HR Announcements

Open Enrollment for 2008

Open Enrollment--the time all benefits-eligible employees can make changes to their health benefits and flexible reimbursement accounts (FRAs) will be from April 16-May 16, 2008. Open Enrollment details were mailed to your home address (so it is a good reminder to verify your address and demographic information in HR e-Service). Benefit changes made during open enrollment become effective on July 1, 2008.
 

Employee Relations Updates

The Written Notice form and Standards of Conduct (eff. 4/08) have been revised by the Department of Human Resources Management (DHRM).  The Written Notice form is now a fillable MS Word document and is easy to use.   There is also a new document provided that describes the scope and impact of the various types of offenses and how they are "grouped".  Please check the links in the Employee Relations menu on the left menu bar.  If you have any questions, either about these updates, options available, or the process itself, please contact a member of the Employee Relations & Performance Management team of HR.  As always, before taking any action under the Standards of Conduct, you must contact and work with a member of the Employee Relations HR team.

Classified Salary Survey

2007 Classified Salary Study results have been shared and the full report has been published.  Check this link to view the detailed classified staff salary survey results as prepared by the Segal Company.

  State Employee Assistance Program Available to Help The Commonwealth’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is ready to help any state employee or family member who needs support in the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech or any other life issue. EAP counselors are available at 1-866-725-0602 to assist with personal, family and workplace issues. A variety of tools and resources are also available at http://virginiatech.healthandperformancesolutions.net/.
 

Tuition Assistance Policies updated:  The updated Tuition Assistance Polices for both Faculty and Classified employees have been posted at this link.

NOVA Holiday Schedule 2008 just posted:

Be sure to check the Holiday link for up to date news and details on the changes to NOVA's holiday schedule. The next holiday to be observed is Monday, May 26, 2008, in observance of Memorial Day.

HR e-Service Reminder

A training tutorial on the HR self-service functions can be viewed on the HR web page, www.nvcc.edu/hr/eservice.htm.

Faculty Salary Survey

Check this link to view the detailed faculty salary survey results as prepared by the Segal Company.  Pages 14-17 are omitted to protect individual salary data.

Notice of Vacancy (NOV) and EWP forms have been updated.

Be sure to download the new versions of the NOV and EWP forms from the HR website.  The NOV has been revised for hiring managers to identify the members of a screening committee (if one is to be used).  The EWP has been updated to include the Physical Demands page.  This is a required page, and whether you are submitting an updated EWP for an existing employee or with a NOV to advertise for a new employee, the Physical Demands page is required.  To recruit for a P-14, although an EWP is not required, a Physical Demands sheet must accompany the NOV.  Need help filling out an EWP?  Go to this link for guidance.

New Recruiting Resources:

HR is very excited to share with you that NOVA has established a Yahoo Hot Jobs and DC Jobs accounts to help us with all of your recruiting efforts.  We've also initiated a trial with CareerBuilder. 

All NOVA positions will automatically be posted on these three services.  Not only will all jobs be posted with these providers, but they have a network of online recruitment partners, and will post our jobs on their partner niche sites such as (not all inclusive) Experience network (a college student and alumni targeted market) Open Source Technology Group (IT professionals); Collegegrad.com (another site targeting college students and recent graduates); Yahoo En Espanol for the Spanish-speaking job seekers; Salary.com ; America’s Job Bank (America’s Labor Market Information System and the US Department of Labor); Clear Channel Network (over 1,000 radio station websites).  Since the these accounts were established, we are receiving significantly increased volumes daily, numerous new applicants for all of our positions. 

Applications for Vacant Positions in Outlook Public Folders

As the hiring manager, when the folder is set up, only you have permission to access the folder as described below.  If you wish for your screening committee to have access, please send an e-mail to Barbara, Jeff or Sonia listing the committee members and position number, and she will establish that access.  OR, preferably, if you know in advance when you are completing the NOV, you may list the names of the individuals on your screening committee and request access for them on the newly revised NOV near the bottom of the form.

Another feature available is if you have many applications in your position folder and wish to have a subfolder within that electronic position folder created for "not qualified applicants", similarly, send an e-mail to Barbara and she can set that up.  It will help to reduce the number of applications you/your committee have to review that do not meet the minimum criteria for that position.

As HR receives and processes applications, we will add to these folders on a daily basis as long as the position is open, so check your folder often. 

If your position specifies a specific closing date, be sure to wait one week beyond the closing date to ensure that all timely received applications have been processed by HR and placed in your folder.  

To access your folder:

In Outlook, go to:

Public Folders, All Public Folders, HR Hiring Information, Classified (which includes P-14s) or Faculty Positions, {position #}

Please also check the Classified or Faculty Positions folder, and you will find hiring materials/instructions there.

Reference Checks are Mandatory

Human Resources would like to stress that it is not only important to check references on potential new employees, but reference checks are required.  This policy applies to every P-3 and all P-14 positions. Useful references from previous employers should confirm information shared during interviews and provide a snapshot of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses.  It is possible to discover potential job performance problems before hiring an individual when reference information is given adequate consideration.  A minimum of two professional references (supervisors, not co-workers or peers) who can speak to the candidates occupational capabilities are required. Record information obtained during the reference check on the Telephone Reference form #NOVA 105-113. Once you have decided on the candidate who will be offered the job, the reference information must be included in the hire packet that you will be sending to HR prior to making a job offer.  If you have any questions about this policy, contact Sonia Aboulhosn in HR.

Human Resources Training Courses Available On-line:

If you’re planning to hire a new employee or going be on a selection committee you’ve got to bone-up on the college’s training for employment discrimination prevention. And, did you know all college employees (faculty, adjunct, classified staff, P-14) are required to complete Preventing Sexual Harassment training?  The Department of Human Resources recognized that it was not always practical for every employee who needed these trainings to comply when they were offered in the past. In response, HR recently purchased two customized on-line training programs that will offer accessible 24/7 training convenience to any employee who can link into the College’s website. Both links are found on the Human Resources page and include all instructions and directions one needs to complete each program. There are versions for supervisory and non-supervisory personnel.  Faculty and classified staff must complete the supervisory versions of these programs if they supervise any other employee.  For the Preventing Sexual Harassment program, non-supervisory faculty should complete the “Faculty” version.  At the conclusion of each program, the employee must complete the mastery quiz.  Upon successful completion of the quiz, a training certificate will automatically be generated.  Employees must sign and send a copy of certificates to HR to receive training credit.  There is also a program evaluation at the end of each program. It would be helpful if employees would also complete these evaluations as feedback will help us to gauge the effectiveness of these products.

Grievance Training On-Line Available:

The Department of Employment Dispute Resolution’s (EDR’s) Understanding and Using the Grievance Procedure course is now available online for all state employees, at no cost, via the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Knowledge Center.  Employees can access the Center and this course via EDR’s website at www.edr.virginia.gov.  Just click on “Online Training” under the “Quick Links” heading on EDR’s home page.  Free Knowledge Center registration will be required.

Now every executive branch agency can easily meet part of its statutory mandate to require “supervisors to be trained in the grievance procedure” and “to familiarize employees with their grievance rights and promote the services of the Department of Employment Dispute Resolution.” (See Code of Virginia § 2.2-3000(B)).

The online Understanding and Using the Grievance Procedure course covers all the fundamentals of using the grievance procedure to resolve workplace disputes.  This course will familiarize the learner with the roles and responsibilities of the grievant, management respondents, agency head, the Department of Employment Dispute Resolution, hearing officers, and the courts in resolving grievances.

The online course includes chapter tests and a scored final test.  Upon course completion, the learner can print out his/her score and the Knowledge Center’s Learning Management System (LMS) will capture this data as part of your agency’s training metrics.

We urge you to advise all employees of EDR’s website and the new online Understanding and Using the Grievance Procedure course at the Knowledge Center.

ADDED BONUS! 

Understanding and Using the Grievance Procedure is a Managing Virginia Program (MVP) required core curriculum course (part of the HR Policy & Law module) and also provides credit toward HRI (Human Resource Institute) and VaCPM (Virginia Certified Public Manager). For more information on these programs, visit the Department of Human Resource Management’s website at www.dhrm.virginia.gov and click on “Training and Development.” 

Benefit Announcements

Attention VRS covered employees

Now that you have received and reviewed your recent Member Benefit Profile, you may now realize that you could increase your VRS service time by purchasing additional months of service.   Who can make application to purchase service at 5%?   Employees who became salaried after a time of P-14 employment are eligible to buy the P-14 time provided they make application to do so within three years of their salaried employment date.  This service, if authorized, can be purchased at 5% of your current salary.

There are additional categories of service that can be purchased at 5%.    Review the prior service information that you can find on the VRS web site, www.varetire.org.   Human Resources recently distributed a VRS publication called, Member Bulletin, to all covered VRS members.  This publication has more information on the value of added service to an eventual retirement benefit. 

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