5/8 Weekly Email

Hi all, 

I have a few updates this week. We have a few things going on right now but our attention is on Class and Comp - we should finally be getting some solid information soon. 

Segal Update: UAEA was informed that initial information about Segal compensation changes should be going out this coming week (starting on Monday, 5/12). Letters will be sent out throughout the week - how quickly they get to employees will depend on the size of the department. Some areas may also choose to share the information in a one-on-one conversation between an employee and their supervisor. Every employee should be receiving a letter with information about how their pay will be adjusted, any title changes that may be occurring, and the information HR has about how long they’ve been in their role (something which will impact the seniority bump). UAEA is here if you have questions or concerns about changes that were made - please reach out to president@uaeatempe.com if you want to chat. 

Member Meeting: Our next membership meeting will be next Thursday, May 15th, from 5-6PM at Apache PD Substation (1865 E Apache). Please rsvp here by Tuesday, May 13th, at 5PM. 

Benefits Fair: The next benefits fair will be this coming week on Tuesday, May 13th. The event will take place as usual at the Tempe Center for the Arts from 9-2PM. UAEA will be tabling there but I strongly encourage everyone to attend - the City offers a lot of benefits and it's easy to forget about all of them or remember how to use them. IT’s also a great time to engage with the various vendors or service providers - their sole job for 5 hours is answering questions about the work they do and they genuinely seem thrilled when people come to them with specific questions about the perks. 

UAEA will also be doing a membership drive at the event! If a City employee signs up for membership at our table they will get a $25 gift certificate (we’ll have a variety to choose from). If a current member brings that new member (and the new member confirms that they were encouraged to join by the current member), they will also receive a $25 gift card. There is no limit on gift cards from referrals - if you bring 3 people to sign up, you will get 3 gift cards. That said, it’s a one gift card per new member rule - multiple people cannot get credit for referring one person. As usual, please do not do anything to badger or berate your colleagues into joining, but if you know someone has been on the fence and needs an extra incentive, now would be a great time for them to join. 

Open Enrollment: As a reminder, open insurance enrollment will be occurring between now and May 30th. Every City employee will need to select the level of insurance plan they would like, any amounts they wish to dedicate to Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) and any family members they would like to include on their plan. I finished my enrollment earlier this week and can confirm it takes no longer than normal - the only extra step is checking boxes if you want to  Check the attached email for more information. 

If you know you or a family member will need surgery or a recurring medical service (therapy, physical therapy, etc) in the next year, I strongly encourage you sign up for a FSA. All money put in the FSA accounts can be used for basic medical services tax-free, something which might save you some money. Find more information in this blog post. 

Envision Center: This is more of a resource for friends and family, but I wanted to note that Tempe’s Envision Center (1310 E Apache Boulevard) will be hosting a Job Fair next Thursday, May 15th, from 10AM - 1:00PM. The center also hosts monthly CPR classes- their next session will be Thursday, May 29th, from 9-12PM. Finally, if you know anyone who is struggling to find employment due to a prior conviction or criminal offense the Center is hosting a legal clinic (by appointment only) from 9-5PM on Wednesday, May 21st. They may be able to assist with sealing records, getting certain offenses expunged from your record, or helping people appeal fingerprint clearance card denials. Check out the attached documents for more information.

Elections Update: The Elections Committee needs a little more time to verify the list of nominees so I cannot announce candidates today. Elections are run independently from the board - I do not have access to the nominee information until our Election Committee has finalized the list. I would also prefer they take their time fully verifying each candidate’s eligibility rather than pushing people through. I should have election nominee information available to announce tomorrow or Monday and will reach out to candidates to see if they would like to extend the campaign period due to the slight delays. We are still on track to wrap up elections in early June but I will defer to the people actually running if they believe they need more time. Nominees are free to come to next Thursday’s membership meeting if they would like to introduce themselves to members - I’ll set aside some time for intros and a brief Q+A. 

Employee of the Quarter: Our third round of Employee of the Quarter closes on June 1st (finalists will be announced in early July). If you would like to be considered (or would like to nominate a peer), please fill out the application (it takes 5 minutes) before the end of day on June 1st. If you would like a refresher on program rules, check out this blog post. One thing that’s important to the Executive Team is making sure we recognize employees from as many departments as possible - while it’s not the only consideration, you have a better chance of recognition if you’re from an area we have not yet recognized in the last 2 quarters. Food for thought. 

This is not confirmed, but we are in talks with the City Council right now to start recognizing Employees of the Quarter once a year at a Council meeting, likely at the same meeting where we recognize Scholarship winners. I’ll provide more details as I get them. Our goal was creating a program where top employees could get the recognition they deserve from the highest levels of the City - hopefully this gets us closer to achieving that. 

Thanks for a great week, everyone!