In alignment with the St. Thomas strategic priorities, Human Resources continues to look for ways to be efficient, cost effective and environmentally responsible, and to make our services more convenient for employees.
One of the areas that we have worked on is employee self-service. To that end, Human Resources has identified primary areas and is implementing processes that will be exclusively online. To date, we have introduced online on-boarding, just-in-time training tool (Lynda.com), and most recently a performance management system.
In the coming months, we are pursuing other online solutions with our benefits and payroll functions.
Sick and safe time leave ordinances
The cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis are enacting ordinances that require employers to provide paid sick and safe time to all employees, effective July 1, 2017, and to track employees’ use of sick and safe time leave.
We are reviewing St. Thomas’ current time-off programs and policies in light of the new ordinances. We anticipate that the most significant impact will be on our student workers, who will now earn and accrue sick and safe time leave at the rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked.
We continue to determine the impact of these new ordinances and make changes to our systems for the purposes of tracking and reporting. Additional changes required to comply with the new ordinances will be communicated prior to July 1.
Employee Assistance Program
Benefits-eligible employees and their family members have access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). EAP provides free online confidential support, information, and resources for all of life’s challenges.
Use EAP for no-cost confidential counseling, financial information, legal support and work-life solutions. Employees have up to five face-to-face counseling sessions per topic. Additionally, read online resources on a whole range of topics or use EstateGuidance to create a simple, free customized online will. For more information, we have an online brochure.