It's not only getting to know where everything is in a complex as large as a small city, but also understanding what the institution you now work for has to offer.
To see that new hires get off to a running start--including choosing the right health plan, connecting to the UD web and obtaining a parking permit--the Office of Human Resources offers New Employee Orientation (NEO), a series of regularly scheduled workshops for new employees.
“We plan orientation so that new employees leave this room with all the information they'll need to understand the University and its benefits,” Richie Holland, manager of human resources and affirmative action, said.
Holland coordinates NEO, one of many programs human resources makes available for UD's 4,092 full- and part-time employees.
The arrival of new faculty and staff makes late summer and early fall the busiest time of the year for human resources, but this fall, there was an unusually large number of hires.
“We usually have 35-40 new hires at August and September orientation, but this year, we had a record 105,” Holland said. He attributes part of the number of new employees to the faculty's prowess in securing grants that facilitate the hiring of new personnel.
Lab supervisor and coordinator, Gregory Peters, was just hired by UD's psychology department. He'll be working with newly hired Amy Griffin, assistant professor of psychology, to set up a behavioral neurosciences lab and pilot study.
Krystal Rikard, is a newly hired instructor of choral education in UD's music department. Her position was created this year. She'll be teaching secondary music education, conducting and supervising student teachers. She says she's extremely impressed with the music department, the University's benefits and with NEO.
NEO affords participants a chance to meet future colleagues and staffers from various campus departments.
The sessions also encourage new employees to visit one or more web sites if they need more information.
When Holland speaks to new employees, he suggests that they become regular readers of UDaily [www.udel.edu/udaily], UD's online news service, which is aimed at keeping faculty, staff, parents, alumni, students and the general public up-to-date on what's going on campus.
A typical NEO session begins at 8:30 a.m. with an overview of UD's benefit program.
Lee Woomer, benefits record analyst and coordinator, began the morning session by highlighting the various health care plans--medical, dental and vision--available under the University's comprehensive benefits package for eligible employees.
After a coffee break, Holland went over educational benefits including tuition exchange, course fee waivers and the tuition remission program.
More information on UD's comprehensive benefits package, including dental assistance, dependent life insurance, disability insurance, flexible spending accounts, group life and health care insurance and a prescription drug program, is available at [www.udel.edu/Benefits/index.html].
Next, Jenni Sparks, coordinator in public safety, explained the various services provided by the department of Public Safety [www.udel.edu/PublicSafety].
Participants got a chance to chat informally during lunch in the Perkins Student Center, while Cindy Delaney, human resources generalist, answered employees' questions.
Robin Sheffield, a newly hired senior records specialist with the Center for Composite Materials, worked for Coastal Carolina Community College in Jacksonville, N.C., as a data processing technician before coming to UD.
She is thrilled with her new job and the fact that she can continue working with students. “I'm so excited. I love working with students, helping them do something with their lives in a positive manner. It's like a dream come true,” she said.
“I really wasn't aware of the benefit package until now,” Sheffield said. “But, hearing about it today, I'm very impressed with it. It's excellent. It gives you choices, and it's not too costly. Orientation, so far, has been wonderful. It's been very detailed and very informative.”
During the afternoon session, new hires heard from Delaney, who described recreational facilities at UD, including the Employee Wellness Center, the Outdoor Pool (the biggest in the state) and how to get tickets for sports and entertainment events.
Participants also learned about other benefits, including paid holidays, vacation and sick-time policies, as well as mortgage and home purchase assistance programs.
Kate Webster, information resource consultant for Information Technologies-User Services, talked about e-mail and Internet access and suggested new employees visit [www.udel.edu/help] for information on connecting to the UD network and following UD's Code of the Web guidelines for responsible computing.
Denise Lindsey, administrative assistant in human resources, reviewed use of UD Webforms and how to access personal web-based information, such as pay stub views, contract dates and employee demographic data.
Chris Towers, a human resources generalist, ended the afternoon session with an overview of UD's retirement plans and information on how to set up a retirement counseling session.
Jose Somalo, the publisher of Hoy en Delaware, a monthly newspaper for Delaware's Hispanic community, will be working for UD's Small Business Development Center in Georgetown, Del. “Since I'm bilingual, from my experience working with small businesses for more than 11 years, I should be able to tap into the Hispanic community,” Somalo said. He said he'll start in Georgetown, but will eventually help business people all over Delaware.
Somalo said he comes from a large corporation, and UD's benefits are similar, but the corporation didn't provide the variety of choices that he finds at UD. “The whole session was helpful at understanding where we are, what kind of benefits we have, how to get the information we need and how to connect to the web.”
Article by Barbara Garrison
Photos by Kathy Atkinson
