Managing stress during the holidays

Many of us are in full swing when it comes to the holidays! While this is the season of giving and thanks, for some, there is also stress and worry. The mental health in the workplace working group has pulled together a few resources highlighting this particular topic. We will also be visiting ASR unit meetings during the months of January and February to discuss the role of this group and gather feedback.

Listen to it: The University’s Center for Spirituality and Healing is hosting a free webinar on December 18 from 12:30-1:00pm to discuss strategies to prevent and cope with holiday stress.

Read about it: The Mayo Clinic and Canadian Mental Health Association provide some tips and tricks for stress management and mental wellness during the holidays.

Practice it: Intention and reflection are key components to set the tone for the day and practice gratitude. The Five Minute Journal is a great way to focus energy to the positive. Don’t want to buy a journal? You don’t have to. The main tenets are to set the day with intention and gratitude and at the end of the day to reflect on the positive.

FMLA and mental health

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was enacted in 1993 requiring covered employers to provide employees with job-protected, unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. The Office of Human Resources provides this detailed information about FMLA and associated processes.

What you may not know is that FMLA also covers mental health as a serious health condition. FMLA leave can be taken intermittently or in a single instance. To request FMLA for a mental health condition all that is required is to complete the form: Certification of Health Care Provider for Employee’s Serious Health Condition, which details when/how you need work accommodations. Medical details are not needed and should not be provided per HIPAA.

The primary benefits of receiving FMLA leave are that you get approved and protected time excused from work that can not be held against your work performance, and the University continues to contribute to medical benefits regardless of pay status. If you are experiencing mental health issues that you think may be covered by FMLA, please talk to your supervisor or our HR partner, Mary Stein (stein094@umn.edu).

Save the date for a staff appreciation event

This year’s annual ASR staff appreciation event will be held at Loring Pasta Bar on Thursday, December 19 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. We’ve placed a hold on your calendar. We’ll have door prizes given throughout the event. If you’d like to contribute prize items, you can bring it along with you to the event. Student workers are welcome to attend. We’ll have more details to share later on.

Financial aid verification form for independent students is now online

A cross-functional team in ASR recently launched an online form that students can use to complete the financial aid independent verification process. It was previously a paper process using a PDF form. The new form, built with Jadu XForms Pro, will improve things for students and staff by auto-filling the student’s data, allowing them to upload documentation rather than having to mail it, and making turnaround time faster. The project team is also working on creating a similar form for dependent verification. Students selected for verification receive a direct link to the independent verification form. It is also available on the One Stop website.

Calendar for transfer students - submit events

Folks who work in Transfer Student Experience are updating the calendar they provide to new transfer students. The goal is to help those students quickly learn about things on campus in the first few weeks of the term. Sarah Ihrig is asking staff to submit events and resources via Google Form now that may be useful to transfer students within their first six weeks of the spring semester. This may include:

• Any event or resource helpful to transfer students (does not have to be only for transfer students)
• Drop-in hours
• Open houses
• Events that you already have scheduled or regularly hold
• Events/resources that are college/major-specific

ASR Printer Inventory

We are taking an inventory of all the printers we have in ASR. If you have a printer in your office or cube space, please fill out the printer inventory form. This survey is for the personal printers that you may have at your desk. In addition, if your team or unit has a printer in your workspace that is not part of our contract with Loffler/Ricoh/Toshiba, please have one person from your team submit the survey for that equipment.

Office moves in Williamson Hall

There has been some transition of space assignments in 160 Williamson Hall. Kate Sophia and Matt Tveter are now each located adjacent to the 162 conference room. Kristy Davis (M/W/F) and Jaime Wascalus (T/Th) will be sharing the 160S office (formerly occupied by Matt). Rachel McKessock will now reside in 160T (formerly occupied by Kate).