Category: Employment Services

Registration Open for Part One of Staff Search Committee Certification

Register for Staff Search Committee Certification

As announced in the fall of 2013, Human Resources and the Office of Institutional Equity have partnered to develop a two-step Staff Search Committee Certification course that covers best practices of hiring as well as the legal aspects of conducting a dynamic search to ensure the successful hire of the best candidate. This certification will be required of all employees who serve on a staff search committee.

To ensure that all staff search committee members have adequate time to receive training, a phased-in approach has been established:

  • July 1, 2014 – All search committee chairs must be certified
  • July 1, 2015 – All search committee members must be certified

Staff Search Committee Certification consists of two parts:

  • Part One: “Recruiting and Hiring” Training Session – This training covers each area of the staff hiring process, provides direction for effective interviewing, and delivers other resources to support recruitment and hiring.
  • Part Two: “Best Practices of Staff Hiring (Legal Aspects)” Online Course – This online course was designed by the Office of Institutional Equity. It consists of an audio/PowerPoint presentation, hiring scenarios, and a brief survey. This course is made available to those who complete Part One.

If you have not completed the training and would like to, please register for the next session of Part One: “Recruiting and Hiring” Training, which will be offered on September 17, 2014.

Oracle Reports have been created for departments to verify if employees have completed or made progress towards certification.  Oracle reports can be run from Banner form GZAORPT, System “H, Human Resource System,” and Reporting Group “Training.” If a department needs access to these reports, please contact Alex Saari in Human Resources Information Systems at 7-1894 or aksaari@mtu.edu.

Minimum Wage Increase

The Michigan legislature has passed a bill increasing the state’s minimum wage from $7.40 to $9.25 per hour by 2018.  The first stage will begin this year with the minimum wage increasing to $8.15 per hour effective September 1st, 2014. Therefore, all hourly rates that fall below this rate will be increased on August 31, 2014. This will have an impact on departments that hire students and temporary employees currently paid less than this amount.  For jobs starting after August 31, 2014 please use the minimum wage of $8.15/hour.

Additional increases in the minimum wage are scheduled to take effect in the future, namely an increase to $8.50 per hour effective January 1, 2016, $8.90 in 2017, and an increase to $9.25 per hour effective January 1, 2018.

The Michigan legislature has passed a bill increasing the state’s minimum wage from $7.40 to $9.25 per hour by 2018.  The first stage will begin this year with the minimum wage increasing to $8.15 per hour effective September 1st, 2014. Therefore, all hourly rates that fall below this rate will be increased on August 31, 2014. This will have an impact on departments that hire students and temporary employees currently paid less than this amount.  For jobs starting after August 31, 2014 please use the minimum wage of $8.15/hour.

Additional increases in the minimum wage are scheduled to take effect in the future, namely an increase to $8.50 per hour effective January 1, 2016, $8.90 in 2017, and an increase to $9.25 per hour effective January 1, 2018.

MICUP Internship

NamGiao Tran just ended her six week internship with Human Resources.  Nam was a MICUP student visiting Michigan Tech from Grand Rapids Community College.

Nam’s internship project in Human Resources focused on making improvements to the internal flow of work related to a staff hiring.  Her first week began with learning about Lean philosophy and focusing on the concept of standardized work. She began by working with department staff to understand the hiring process and creating a swim lane process map.  The exercise of creating the process map identified specific improvement areas which Nam worked on for the remainder of her stay.  Her work supported the creation of standardized tools, forms, and checklists that will be implemented to improve the process flow.

Nam is pictured below with her poster that captures the work she did.  The photo was taken at the MICUP Poster Presentation on June 19, 2014.

Nam plans to transfer to Michigan Tech next fall to study Accounting.

New Process Established for Termination of Access

To reduce the University’s exposure to data and security risk, when an employee leaves the University or transfers to a new department it is necessary to terminate connections established between the employee and vacated position. A Termination Checklist has been created to prompt departments in the revocation of data and facility access. The Termination Checklist needs to be completed for all regular and temporary employees and uploaded with the termination EPAF. The checklist can be used as a guide for student positions.

Departmental timekeepers will also begin to receive a bi-weekly report of employees in their area who have no reported hours in the last 30 days. The report should be reviewed to determine if they should remain on payroll because they will be working in the very near future. If the employee is not expected to return in the near future, a termination EPAF should be submitted.

You can find the Termination Checklist here. If you have questions regarding this checklist or report, please contact your department’s employment services representative.