Educational Assistance - Maximize Your Educational Benefit This Summer

Benefits-eligible Northwestern University faculty and staff may take advantage of a special 2015 Summer Session tuition rate for all NU undergraduate courses. All undergraduate summer courses will be offered to employees at the rate of $1683/course. Eligible employees may apply the 85% Employee Reduced Tuition benefit to this rate, and each course will cost $252.45 during the summer of 2015.

All Summer Session 2015 course offerings are listed on the Summer Session website. Registration for Summer Session opens April 13 and classes begin the week of June 22.

To take advantage of this discount, please submit a 2015 Employee Reduced Tuition-Undergraduate form to the HR Benefits office (only one form needs to be submitted per calendar year). To register for Summer Session, please contact the Office of Summer Session at 847-491-5251.

Educational Benefits Seminars

Please join us for two informative seminars about the various tuition assistance plans available to eligible, full-time NU faculty and staff.  A representative from HR Benefits will explain the educational tuition benefits offered to Northwestern employees and how to apply for them.

Advocate Medical Groups

Effective 3/01/2015, Advocate Medical Groups has changed the third party vendor used for mental health and chemical dependency referrals from APS Healthcare to Magellan Healthcare.

Prior to 3/01/2015, all Advocate Medical Groups used APS Healthcare as a third party (sub delegate) to handle their employee referrals for mental health and chemical dependency services.  This was in lieu of referrals being issued by the primary care physician and approved by the medical group directly.  This change will only affect employees currently undergoing mental health or chemical dependency services.

All affected employees will receive a letter advising of the changes.  In addition to this, employees currently utilizing APS Healthcare through Advocate Medical Groups will need to obtain new authorizations for any continued services starting on and after 3/1/15. Employees must contact Magellan Healthcare for an updated authorization if they are in the middle of any ongoing treatment.

Reminder: Tax Filing Deadline April 15

All W-2 and 1042-S tax forms have been issued to Northwestern University employees and students for their U.S. tax filing by the April 15, 2015 deadline.  Non-resident students that received only scholarship/fellowship income in 2014 have until June 15, 2015 to file.

To request a reprint of your W-2:

• Email the Payroll Office at payroll@northwestern.edu and indicate you are requesting a reprint of your W-2.  Please include your name and employee ID in the request.  Reprints are sent via the U.S. Postal Service, or they may be picked up in either Payroll Office.
• Stop by the Payroll Office in Evanston or Chicago and pick up the reprint after showing proper identification.   Reprints are NOT sent via email or fax in order to protect the privacy of the confidential personal information reported on the W-2. 

If your address has changed recently, please update it in the  FASIS Self Service Portal (current employees) or submit an updated Personal Data Form along with your reprint request (separated employees).

Northwestern Scholars - Publications Data Now Available via Cognos/BI Query Tool

Ever need a report of publications that faculty members have produced, either overall or during a particular period of time?  With the new Northwestern Scholars query package in the Cognos/BI tool, authorized Northwestern employees can create reports of that data for all faculty who are profiled in Northwestern Scholars.  Generate reports based on one or more filters, e.g., individual scholar(s), department, school, graduate program, time period, and more.  Include information on publications, the faculty member's appointments, graduate program memberships, job title, h-index from the SciVal Experts system, and others.  Like any report processed in Cognos, your data may be saved to Excel, CSV, PDF, XML, or HTML formats.  To obtain access, submit a completed Northwestern Scholars BI Access Form, including your name and business use for Scholars data.  Once received, you will be contacted regarding a required training session prior to gaining access.  Questions?  Email nuscholars@northwestern.edu or contact Ruth Allee (r-allee@northwestern.edu, 847-491-8534).

Keep Your Contact Information Up-to-Date

Please keep your contact information in FASIS up to date to receive prompt communications from the University.

To review and edit your phone numbers, log in to the FASIS Self Service Portal at https://nupa.northwestern.edu, click "My Personal Information", and "Update My Phone Number."  You may add a Mobile, Home, and Off-Campus phone number in addition to two work phone numbers.  After saving your changes, close the window and select "Update My Online Directory."  You may also review which numbers will appear in the University's Online Directory.  For example, you should list a Mobile and/or Home phone for emergency contact purposes, but you may choose to show only your Office phone in the directory.

FASIS Spring Trainings

Spring quarter brings the start of many annual planning processes at the University.  In addition to the regular rotation of FASIS training classes, the coming months will include both online and in-person sessions for these yearly course offerings:

HRS402: Summer Salary Form

Learn what summer salary is, when summer salary can be provided to your faculty members, and how to complete the Summer Salary Payment Request Form.

HRS201: Salary Planning (Staff Entry Only)

HRS203: Salary Planning (Faculty & Staff Entry)

This annual training provides an overview of the Salary Planning process and technical direction for entering your FY16 salaries into FASIS.  New department users taking part in the Salary Planning process for FY16 must take a training before system access is granted; current users looking for a refresher are always welcome.

Merit Planning FY16

Reward and recognition can take many forms including but not limited to:  promotion, increased opportunities to contribute to organizational success through learning and development, participation on special committees, pay increases, etc.  In addition to these methods, annually, Northwestern recognizes and rewards excellence in staff performance through the merit increase planning process. 

The merit pool amount will be finalized and announced in the coming weeks as the University's budgeting process concludes. In anticipation, managers should begin contemplating end of cycle performance discussions and completion of performance reviews for their staff since the amount of increase a staff member receives should be directly related to the level of individual performance.  The merit pool will contain a fixed amount of dollars; and the allocation of those dollars should recognize employees with better performance. HR Consultants and members of the Compensation team are available to provide advise and guidance as necessary.

Key Dates:

• Merit increase planning for staff begins May 4, 2015 and ends June 19, 2015. 
• Eligibility for merit increases requires that the staff member be hired prior to May 1, 2015, is in an active or paid leave employment status, is benefits eligible, and has a satisfactory level of performance.
• Merit increases for staff become effective at the beginning of the fiscal year, September 1, 2015. 
• End of cycle performance reviews should be completed and submitted to the Human Resources Office by June 19, 2015.

Note, the above dates may vary slightly depending on the school or unit.  Be sure to check with local administrators for more information.

Additional information and tools will be available on the HR website and sent to administrators responsible for salary planning in the schools and administrative units in the next few weeks. 

Training sessions will be available via the HR website for anyone who needs a refresher on the process, and attendance is highly recommended for new administrators with responsibility for salary planning. 

Questions may be directed to your School or Unit's HR or Compensation Consultants.

The Office of Equal Opportunity and Access (OEOA) is pleased to announce that our office and the Office of Human Resources are "Participating Sites" for the 2015 Stand Against Racism.  The Stand Against Racism began in 2007 through the YWCA Trenton and YWCA Princeton and is now "a signature campaign of YWCA USA to build community among those who work for racial justice and to raise awareness about the negative impact of institutional and structural racism in our communities."  Our local YWCA Evanston/North Shore has been holding its Stand Against Racism initiative for the past three years.  In Evanston and the North Shore area, participation in this "Stand" has grown to 2,000 businesses, organizations and individuals.  Please join us and other Northwestern departments and organizations as we stand on Ridge Avenue in Evanston from 12:30 - 12:55 on Friday, April 24, 2015 to show that Northwestern University Stands Against Racism!

For more details about the 2015 Stand Against Racism and other activities you can be a part of, go to http://www.ywca.org/site/c.ewK0LoO8LmK6F/b.8080931/k.73B4/Stand_Against_Racism.htm. To register as a participating site, go to http://www.standagainstracism.org/.

Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, 720 University Place, Evanston

847-491-7458 ^●www.northwestern.edu/hr/eeo

Employee of the Year

A committee has reviewed all submitted nominations for Employee of the Year 2015 and selected seven finalists. From those seven finalists the committee has selected one Employee of the Year winner, to be announced at the annual Staff Service Recognition Luncheon on Tuesday, May 19, 2015.

Letters will be mailed to all nominees notifying them of their nomination and whether or not they have been selected as a finalist.  An email was also sent in March, to those who nominated a staff member informing them whether or not their nominee was selected as a finalist.

If you have any questions regarding Employee of the Year, please contact Maudell Gaines at 

maudell-gaines@northwestern.edu or 847-491-7509.

Length of Service Employee Recognition Program Is Going Green

Northwestern University is proud of its dedicated staff members and understands the importance of these individuals to its ongoing success. One way that Northwestern recognizes these individuals is through the Employee Recognition Program, in which staff members receive a gift for every five years of continuous service with the University. Moving forward, staff members at the 15-year milestone and above will receive a direct link to the awards web site to select a gift of their choosing, rather than a separate printed brochure. This web link will be provided in the letters that staff members receive from the Vice President of Human Resources. This is being done in an effort to reduce paper and support the green efforts of our campus community, and will not affect the gifts available for selection or the distribution process for the gifts.

If you have any questions about the Length of Service Employee Recognition Program, please visit the Employee Recognition home page or contact Maudell Gaines at 847-491-7509.

Civility and Mutual Respect

As members of the Northwestern community, staff, faculty, and students are expected to interact with each other with respect and consideration.  A professional and comfortable work environment is important for a number of reasons and can positively impact morale, teamwork, and productivity.  Following are several simple tips that can help promote a healthy and respectful work environment:

• Be open-minded.  Consider there may be viewpoints other than yours or that you could be wrong.
• Pay attention to your tone and volume.  Be mindful not only of what you say, but also how it comes across.
• Depersonalize your comments.  For example, rather than say "You always get this wrong," say "This report was incorrect again.  Let me help you understand the errors."
• Be aware of your own defensiveness.
• Avoid accusations and ask questions instead.  For example, rather than say "You're being hysterical," ask "Can you help me understand where you're coming from?"
• Don't interrupt.  Allow others an opportunity to respond and give them your attention.
• Address conflicts in private when possible.
• Remember pleasantries.
  • Don't assume that others will always tell you if they are uncomfortable.

It is important to acknowledge that each person sees the world through his or her own lens, so your colleague's perception may be different than your own.  Therefore, as you choose your own words and actions, try to take others' viewpoints into consideration and reflect upon how the situation will be interpreted. 

For additional information, please see the guidance on Civility and Mutual Respect or contact your Human Resources Consultant.