This month’s calendar photo for September is this arty little number “Leaves” by Kathryn Anderson of the Service Improvement Team.
Your Views Survey 2018 is coming
The Finance and Planning Your Views Survey for 2018 is coming this September, please see below for the key dates for your diaries:
- Survey to be launched to all Finance and Planning staff on 17th September.
- Survey closes on 12th October.
- Initial results to be shared with staff on 26th October.
To review the results of the 2017 Survey and the actions that were created click here.
Changes to staff travel and expenses policies from 1st October
The Staff Expenses and Travel Policies are changing from 1 October 2018. These changes support the University’s non-pay savings initiative, which is aiming to achieve a £4m saving in 2018/19.
The updated policies and procedures will be published during September; please read them before incurring expenses or booking travel to ensure compliance with the updated policies.
The new policies will apply to:
- all expenses that are incurred from 1 October 2018
- all travel bookings that are made from 1 October 2018.
All areas of the Staff Expenses policy will be enforced. Any expenses that are incurred after 1 October 2018 that do not comply with the policy will not be reimbursed even if claims of a similar nature were reimbursed in the past on an exceptional basis.
Expenses incurred before 1 October 2018 and travel bookings that are made before 1 October 2018 will be subject to the previous policies:
Further communications, including a summary of the changes will follow in September.
Planning Team Brief
The Planning quarterly team meeting was held on the 8 August and covered the following agenda items.
- Planning update – internal and external context (Linda Mason)
- Performance Development Review – Linda’s objectives (Linda Mason)
- PSOM – BESE (Linda Mason)
- Non-pay savings (Linda Mason/Emma Scoffield)
We were expecting Roger Eccleston to attend but unfortunately he had to decline at the last minute so will attend a future meeting instead.
Inter-campus Shuttle Bus
Did you know that the University has an inter-campus Shuttle Bus? The bus can be caught from outside the HUBS and drops off outside the Heart of the Campus building at Collegiate. (Please note this only runs in term time only. Departs from outside the HUBS and students get priority)
Employee Assistance Programme
The University has a new Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) which is being launched as part of the Hallam Deal. The EAP is a free confidential service providing employee support online, by telephone and face-to-face – it is completely separate and independent of the services offered by the University’s Occupational Health services. The service will work on the basis of confidential self-referral and it will be provided by an external provider, Health Assured.
Listed below are the key areas of support that they will offer to all staff –
- Comprehensive telephone helplines available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week offering practical information and emotional support including
- Counselling and Emotional Support
- Family Issues
- Bereavement
- Trauma
- Relationship Issues
- Stress related conditions
- Tax Information
- Medical Information
- Money management and debt support
- Up to six structured telephone counselling sessions, per issue for employee, partner or spouse and dependents (between the ages 16-24 in full time education)
- Up to six face to face counselling sessions, per issue for employee including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
- Access to an online wellbeing portal which provides access to extensive well-being resources including four-week programmes, videos, webinars and access to a health mobile app.
- Support specifically aimed at helping managers deal with important workplace issues. This service is only available Monday to Friday from 9am-5pm.
Further guidance about how to use the service, and more information is available on the HR Intranet.
Graduation volunteers needed
This year’s graduation ceremonies will be taking place between Monday 12th and Friday 23rd November 2018. If you would like to register your interest in volunteering at a ceremony please complete this form. The faculties will then contact you directly if you are needed.
If you’ve never been to a graduation or been involved in volunteering for one, find out more about what’s involved by reading some of our previous stories.
Using pronouns in email signatures
The University’s Allies network has identified another move we can make as employees of SHU towards inclusivity; whether you are currently an Ally or not, this is something that you can do to help be an influencer for change;
Putting your pronouns in your email signature is an important move towards inclusivity, no matter what your gender is. This helps demonstrate the point that whether someone is cis (meaning someone who identifies with the sex they were born as) or Trans, their pronouns should never be assumed. By providing an opportunity for people to share their pronouns, you’re showing that you’re not assuming what their gender identity is based on their appearance. Please find attached some guidance on pronouns.
Good practice: Include pronouns in your email signature. E.G.
Lorna Pettifer – Pronouns: she, her, hers
SHU Instagram Account
Our Sheffield Hallam Instagram account has 9,961 followers. If we get 39 more we get those 10K VIP benefits like swiping up. https://www.instagram.com/sheffhallamuni/
If you have Instagram, please can you do us the honour of following our corporate account (@sheffhallamuni) featuring some wonderful Sheffieldy scenes?
Fundraising for Cancer Research
The F&P Runners Union is still going strong and Adeline Chan (Financial Accountants) has decided to take on her first (and possibly last) marathon. She will be running the Yorkshire Marathon on Sunday 14th October and is currently in the midst of training.
Adeline will be running the marathon in memory of her father and is raising money for Cancer Research. If anyone would like to sponsor Adeline please click here for her Just Giving page, she also has paper forms for anyone wishing to donate offline.
