The University is pleased to announce the observance for Thanksgiving will be extended to include the entire day of Wednesday, November 27. 

In previous years, faculty and staff were given aspirational goals to support the annual United Way campaign – with a goal culminating in extra time off at Thanksgiving.  This year, we have a unique scenario that requires a significant power shutdown required by FP&M.  So, embracing a generosity of spirit in support of this years’ United Way campaign and this unique opportunity, the morning of Wednesday, November 27 has been awarded in advance. 

The United Way of Central Iowa employee campaign at Drake is an invitation to demonstrate our commitment to the Des Moines community. With the United Way campaign, every dollar donated stays within central Iowa by providing essential funding for hundreds of local social service nonprofits.  Watch your email later this month for additional information about how you can get involved.

At Drake, we are a community of individuals who have much to be thankful for.  We encourage you to remember those who may be less fortunate and demonstrate our value, generosity of spirit – through providing financial resources to the organizations that the United Way serves.

Thank you for your consistent commitment to Drake University and our community.  Happy Thanksgiving.

—Debra Wiley, HR

 Drake changed workers compensation carriers effective July 1, 2024. The shift to a new carrier, United Heartland, provided an opportunity to carefully review our workplace illness and injury policy. The revised policy is posted for comment. The policy revision requires a first report of injury within 24 hours of the incident giving rise to the illness or injury. In addition, the policy now includes details about how pay and benefits are handled during any related absence consistent with past practice and Iowa law. Finally, the policy also shifts responsibility for the policy and its administration to Human Resources. The office of Environmental Health and Safety will remain involved in investigating workplace accidents and working to improve safety on campus, while Human Resources will be responsible for managing claims, working with employees to secure care, and assisting employees and managers with return to work and workplace accommodations.

 — Venessa Macro, Chief Administration Officer

Several comments were received regarding the proposed update to the Tuition Waiver policy. Concerns were raised that the proposed policy edit did not reflect how the benefit is applicable to Occupational Therapy programs for dependents were being administered. Further research into this question showed that the occupational therapy program has been administered at the 50% level for dependents. Thus, the policy draft has been updated to reflect this and will remain posted for the remainder of the comment period.

— Debra Wiley, Human Resources

Grab your walking shoes and join the Healthiest State Walk on Wednesday, Oct. 2.  All faculty, staff, and students are invited to meet at noon at the start of the Bulldog Mile where you will receive a token. At the end of the 1-mile walk, turn in your token for a raffle ticket and chance to win a prize. If that’s not enough, you can earn additional raffle tickets with the lucky roll of some dice.

If it is raining, we will move the event to the indoor track at the Knapp Center.  Come alone, bring a friend, or make it a team or department event!  Let’s get moving!

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Iowa serves as a catalyst around advocacy, education, support, and public awareness to help all Iowans affected by mental illness lead better lives.

In recognition of our continued partnership with NAMI Iowa, Drake is a supporter sponsor of the 2024 NAMIWalks Iowa event, on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Terra Park, 6400 Pioneer Pkwy, Johnston, IA from 8:30 a.m. to noon. 

You are welcome to participate on your own or form a team. And you can choose to walk either a 1K or 5K route.  Friendly leashed dogs, strollers, and wagons are welcome, but no bicycles or rollerblades.

Funds raised during this walk support NAMI’s free programs and the walk is a great way to get some fresh air, exercise, socialize, and support others.

If interested, please go to the NAMIWalks Iowa website to register yourself or your team. If you have questions, please contact Amanda Huppert, NAMI Iowa events manager, at amanda@namiiowa.org.

–Linda Feiden, Human Resources

If you are looking for a way to motivate yourself to get up and move more, join this year’s Walktober step challenge.  Drake is competing with Des Moines University and Wesley Life to see which site’s competitors can achieve the highest average step total during the month of October.  The winning site claims the Walktober traveling trophy for a year and bragging rights.  DMU won the trophy last year and we want to bring it back home!

You are welcome to register as an individual or create a team (adding a little internal competition to our already external one).  If you would like participate, please send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu.  If you are putting together a team, please include your team’s name, team captain, and team members (4-8 people per team).  This event is open to all faculty, staff, and students.  Registration deadline is Friday, Sept. 27.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

The Tuition Waiver Policy is available for public review and comment on the Policies Under Review webpage.  In summary, this policy provides tuition waiver benefits to employees, their spouse/partner and dependent children.  The proposed policy now confirms the benefit level for dependents and spouse/partner of John Dee Bright College programs and clarifies the benefit levels in undergraduate and graduate programs.  This policy will be posted through October 9, 2024.

–Debra Wiley, Human Resources

Bulldogs United in Learning & Development (BUILD) provides faculty and staff learning opportunities throughout the academic year to enhance professional skills, improve wellbeing, and create conversation.  BUILD is a great platform for learning new ideas as well as an opportunity to collaborate with others from across campus.

The Fall 2024 schedule is available online and registration is open.  Please take a moment to check out the classes on the Drake HR website under Learning & Development.  Click on BUILD – Upcoming Sessions for the full list, including detailed descriptions.  There is an online registration link to a Qualtrics survey that makes signing up easy.

We continue to add new classes so be sure to check back to find the latest offerings.  As an example, we recently added a new class on public speaking and presentation skills!

Most classes are only an hour in length, and many are facilitated by our own faculty and staff.  This is a great way to invest in yourself, support your colleagues, and take in the culture that Drake has to offer.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

According to Mental Health America, one of the main reasons employees may not use their Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services is that they are not aware that EAP exists, what services they offer, and how to access them.

Let’s fix that! Drake’s EAP provider is Employee & Family Resources (EFR). They offer employees and their family members access to free and confidential support and resources.  You may reach EFR by phone (800-327-4692) 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or visit their website.

Often when we think of an employee assistance program, we think of counseling services.  EFR does offer confidential counseling but that is just one of their many services.

Need help with budgeting or other financial matters?  Need assistance with a living will? Have you recently had your identity stolen?  Are you looking for care for a child or aging relative? EFR can help.  Are you struggling to balance work, family, friends, and other responsibilities?  Is your teenager seeking guidance on their future career path?  A life coach from EFR can help.

EFR offers a full range of free EAP resources, including life coaching by a licensed professional counselor, financial and legal consultation, identity theft restoration, child/elder care resources, First Responder Coaching, and an online support peer community called Togetherall.  Check out the EAP Service Summary link on our EAP page for details on the number of free sessions, etc.

EFR’s website is also home to webinars, podcasts, a blog, self-assessment tools, posters, newsletters, and a free mobile app for our employees and their immediate families.  And for managers, they offer manager support and employee referral services.

If you would like to learn more about EFR and their EAP services, representatives from EFR are available to attend a department or staff meeting (in-person or virtually) to highlight their resources and help answer any questions.  They will present to groups of any size, for any length of time.  If you would like EFR to speak during one of your meetings, please send an email to Teresa Belden, EFR Account Manager, at tbelden@EFR.ORG or phone 515-471-2368.

Remember, the intention of an EAP is to serve as a convenient, and readily accessible support when life matters keep you from being your best. You do not need to be in a crisis to use or benefit from the EAP services, although it is there for that as well. Take some time to check out these resources.  Everyone can benefit!

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

During the last several pay periods, many individuals contacted Human Resources questioning the accuracy of the timesheet and leave report reminders that were sent.  Because the reminders generated many questions, we have temporarily paused these system generated messages.

We encourage employees to create Outlook reminders for themselves to submit and approve the time reported. In addition, as a temporary solution, Human Resources and Payroll will manually send specific reminders to the employee and approver to accomplish these time reporting tasks for the various pay cycles.

HR, Payroll, and ITS will continue to work through the reminder message programming to re-deploy it for your use. Our goal is to provide you meaningful messages that you can confidently act upon.

We do apologize for this inconvenience.

— Human Resources and Payroll