In 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim a week in September as National Hispanic Heritage Week. In 1988, the observance was expanded to a month, from September 15th - October 15th. Throughout the month, the country celebrates the culture of U.S. residents who trace their roots to Mexico, Spain, and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. September 15th was chosen to kick off the celebration, because it is the anniversary of the independence of the Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

 

The estimated Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2008, is 46.9 million, making people of Hispanic origin the nation's largest race or ethnic minority.

(Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

 

For information about Hispanic Heritage Month Events at Northwestern University, see http://www.northwestern.edu/latino/celebration.html.

Open Enrollment is the one time each year eligible employees may make changes to benefit plans outside of life change events.  Open Enrollment will be Monday, October 26th, through Friday, November 13th.

 
For 2010, there are two important plan changes:

Wellness Benefits - Wellness procedures will be covered according to age/sex guidelines under the Premier PPO and Select PPO plans.  The previous $500 annual limit for these services, will be removed. 

Mental Health - Mental health and substance abuse treatment will be covered the same as any other medical condition.  Participants will only be responsible for the applicable co-payment, deductible, or coinsurance based on the particular plan guidelines.

 

Please be on the lookout for our annual Open Enrollment Guide coming out in mid October. 

Open Enrollment Guides will be mailed to home addresses.  To update your home address please visit HRIS Self Service at https://nuhr.northwestern.edu.

 

With new leadership and direction since February 2009, the HR Staffing Department continues to focus on a number of priorities. Those priorities include, but are not limited to, the following:  developing a Staffing Department mission statement; partnering more collaboratively and strategically with NU Hiring Managers; increasing visibility within the NU community; critically examining staffing and recruitment policies.

Mr. Donnie Wynn, NU Manager of HR Staffing, has a talented team of Staffing Consultants and Staffing Coordinators who work hard to support Hiring Managers with the recruitment and selection of critical talent. This team believes that working closely and collaboratively with Hiring Managers leads directly to the successful recruitment and selection of NU employees...so, please don't be surprised if you receive a call from your Staffing Consultant when you open a position. They are looking to fully understand how they can best support your search and identify the best candidates for your position.

Here is a short list of the various ways that the HR Staffing Department can support your search:

 

Northwestern received its first contract with the E-Verify clause on September 30, 2009, and will enroll in the E-Verify program on October 30, 2009 and express its intent to verify the entire workforce. Northwestern will begin using E-Verify no later than January 28, 2010 for all new hires and must complete verifying the entire workforce no later than April 28, 2010.
 
We are currently in the final stages of vendor selection for an electronic I-9 employment eligibility system with an interface to E-Verify to be used for all new hires and to verify the active employee population.  All employees will need to complete a new Form I-9 and provide current documentation. Employees hired before November 7, 1986 and continuing in employment at Northwestern will be exempt from this process.
 
For more information on the federal contractor rule, click here:

 
Next Steps
If you are currently a Form I-9 Approver (a.k.a. Section 2 processor), be on the lookout for communications regarding upcoming training. You will be asked to self identify by signing up for training sessions in HRIS Self Service and filling out an access request form.
 
Refer to the HRIS website under "Coming Soon" for upcoming implementation details, including a roll out schedule and FAQs: http://www.northwestern.edu/hr/hris/ 

If you have any questions, please contact:
 
Kristin McLean
Sr. Business Analyst, HRIS
kristin-mclean@northwestern.edu
(847) 467-0416

A small pilot group of biweekly employees and their supervisors began using the Kronos Time System (KTS) starting September 20th.  They are entering their timecard information in both Kronos and ETES, as we will be running parallel payrolls from both systems.  When we are ready to go-live with the first phase of users, employees will not be entering in both systems. Instead, they will cease to use ETES on the assigned date and begin using KTS.

Below is the plan for rolling out Kronos in phases. 
 
Pilot Group: Human Resources biweekly employees.
 
Phase 1: Temporary employees (excluding those in Facilities Management, Comparative Medicine and Housing), as well as timeclock users in the Library, Norris and SPAC.
 
Phase 2: All regular biweekly and temporary employees of Facilities Management, Comparative Medicine and Housing.
 
Phase 3: All remaining regular biweekly employees.
 
As part of the rollout process for Kronos, temporary employees will have their pay period merged with that of the biweekly staff, so that they will all have the same pay period going forward.  In order to do so, when the temporary employees are scheduled to begin using Kronos (the majority are in Phase 1), they will enter one week in ETES followed by two weeks in Kronos. This will result in a paycheck covering a three week period.  Their pay dates will remain the same, because the pay dates already match that of the biweekly employees. 
 
Phase 1 is likely to begin either Sunday, October 18th or Sunday November 1st, which means that temporary employees will process their last week in ETES either the week of October 11-17th or the 25-31st.  We will communicate directly to those affected by this change, as well as those in each phase, in advance of their go-live date.  

 

 

October is National Work & Family Month