Human Resources News Blog

Healthy Cooking Classes with Dining Services

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Dining Services will offer two cooking classes this fall as part of Michigan Tech’s employee wellness programs. The following classes are available to benefit eligible employees.

  • Healthy Greek Cuisine, Wednesday, September 24, 2014 – Learn more about Greek Cuisine with Ernie Beutler of Dining Services.
  • Healthy Moroccan Cuisine, Friday, October 10, 2014 – Learn more about Moroccan Cuisine with Chef Eric Karvonen of Dining Services.

At each session you will prepare a meal and eat what you make.

Registration is necessary and class sizes are limited to 12 participants, please register on the Wellness Programs Page.

Contact Benefit Services at benefits@mtu.edu with questions.

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Roth Contribution Option Now Available In Retirement Plans

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TIAA-CREF and Fidelity now offer a Roth contribution option in the Michigan Tech retirement plans. Employees may take advantage of more choices in retirement planning by making after-tax contributions to your retirement account.

Fidelity and TIAA-CREF will be on campus to introduce the new contribution option, explain the differences between a Roth vs. traditional pretax contributions, and discuss benefits and considerations of both. Additionally, confidential one-on-one consultations will be available by appointment.

On campus workshops and confidential one-on-one consultations are as follows.

Fidelity Investments Workshop – Designing Your Financial Roadmap / Roth Option
Tuesday, September 23, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. in Ballroom A
Registration is available at http://getguidance.fidelity.com/ or by calling 800-642-7131.
To schedule a one-on-one consultation with Fidelity on October 7 – 9, 2014 call 800-642-7131.

TIAA-CREF Workshop – The New Roth Contribution Option
Tuesday, October 14, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. in Alumni Lounge
Registration is not necessary.
To schedule a one-on-one consultation with TIAA-CREF on October 14 – 15 call 800-732-8353.

See Retirement for more information. To enroll in the Roth, simply complete the Supplemental Retirement Account Enrollment/Change form and send it to Benefit Services for processing.

Contact benefits@mtu.edu or at 906-487-2517 with questions.

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Reminder: Retirement Supplemental Voluntary Program (RSVP) Enrollment Period is Open

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The Retirement Supplemental Voluntary Program (RSVP) is a voluntary retirement program offered to eligible Michigan Tech employees. Eligible employees who wish to retire on or before June 30, 2015 must sign their RSVP election form and communicate their intent to the Benefits Office before the deadline of October 31, 2014. Prior to electing RSVP, employees must meet with the Benefits Office for a confidential meeting to verify eligibility.

See RSVP for the policy, eligibility requirements and additional information about this program. Contact the Benefits Office at 7-2517 or benefits@mtu.edu with questions.

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Registration Open for Part One of Staff Search Committee Certification

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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.

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Registration Open for Michigan Tech UAW Certification Program

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The Michigan Tech UAW Certification Program has been a collaborative effort among President Glenn Mroz, the UAW University Negotiation team,  UAW leadership, Michigan Tech Human Resources, and Gogebic Community College to provide professional development for UAW staff.  UAW employees and their supervisors have recently received information on how to register for the Michigan Tech UAW Certification Program classes.

UAW employees have four classes to choose from, as follows:

  • Business Communication – taught by Gogebic Community College faculty
  • Microsoft Office Suite – taught by Gogebic Community College faculty
  • Social Media – taught by Gogebic Community College faculty
  • Michigan Tech Specific Class – instruction on a collection of University processes, topics, and tools such as Banner, Google Suite, Discoverer, Continuous Improvement, etc. taught by internal University experts

UAW Employees can take one class at a time and the classes are on a first come, first pick process.  Classes will begin the week of September 15 and will complete by November 20. Each class will be take place on Michigan Tech’s campus and release time will be provided if the class falls withing the UAW employee’s normal working hours. Registration for the UAW Certification Program will remain open through August 22, 2014.

uaw-logo

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Amazing Challenge Offers Healthy Competition

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Last Saturday, 16 teams competed against each other in the 3rd annual HuskyPAW Amazing Challenge hosted by Michigan Tech Benefit Services.   Loosely based on the TV show, The Amazing Race, the teams began at the Lakeshore Center and competed in seven physical and mental challenges, racing to the finish at McLain State Park.

For one challenge a “Detour” was offered; the teams had to make a choice between one of two challenges.  The choice was either physical, rowing a canoe across the canal to collect puzzle pieces that needed to be put together; or mental, testing their engineering skills and building a free standing tower at least 30” tall of spaghetti and marshmallows.

36" Spaghetti and Marshmallow tower challange
30″ Spaghetti and Marshmallow tower challenge

 

Canoe across the canal to build this puzzle...
Canoe across the canal to build this puzzle…

 

Completed puzzle!
Completed puzzle!

 

One wet and sandy challenge!
One wet and sandy challenge!

 

The winning team, the Black and Blue Crew
The winning team, the Black and Blue Crew

 

Teams are required to have a Michigan Tech employee present, but can be comprised of colleagues, friends, and/or family members.  Here are the top three finishers:

  • 1st Place: Black and Blue Crew led by Colleen Erva
  • 2nd Place: The Charge led by Amy Mensch
  • 3rd Place: Yooper Troopers led by Sandy Houle
Thank you to the 2014 Amazing Challenge volunteers!
Thank you to the 2014 Amazing Challenge volunteers!

 

Thank you to all of the volunteers how were instrumental in the planning and execution of this year’s event.  Benefit Services would also like to extend a special thanks to Dave Nordstrom from the Student Development Complex, Brian Cadwell from Public Safety and Police Services, the Houghton County Sheriff’s office, the staff at McLain State Park, and Janet Hayden from Risk Management.

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Minimum Wage Increase

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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.

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MICUP Internship

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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.

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