are welcome to watch that session. Find the video link and presentation slides on our internal Benefits page under “2023 Open Enrollment Information.”
With only a little over a week left of Open Enrollment, we hope that you have had opportunities to ask questions, review changes and enhancements being made to benefits for plan year 2023 and completed your benefits enrollment in the online benefits portal.
If you have not yet done so, we urge you to complete this process ahead of the November 30 deadline. This is a once-a-year task that warrants time and care. Procrastinating is like tempting fate—you may get busy, you may forget, there could be a technological glitch.
If you were unable to attend either of these informational sessions and have questions, please reach out to drakehr@drake.edu or Marlene directly at marlene.heuertz@drake.edu. As with the enrollment process, if you have questions, we urge you not to delay in seeking answers. We are happy to assist you. However, if everyone waits until the end of the month to ask questions, getting back in a timely manner becomes a challenge.
| Important Reminder about FSAs: Your enrollment in an FSA does not automatically continue from year-to-year. If you want to participate in Drake’s FSA plans during 2023, you must make a new election during Open Enrollment this month. If you forget to enroll or re-enroll, you will not be able to enroll once Open Enrollment has closed (these are Plan rules, not Drake HR rules). For more FSA details, review the Oct. 31 OnCampus on FSAs here. |
— Marlene Heuertz and Maureen De Armond, Human Resources