Human Resources is excited to officially roll out the new intuitive, easy-to-use and track Employee Status Form (ESF) e-form supported by ProcessMaker.

During the past several months, Human Resources has worked with Tyler Spoon, assistant director, enterprise applications in ITS, to convert this commonly used Word doc form into a digital process that automatically routes information to the appropriate approver.  We also appreciate the time, patience, and insights of staff within Drake University Head Start and the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences as they agreed to be our testing population in the soft launch of this form.  ESFs are a form that is primarily used by Budget Office Managers and other authorized employees to change an employee’s status. (Learn more about ESFs on our ESF webpage)

Are you interested?  We would love to provide the campus community an opportunity to learn more about the new e-form—and begin using it.  We have scheduled two opportunities (a virtual and an in-person) for you to see—and begin using—this form, both occurring during the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 28.  If Thursday doesn’t work for you, no problem. We can also schedule ad hoc times on the registration form below.  We know that once you see it, you will love it.

Thank you in advance for your interest in this enhanced form.  Please let us know which session you would like to attend by completing the registration.

— Debra Wiley and Teresa Downs, Human Resources

Every 40 seconds someone in the U.S. has a stroke, and every 3.5 minutes, someone dies of a stroke. Common risk factors include age, obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, inactivity, poor diet, and family history.

Health Gauge will be offering vascular screenings on Wednesday, Oct. 18, from 9 a.m. through 2 p.m. in the Olmsted Center, Parents Hall North. This includes stroke/carotid artery, abdominal aortic aneurysm, and peripheral artery disease screenings. You may also add an optional osteoporosis screening and EKG. These painless and non-invasive screenings are open to all Drake employees, spouses/partners, and retirees. The cost is $125 for the three vascular screenings payable at the time of your appointment. The optional add-ons are $35 each. You may pay with cash, check, credit or debit card, or FSA dollars.

Appointments are necessary. Call Health Gauge at 515-244-3080 to get scheduled.

—Linda Feiden, Human Resources

The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is partnering with Hy-Vee Pharmacy to offer flu vaccinations on campus in Harvey Ingham, Room 107 (Johansen Lab), for Drake faculty, staff, and students.

The flu vaccinations are available through a scheduled appointment (strongly preferred), or on a walk-up basis. Walk-up vaccinations will require additional time on the day of vaccination for completion of paperwork and processing. Signing up at least two days in advance is highly encouraged. 

Sign up for a flu vaccination appointment.

Appointments will be offered the following dates/times.

• Wednesday, Sept. 27, 9 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
• Friday, Sept. 29, 1:30 p.m.–4 p.m.

All clinics will use the same sign up link.

Important: 

• Prescription insurance is required for this flu vaccination clinic. (We are unable to accept cash/credit card payments for services at this clinic). Most insurance plans cover the cost of a flu vaccination.
• You will need the information from your prescription insurance card to complete the sign-up process.  
• You must complete this online consent form at least two days prior to your scheduled flu vaccination appointment.
• COVID vaccines will not be available at this clinic, only flu vaccinations.
• The Broadlawns Community Clinic at Drake is also providing flu vaccinations this fall (and other primary care, urgent care, mental health services, etc.).

—Linda Feiden, Human Resouces

The new Broadlawns Community Clinic at Drake is opening Sept. 11. The clinic will be open to the general community as well as Drake students, faculty, and staff. 

For faculty and staff that choose to use their services, this is an urgent care and family medicine clinic: 

• With no co-pays for walk-in visits, primary, and specialist visits 
• A lower out-of-pocket maximum 

• Lower deductibles for emergency room visits, as well as for both outpatient and inpatient care 
• All in network 
• Right across the street! 

You can review the pricing in greater detail on page seven of Drake’s new digital benefits guide. 

— Maureen DeArmond, Human Resources

If you have never explored Drake’s Employee Assistance Program through Employee & Family Resources, now is a great time to do so.  They offer a wonderful range of resources—including confidential counseling, free webinars, podcasts, a blog, self-assessment tools, and a free mobile app.

Their services also include financial and legal consultation, child/elder care resources, and life coaching.  You may reach EFR by phone (800-327-4692) or visit their website.

Did you know that representatives from EFR are available to attend a department or staff meeting, or other on campus employee groups (in-person or virtually) to highlight their resources and help answer any questions?  They will present to groups of any size.  With the start of the academic year, this can be a valuable resource. If you would like EFR to speak during one of your meetings, please send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

Every 40 seconds someone in the U.S. has a stroke, and every 3.5 minutes, someone dies of a stroke. Common risk factors include age, obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, inactivity, poor diet, and family history.

Health Gauge will be offering vascular screenings on Wednesday, Oct. 18, from 9 a.m. through 2 p.m. in the Olmsted Center, Parents Hall North.  This includes stroke/carotid artery, abdominal aortic aneurysm, and peripheral artery disease screenings.  You may also add an optional osteoporosis screening and EKG.  These painless and non-invasive screenings are open to all Drake employees, spouses/partners, and retirees.  The cost is $125 for the three vascular screenings payable at the time of your appointment.  The optional add-ons are $35 each. You may pay with cash, check, credit or debit card, or FSA dollars.  Appointments are necessary.  Call Health Gauge at 515-244-3080 to get scheduled.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

We are excited to announce the new intuitive, easy-to-use and track Employee Status Form (ESF) e-form supported by ProcessMaker. The anticipated ‘go-live’ date for this e-form is September 28. This new digital process is designed to simplify the ESF process by dictating the flow according to the type of change being requested. The e-form is automatically forwarded from the submitter to approver to HR for processing. Once an ESF is completed, a detailed, final PDF will be emailed to all parties.

If you work with ESFs, we invite you to review the new changes on the ESF website page located under the HR Manager’s Toolkit: Employee Status Form (ESF). This page will be updated soon include a link to the new e-form and training.  HR will be working directly with the Budget Office Managers and Head Start between now and the go-live date of Sept. 28.  Once initiated, individual Teams instruction can also be requested by emailing teresa.downs@drake.edu.

The new e-form will be more efficient and will make the process more transparent. However, we recognize there will be a learning curve with the new form. Drake HR is here to assist anyone with individualized training on the new process (it is pretty intuitive—we think you’ll love it!). Once the form is live, you are welcome to provide suggestions for additional improvement. Please provide us with feedback by emailing drakehr@drake.edu. Your ideas and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

— Teresa Downs, Human Resources

The proposed Temperature Set Point policy establishes formal temperatures for heating and cooling seasons that applies to all university buildings. The target temperatures were created to maximize thermal comfort and promote energy conservation throughout campus.

This policy was presented to and approved by the Sustainability Committee in March 2023 as it advances the goals of Drake’s Climate Action Plan.  As of 2022, energy usage made up 71% of Drake’s carbon footprint.  That equates to 14,472 metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted in one year from our energy emissions alone.  Those emissions are equivalent to the yearly energy use of 1,824 US homes or the amount of carbon sequestered by 17,258 acres of US forests in one year.

In order to hit carbon neutral by 2050, and our interim goal of a 50% emissions reduction by 2030, we need to continue the effort to reduce our largest emissions source: energy usage.  We have achieved a 38% scope 1 and 2 reduction thus far, but drastic steps are required to continue to reduce our carbon footprint and address the threat of climate change. This policy is just one of many steps required.

The policy will also help to relieve some of the financial burden Drake faces, as Drake spent over $2,000,000 on energy in fiscal year 2023.  Every degree that is reduced in the winter and increased in the summer can yield a 3% reduction in annual heating and cooling costs, helping mitigate utility rate increases.

The policy has separate temperature set points for unoccupied hours when buildings are locked.  Building exceptions can be found in the policy.

The chart exhibits the Temperature Set Point policies of other universities and the year they were implemented.  They are in order by cooling point, and if implemented, Drake’s cooling point would be the most conservative.

If you have any comments, please use the comment function through the Policy Development Page.

— Hannah Remke, Facilities Planning and Management

A few weeks ago, Drake HR made the big move to Sharepoint with our new internal website. And we did not just move what we had on the old site to the new site, we re-envisioned this employee resource from the ground up.

You can access the new page through the updated my.drake.edu page or jump to it at this link: https://drakeedu.sharepoint.com/sites/HumanResources.

There are a few pages you may enjoy taking a look at. We are fond of our Employee Perks page, which is under the Benefits tab. You can check out a great line up of BUILD classes for this fall through the Learning and Development tab. We know a lot of employees enjoy our well-being programs. We now have a new DU Well page dedicated to well-being related activities and information.

We tried to organize the site in a way that would be intuitive. We have also added many new pages for dedicated topics that simply did not exist before, including a New Employee Welcome Center, What to Expect When Expecting, and a whole site dedicated to Student Employment.

We believe having a robust and easy-to-navigate HR website illustrates our commitment to communication and transparency. While we love the new site, there is certainly room for improvement. We would love to hear what you think: What do you like? What isn’t your favorite? What should we add? How can we make additional improvements to assure this page supports and informs you on human resource topics? Please send any feedback to drakehr@drake.edu. You can also use our feedback survey link and share your thoughts in the Comments and Suggestions section.

— Maureen R. De Armond, Human Resources

As a reminder to existing Drake employees and a “good to know” to new employees, Drake has two standing committees that help support Drake employee benefits:

The Drake University Investment Review Committee focuses on retirement benefits. It kicked off the academic year on Aug. 23. The committee includes faculty and staff and long-term outside consultants, Well and Good (who recently merged with PlanPilot). One of the hot topics discussed is a new federal law, called the Secure Act 2.0. While some specific aspects of the law, and its implementation timeline, remain in the air, it will likely offer high income earners additional avenues to save for retirement (such as shifting to a Roth IRA for catch-up contributions for those over the age of 50 who earn more than $145,000). As soon as there is more certainty to the “what” and “when” of the Secure Act 2.0 changes, TIAA will partner with Drake University on communications. To learn more about the likely changes this law will make, visit TIAA’s Secure Act 2.0: What You Need to Know page.

The second standing committee is the Drake University Benefits Committee, which is also comprised of faculty and staff and long-time consultants: Mark Becker & Associates (who recently merged with Gallagher). This committee focuses on our self-funded health insurance plan, dental plan, vision plan, flexible spending accounts, life insurance policies, long-term disability insurance, and other related benefits and perks. During this time of year, Drake HR is meeting with our vendors and consultants to anticipate what changes, if any, may be appropriate or needed for the following plan year. Due to our Open Enrollment schedule, by November 1, when Open Enrollment starts, we have to have all decisions for January 1 set in stone. More information to come about the work of the Benefits Committee in the coming months.

If you would like to learn more about Drake’s employee benefits and perks, please visit Drake HR’s new internal website and checkout the pages linked below the Employee Benefits tab! As always, you can reach out to Drake HR with any questions or suggestions that you have. You can best reach us at drakehr@drake.edu.

— Maureen R. De Armond and Marlene Heuertz, Human Resources