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.
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.
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.
ESFs in a Nutshell: ESFs are utilized by Budget Office Managers and other authorized employees to change an employee’s status. There are four types of changes: Additions, Changes, Leaves of Absence, and Removal. The new ESF process will provide departments with a straight-forward form that only populates data points for the change being made.
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.
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 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.
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
Bulldogs United in Learning & Development (BUILD) provides faculty and staff learning opportunities throughout the academic year that address technical, soft, philosophical, and very practical skills. BUILD is a great platform for learning new ideas as well as an opportunity to collaborate with others from across campus.
The Fall 2023 schedule is now available for viewing and registration is open. Please take a moment to check out the classes on the new 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.
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.
Have you completed your annual physical since last December? Please remember that the premium discount physician form must be filled out annually to continue to receive the premium incentive.
Those on Drake’s health plan who complete a physical with their primary care physician (PCP) between Dec. 1, 2022, and Nov. 30, 2023, and submit a completed physical formto linda.feiden@drake.edu by Nov. 30, 2023, will receive the wellness health insurance premium discount in 2024, which is a savings of approximately $30 per month.
If you have not yet scheduled your annual physical with your PCP, you are encouraged to do so as soon as possible to guarantee you make the Nov. 30 deadline.
Have you completed your annual physical since last December? Please remember that the premium discount physician form must be filled out annually to continue to receive the premium incentive.
If you are on Drake’s health plan, take a copy of the Premium Discount-Annual Physical Form to your annual exam. This form can be found on myDrake under the Employee Wellness section of Human Resources.
Those on Drake’s health plan who complete a physical with their primary care physician (PCP) between Dec. 1, 2022 and Nov. 30, 2023 and submit a Premium Discount-Annual Physical Formto linda.feiden@drake.edu by Nov. 30, 2023, will receive the wellness health insurance premium discount in 2024, which is a savings of approximately $30 per month.
If you have not yet scheduled your annual physical with your PCP, you are encouraged to do so as soon as possible to guarantee you make the Nov. 30 deadline.
Join us in July for HealthyU BINGO. The goal is to fill up a blank BINGO card (or two), during the month, with healthy activities completed from a provided list and then play some games of HealthyU BINGO for prizes.
To get started, send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu. Deadline to register is Friday, June 30. All participants will receive a packet that includes a list of HealthyU BINGO activities, and a blank BINGO card.
Please feel free to reach out with questions. This is a great event for the whole family!
