Update: HRS move scheduled for mid-April

The Office of Human Resource Services will be moving to a new location off campus in mid-April. The new building, located at 903 West University Avenue (formerly the BellSouth Building), will be home to all HRS offices currently located in Stadium West as well as Academic Personnel, currently located in Tigert Hall, and the Education and General/Auxiliaries satellite office, currently located at the Reitz Union.

A new HRS Service Center, expanded training rooms, newly renovated facilities, and a prominent location bridging UF with the Gainesville community are just some of the features of the new site that UF faculty and staff can look forward to.

Although HRS is moving off campus, there are many ways to contact us.

All HRS phone numbers will remain the same. The HRS Service Center will be available from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The HRS web site will continue to serve as UF employees’ main resource for up-to-date information about their benefits, job opportunities, training, and other HR services. The web site also will be continuously updated with information about the move.

The new location at 903 West University Avenue will combine HRS’ offices into one location, creating a one-stop customer experience. Visitors to HRS will enter the main doors, off of University Avenue, and will be greeted by the new HRS Service Center.

UF parking will be available behind the building and in nearby lots. In addition, the RTS bus route 5 has a stop at the new HRS building.

Although the Education and General/Auxiliaries HRS satellite office will be moving to the new HRS Building, employees can still take advantage of three satellite offices on campus:

• Health Science Center
  Room H-8
  (352) 392-3786

• IFAS
  Room 2038 McCarty Hall
  (352) 392-4777

• Physical Plant Division
  Room 106, Building 702
  (352) 392-2333

As our moving date gets closer, updates will be provided to staff and faculty through the InfoGator and the HR Forum (for campus-wide HR administrators), by e-mail, and on the HRS web site.

If you have any questions, please contact human-resources@ufl.edu or call 392-1075 (SC 622-1075).

Employees to be notified by e-mail about paychecks posting in myUFL

Beginning this month, an e-mail will be sent to faculty and staff on payday informing them that their paychecks are ready for online viewing in myUFL.

Faculty and staff will visit myUFL, sign in with their GatorLink ID and password, and navigate to Self Service, where they will find their paycheck.

Please review your paycheck carefully to ensure the accuracy of any deductions you have authorized related to items such as health and life insurance and voluntary retirement contributions. Also, please take a moment to review the "Employer Paid Benefits." These are benefits paid on your behalf as an employee of the University of Florida.

Staff performance appraisals to be completed in March

Once again, it is time for USPS and TEAMS employees to receive their annual performance appraisals. Appraisals are designed to recap feedback that employees have received throughout the year. When completing a staff performance appraisal, supervisors will want to focus on the employee’s job performance (the employee’s competence or ability to perform the job) and his or her work-related behavior (the way in which an employee performs his or her job), using specific language and examples of work performance or behavior observed throughout the evaluative period.

The University of Florida’s appraisal period for TEAMS and USPS employees is March 1, 2006, through February 28, 2007. The completed appraisal must be discussed with the employee, signed, and dated by March 31.

To learn more about effective feedback and the University of Florida’s staff appraisal process, attend an upcoming Performance Management Overview (Course Number GET150). To register, visit myUFL > My Self Service > Training and Development > Request Training Enrollment.

Questions about the UF performance appraisal process should be directed to Paulene Shindelbower in Employee Relations at (352) 392-6615, paulene-shindelbower@ufl.edu. Questions about available training resources may be directed to Training and Organizational Development by calling 392-4626 (622-4626) or by e-mailing training@ufl.edu.

As you may already know, changes in the tax law now allow employees to designate all or part of their elective salary deferrals to a post-tax retirement option called a “Roth 403(b) plan.” The new option does not increase the amount an employee can contribute to a retirement plan, but does provide some attractive options for you to consider. The new plan became effective for the pay period of 2/23/07 - 3/8/07.

To help answer questions about this new post-tax retirement option, four educational sessions about the Roth 403(b) plan are scheduled as follows:

• March 8, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., J. Wayne Reitz Union, Room 349
• March 20, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., J. Wayne Reitz Union, Rooms 361-363
• March 27, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., J. Wayne Reitz Union, Room 349
• April 5, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., J. Wayne Reitz Union, Room 286

To register for any of these sessions, visit myUFL > My Self Service > Training and Development > Request Training Enrollment. The course code is GET602.

Under a Roth 403(b) plan, salary contributions are “after tax,” which means salary is taxed as regular income before it is deferred to a Roth account. Employees participating in this plan will have the same ability to manage their contributions as they have with other salary deferral plans. This is of particular benefit for those employees who anticipate a much higher taxable income later in their career.

Qualified distributions, which include earnings on the original contributions, are nontaxable to the employee. Qualified distributions are those that have been in the plan at least five years and meet certain other requirements.

To request a salary deferral to this new plan, view the instructions here.

Questions? Contact University Benefits and Retirement at 392-4941 (SC 622-4941) or retirement@ufl.edu.

Employee Education Program participants: New form, reinstatement process now in effect

Participants in the Employee Education Program (EEP) will benefit this year from a simplified, online application as well as some standardized processes for reinstatement in the program.

Under the EEP, eligible employees may take up to six credit hours of college-level courses tuition free each semester.

Online Application
The EEP’s new online application will replace the current EEP form and will allow employees to complete their EEP application online and obtain appropriate approval while having their eligibility verified electronically. Once employees submit the online form, they will receive an e-mail confirming their form was received. Human Resource Services will then verify eligibility of all applicants and will notify any participants of ineligibility. Employees will still be responsible for obtaining appropriate signatures and turning in the form to ensure courses are covered.

The new online application also wil allow HRS to communicate more efficiently with participants of the EEP, providing information about upcoming deadlines, changes in policies and procedures, and important developments in course offerings.

Reinstatements
In the fall semester, a new procedure for managing reinstatements to the EEP also was initiated. Students participating in the program who received a failing grade, a W (withdraw), or an I (incomplete) previously were ineligible to continue to participate in the program and had to apply for reinstatement. Under new procedures, in the event a student receives a failing grade or a W/I in a course paid for by the EEP, the following circumstances will apply:

• First instance: The employee will be required to wait one semester before taking classes through the EEP
• Second instance: The employee will be required to wait one semester before taking classes through the EEP
• Third instance: The employee will no longer be eligible, during the course of their employment with the University of Florida, to participate in the EEP
• No appeals/petitions to this process will be accepted

Participating employees are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the upcoming EEP Information Sessions to learn more about the program and these changes.

• Friday, March 23, 2007, 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m., Stadium West, Room 316
• Tuesday, April 17, 2007, 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m., Stadium West, Room 316

To register, visit my.ufl.edu > My Self Service > Training and Development > Request Training Enrollment. Search for Course Number GET012, Employee Education Prog. Info.

For more information about the Employee Education Program and to access the new EEP online application, please visit the EEP web site or contact Education Coordinator, Amanda Moore in Training and Organizational Development at amanda-moore@ufl.edu or by phone at (352) 392-4626.

Employees must report 2006-07 compensatory leave by May 27

All non-exempt employees as well as exempt USPS employees may use overtime and special compensatory leave through the end of the fiscal year—June 30—but it must be reported by 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 27.

If you need to use overtime or special compensatory leave before June 30, the leave should be entered accurately for the future date on which you will be absent from work using the Weekly Elapsed Screen in the myUFL system. To do so, enter a future “Week Beginning Date,” click “Refresh Date,” then enter the number of compensatory leave hours (along with the proper time-reporting code; see below) on the anticipated, or projected, date of use. Regardless of the date through the end of the fiscal year on which the compensatory leave use will occur, it must be entered by 5 p.m. on May 27.

After logging in to myUFL, navigate to My Self Service > Time Reporting > Time Reporting Home > Report Weekly Elapsed Time.

Non-exempt employees:

• Begin with a new blank line
• Input the compensatory leave hours to be used and then select the appropriate leave type in the “Time Reporting Code” menu (“OCT” for overtime compensatory leave use and “SCU” for special compensatory leave use)
• Click the “Save” button to save work
• Review the confirmation screen and click “OK”

Exempt USPS employees:

• At the default schedule, change the blank “Time Reporting Code” (TRC) field to the "regular" TRC
• Adjust the hours on that line to reflect the actual hours worked
• Click on “Add a New Line” to input your compensatory leave to be used (“SCU” for special compensatory leave use)
• Click the “Save” button to save work
• Review the confirmation screen and click “OK”

Again, while the compensatory leave use should be reflected on the accurate date of use, it must be physically entered by 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 27, or it will be cashed out automatically during the pay period ending May 31.

Questions? Please contact Central Leave at 392-5732 (SC 622-5732) or Payroll Services at 392-1231 (SC 622-5732).

2006 flexible spending account claim forms due by April 17

Employees who participated in a medical or dependent care reimbursement account during 2006 must submit claims by April 17, 2007. Claims may be made for money spent on medical or dependent care expenses during 2006.

Reimbursement claim forms are available on the forms section of our web site. Please follow the instructions found on the form. People First is pleased to announce the addition of a new, toll-free fax line. You may now fax Medical Expense and Dependent Care documentation to this toll-free number: 1-888-800-5217.

Helpful hints for faster service:

• Include your People First user ID number
• Fax all documents together
• Use white paper only
• Do not highlight items on the original, as this makes the faxed text difficult to read
• Retain the confirmation notice for your records

The current fax number also listed on the Flexible Spending Reimbursement form, (850) 425-4608, is still available for use.

Information about your contributions or the status of your claims may also be viewed online. To access any of your benefits information, a user ID and password are needed. If you have misplaced this information, contact the People First Service Center at 1-866-663-4735 for assistance in resetting your ID and password.

For more information, contact University Benefits and Retirement at 392-1225 (SC 622-1225) or benefits@ufl.edu.