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A Warm Welcome to Monica Kozak and Jana Bates!! Don't miss important Summer Enrollment Information!!

Summer Enrollment

It’s that time again! Summer Enrollment will be from July 25 through August 19. This is your opportunity to make changes to your benefit elections without a “Family Status Change.” ERS will begin mailing Personal Enrollment Statements (PES) to your home address beginning July 8, 2005. Check your address in ERS On-Line (www.ers.state.tx.us) to make sure it's correct by June 30, 2005.

The only premium/rate changes this year are for HealthSelect. The Plan Year 2006 HealthSelect Rates are as follows:

	Full-Time	Part-Time
Member Only	$0.00	$171.74
Member & Spouse	$196.22	$466.07
Member & Child(ren)	$131.38	$368.81
Member & Family	$327.60	$663.14

NEW SKIP INCOME GUIDELINES

New family income guides for the State Kids Insurance Program (SKIP) went into effect April 1. Families that meet family size and income requirements, as well as a limitation on certain assets, can save significantly on their eligible children’s insurance premiums.

Family Size	Annual Family Income	Monthly Family Income
2	$25,660	$2,139
3	$32,180	$2,682
4	$38,700	$3,225
5	$45,220	$3,769
6	$51,740	$4,312
7	$58,260	$4,855
8	$64,780	$5,399

* Add $6,520 to the Annual Family Income for each additional family member

Employees must reapply for SKIP each year to continue supplements. Applications can be submitted now through August 31^st to be considered for SKIP supplements beginning September 1. Employees can apply for SKIP at any time of the year. SKIP applications are available on the ERS website

	Full-Time	Part-Time
SKIP Level 1
Member & Child(ren)	$15.00	$186.73
Member & Family	$211.22	$481.06

SKIP Level 2
Member & Child(ren)	$25.00	$196.73
Member & Family	$221.22	$491.06

TexFlex Users Now Have Until Mid-November to Spend This Year's Account Balance

You will now have an extra 2½ months to incur expenses for Plan Year 2005. You may now use your money by November 15, 2005.

Claims and documentation for eligible expenses incurred by November 15 must be submitted for reimbursement by December 31, 2005.
Any dollars in your account from the prior plan year (ending August 31, 2005) that remain unused after November 15 will be forfeited.

New HealthSelect ID Cards To Be Mailed This Summer

You should have already received your new HealthSelect ID cards. If you do not receive your cards by July 15^th please contact ERS at (877) 275-4377. If you have not made any other changes (ie Primary Care Physician), the only change on your ID card will be a new subscriber number.

Important TRS Changes

(effective 9/1/2005, unless otherwise noted)

Service Retirement Eligibility and Benefit Calculation (for those not grandfathered):

§ Final Average Salary at retirement will be determined by the highest five years of salary.

§ Subsidized early retirement is eliminated in most instances by repeal of Section 824.202(c), Texas Government Code. Early retirement is still allowed at age 55 with five years of service or at any age with at least 30 years of service, but with an actuarial reduction in annuity.

§ Partial Lump Sum Option eligibility requires a combined age plus years of creditable service that equals at least 90 (“Rule of 90”).

Grandfathered Members: The above provisions exempt current TRS members, if they meet any one or more of the following criteria on August 31, 2005:

§ at least 50 years old, or

§ age and years of service equal at least 70 (“Rule of 70”), or

§ have at least 25 years of service credit

Special Service Credit Purchases

§ Credit Purchase Option (“Air time”) is repealed as of January 1, 2006. Members may either purchase the service credit or enter an installment agreement for purchase by 12/31/05.

§ Out-of-state service credit purchases will require actuarial contributions after January 1, 2006.

Ø Grandfather provision: Individuals who are TRS members as of December 31, 2005, who also have service in another state before January 1, 2006 can purchase TRS out-of-state service credit at the current reduced cost.

§ All special service credit purchases will count for TRS-Care eligibility.

Ø Those who retired between September 1, 2004 and August 31, 2005, (during the period when special service credit did not count toward TRS-Care eligibility) may be reconsidered on a prospective basis under more favorable eligibility criteria after August 31, 2005, including the applicable premium amount.

§ Installment payments are now allowed for all types of service credit purchase (except unused sick leave that must be bought at retirement.)

Contributions to TRS-Care (Retiree Health Care)

Effective September 1, 2005, the active member contribution to TRS-Care will increase from .5% to .65% of salary. In addition, the local employer contribution to TRS-Care will increase from .4% to .55% of payroll.

Retirement at Age 60 for Future Members:

Although current TRS members (if they maintain membership status) should not be affected, those who establish TRS membership on or after 9/1/07 and meet the Rule of 80 (where combined age plus years of creditable service equal at least 80) must be at least age 60 at the time of retirement to qualify for an unreduced annuity. Members choosing to retire before age 60 will have a 5% annuity reduction for each year under age 60.

Please refer to the TRS website at www.trs.state.tx.us for further changes

Tiffany Hull, Manager, Benefits and Welfare

Training

HR Welcomes

Jana Bates, Manager of Reconciliation comes to TWU with over 25 years of Human Resources, IS and Quality Systems Management experience. A member of the North Texas Society for Human Resource Management, Jana serves as the Treasurer for the chapter.

Jana will be reconciling Oracle, ERS and Sick Leave reports. You can reach Jana at x8-1-3551.

Monica Kozack joins HR in the Training area. Coming to TWU with prior State service, Monica is an experienced trainer with many years of HR knowledge. She will be providing EEO and Sexual Harassment training at New Employee Orientation.

Monica can be reached at x8-1-3523 for training and orientation questions.

Many opportunities for off-campus training are coming to the Denton, Dallas and Houston areas next month. Also, the State Auditors Office offers training in such areas as fraud, human resources, technology and internal audit. Check out the off-campus training sessions at www.twu.edu/humanresources/training/intro.html.

Susan Testa, Manger, Training & Orientation

The results are in…

HR Newsletter Survey!

We have the results from the survey about the HR Messenger sent out with last quarter’s newsletter.

We received 33 responses to the short question survey.

Question 1 – What areas of Human Resources information are beneficial to you?

93.9% felt Benefits information was most beneficial
51.5% felt Payroll information was most beneficial
48.5% felt Compensation information was most beneficial
39.4% felt Oracle information was most beneficial
36.4% felt Training information was most beneficial
9.1% felt Recruiting information was most beneficial

Question 2 – What specific topics would you like to see in future newsletters?

Updates to benefits for insurance or retirement
Prescription cost benefits
Prospective legislative changes
Benefits and Compensation
More info on the proposed move to merit based compensation
Training and staff development opportunities
Rules for employment interviewing
More advanced notices on Oracle changes

So, be looking for more information on the topics you want to hear about.

Annette Johnson, Manager, Employee Advocacy & Performance Management

Oracle Update

We are excited to introduce the next rollout of the Oracle project. An online template in Oracle has been designed to assist in the processing of personnel transaction information. The template has been tailored for our business processes, such as changing a person’s assignment FTE. With a template window, all the data related to the change(s) can be put together and grouped into logical sections using the tabbed regions on the template that will assist with data entry. When the template is processed and approved, the information is automatically entered on the employee assignment in Oracle.

The template process will be replacing the University’s current PTF process. We are in the final testing and documenting phase of the template design and are preparing to train users and implement the process. Training sessions for July are being scheduled and all departments will be notified of the training opportunities. We look forward to the training sessions and anticipate that departments will be pleased with the template design.

Important Reminder: Employees working as a GRA, GA, GTA, on-call or in a temporary position including visiting faculty, adjunct faculty and all grant funded positions during the 2005-2006 year must be reappointed for any portion of the appointment that extends beyond August 31, 2005. These employees and positions do not appear in the operating budget and must be processed by a Personnel Transaction Form (PTF). Please complete a PTF to reappoint any employee who will continue working in the above categories during the 2005-2006 fiscal year.

Amy Hall, Associate Director of HR Information & Reporting

Recruitment and Selection

Tips for Retaining Top Talent

According to the US Department of Labor, by 2008, 26 million workers will retire from the 147 million person labor force. We have a recovering economy on the way. Baby boomers, generally some of your hardest workers, are getting older and will be retiring soon – and will be hard to replace. There will not be enough people to fill the labor supply pipeline. 53% of recruiters believe a labor shortage is on the way. In the next decade “retention” is the biggest concern.

Further statistics tell us, since 1992, 80% of new jobs required post-secondary training or education. 90% of high school students say they will go to college, 63% go and only 30% actually graduate.

It is becoming more and more important to retain your top talent within the department. It’s all about retention! Retention improves profitability and productivity. Even though we (supervisors/managers) know all about what it takes to get an employee to stay, we don’t always take the time to do it.

We always do Exit Interviews when employees leave the university. This is good because it helps us learn what we could be doing better. On the other hand, it’s too late to find out what problems employees are facing and why they want to leave. A good suggestion for supervisors/managers: do “Stay Interviews”. Ask your current employees: “Why do you stay here?” and “What do you like and dislike about your job?” You may have the opportunity to solve the problem(s) before it’s too late

Other Retention Tips:

þ Recognize Achievements ~ Those who feel more valued and appreciated are more inspired to do more, be more & give more.

þ Praise, Thanks, Recognition ~ Everyone wants to be recognized in some way for their contributions.

þ Trust & Rapport ~ The biggest impact on job satisfaction is the relationship with your boss – trust is the connective tissue.

þ Honest & Ethical Leadership ~ People want leaders who: 1) practice “giving before getting”; 2) live by a code of ethics; and 3) who inspire trust with openness & honesty.

þ Growth & Opportunities ~ People want intellectual challenges, interesting assignments & opportunities, and training & education for professional growth & development.

þ Right Working Environment ~ Employees want managers who care and are mindful of their needs. They want to feel wanted, respected & valued.

þ Flexibility ~ Flexibility with work & family needs.

þ Open Communication ~ “Unto themselves, the person with whom you are speaking is the most important person in the world.”

þ Fun & Humor ~ Create a positive work environment. It can reduce stress.

Treat people with trust and respect, assume they can do better with encouragement and opportunity, and remove the barriers that limit performance. It will give people the pride and confidence to give their best – and above all, their loyalty.

Joye Williams, Manager, Recruitment and Selection

TWU Employees Make the Difference!

PAYROLL

Timesheets for Staff

To ensure accurate pay and accruals, monthly on-line timecards are required and are to be finalized and approved by the first working day of the month. To access your timecard, log into Phoenix and then select TWU Self-Service and Timecard Entry. Please ensure that all of your timecards through June 2005 are completed and approved.

Some of the frequent problems that have been identified with timecard entry include:

Non-exempt employees failing to enter their lunch hour taken.
Non-exempt employees attempting to calculate their overtime hours. Please simply record the total hours worked and the system will calculate your overtime hours.
Exempt employees submitting a blank timecard. If you do not have any time off to report, please select vacation hours and enter a 0 in the first day. This step will alleviate future problems.

Diane Taylor, Manager, Payroll

Timesheets for Hourly Employees

To ensure accurate pay, hourly on-line timecards are required and are to be finalized and approved by the 16th of the month. These timecards should include hours worked from the 16th of the previous month to the 15th of the current month.

Please contact the Payroll Office at 898-3561 or 898-3562 if you have any questions.


	Texas Woman's University Pay Plan 2004-2005 is available on the HR web site under Compensation: http://www.twu.edu/humanresources/compensation/PayPlan2004_2005.htm. Please have new employees come to the Office of Human Resources to complete a Payroll packet on their First Day of Employment. If the employee is off working at another site and will not be able to come to campus at all, call HR and we will mail the payroll packet to the employee. Employees can get the I-9 Form notarized by a public notary and mailed back to us. REMEMBER: Departments will not be able to pull the new employee up on the on-line PTF screen until employee's demographic information is entered by HR. If an employee has resigned from the University, please have the employee submit a resignation letter and forward a copy to the Office of Human Resources. Please initiate an on-line Personnel Transaction Form (PTF) so we may remove them from an active status. For Academic departments, please submit your termination PTF to Academic Financial Services for on-line processing. Personnel Vacancy Forms (PVF): Please route these through appropriate signature channels Departments hiring temporary staff employees: Please remind these employees that hourly-paid employees get paid once a month just like regular staff. The pay period for hourly employees is the 16th of the month through the 15th of the following month to be paid the first business day of the following month. For example: A temporary employee starting on July 1 will get paid for hours turned in from July 1 through July 15 to be paid on August 1. Any hours turned in from July 16 through August 15 will be paid on September 1. Request for supervisor change for timesheets: Please email MFlores@mail.twu.edu.	Exiting Employee Guidelines and Forms are found on the HR web site under Exiting Employee Guidelines and Forms. Employees may print this packet out or pick up exiting packet at the Office of Human Resources. AUGUST PTF Deadline: On-line PTF is due in the Budget Office by 4:00 p.m. Friday, July 15, 2005; for Academic departments, PTFs are due in Graduate Office/Research & Sponsored Programs by 4:00 p.m. Friday, July 8, 2005 for an August 1, 2005 Payroll Check! Supplemental Task Payment Policy and Form is located in the Policies and Procedures section under Financials on the HR website under Payroll.
	WHAT'S NEW? A Grant Position Approval Form This form will help to expedite the approval of grant funded positions!
	Estela Long, Manager, Compensation & Classification/Records