Author: Kathryn Rodriguez

The 2026 Offer and Onboarding Calendar has been finalized to support your hiring efforts for the upcoming year. This calendar contains hire dates and respective deadlines for offer acceptance and onboarding completion. Please choose a start date that allows time for offer approval, offer acceptance and five business days for onboarding.

The calendar is available on the WuHire Information Hub in the Offer and Onboarding Calendars folder. Be aware that offers sent to HR that do not adhere to these deadlines will be declined and sent back for correction to their respective departments. If an offer is declined due to missing the required deadlines, the candidate cannot begin work on the originally proposed start date. A new offer with an updated start date must be submitted and approved.

As a reminder, onboarding must be fully completed by the close of business the Thursday prior to the hire date. This lead time allows for system access and email account setup, so the new employee has the necessary tools and resources in place on their first day. Remember that new hires cannot begin work until they’ve completed onboarding and are officially marked as “Hired” in WuHire by HR. Allowing an employee to begin work prior to onboarding completion exposes the university to potential safety and compliance issues, which could include violating internal policies and federal law. Your adherence to this process is not only appreciated but is vital to ensuring the safety and security of our staff, students, and the broader university community.

Following these guidelines helps ensure a smooth and positive onboarding experience while also supporting consistent compliance with hiring policies and procedures. We truly appreciate your partnership, which is essential to the success of our shared efforts.

Human Resources has identified opportunities to increase compliance and improve the experience for new hires and front-end users. This includes streamlining the onboarding experience and reducing the possibility for errors and delays to help ensure new hires have a great experience starting with their first day on the job. To achieve this, HR is adopting deadlines for hiring dates, effective July 1.

These deadlines are designed to support front-end users in planning for new hires while also giving HR and other departments sufficient time to process requests efficiently, so new hires are set up for success on day one. A few key items to note on these deadlines:

• Sunday is the hire date for all new hires.
  • Benefit Eligible (BE) and salary positions (GA’s, lecturers, U4, Z4) will experience no change in their hire date — they will continue to have their hire date at the beginning of a pay period.
  • Hourly Non-Benefit Eligible (NBE) employees (regular students RS, U3, Z3) can begin working in their respective departments on any day after the hire date.
• Onboarding must be fully completed by the close of business the Thursday before the hire date. This is to allow time for system access and email setup so the new employee has what they need when they start working. Please remember that new hires cannot begin work until they’ve completed onboarding and are officially marked as “Hired” in WuHire by HR.

The 2025 Offer and Onboarding Calendar, which has hire dates and respective deadlines, is also available on the WuHire Information Hub under the “Announcements” section. Please be aware that beginning July 1, offers that are sent to HR that do not adhere to these deadlines will be declined and sent back for correction to their respective departments. Please note that if an offer is declined due to missing the required deadlines, the candidate cannot begin work on the originally proposed start date. A new offer with an updated start date must be submitted and approved.

Thank you for supporting this important step toward creating a positive onboarding experience, long-term system compliance and hiring efficiency. We appreciate your partnership.

In preparation for the 2024 winter closedown (dates and details are available on the Leave Administration webpage), the HR Talent Acquisition team will implement the following deadlines related to hiring all positions (excluding Division of Industry and Defense Programs). This will provide a more positive experience for candidates and ensure positions are posted and employees are hired successfully prior to the shutdown.

Approvals

• Anything sent after Wednesday, Dec. 18 that requires HR Employment approval will be processed after Jan. 6, 2025.

For hiring Benefit Eligible (BE) positions:

The first New Employee Orientation (NEO) in 2025 is on Jan. 7, 2025. To attend this session:

• Candidate(s) must have accepted their offer(s) by Monday, Dec. 16.
• Candidate(s) must have completed all onboarding tasks by noon Friday, Dec. 20.
  • Candidates who have not completed onboarding by the deadline may have their start date moved to the next available date and corresponding NEO.

For hiring Non-Benefit Eligible (NBE) positions (i.e., student, grad, lecturer, temp)

• Any offer(s) with a desired start date during the Jan. 5, 2025 pay period must be submitted no later than Wednesday, Dec. 11. Candidate(s) must have completed all onboarding tasks by noon on Wednesday, Dec. 18.
• To assist with processing before shutdown and to minimize the chance of a start date being pushed back, offers with a desired start date during the Jan. 19, 2025 pay period should be submitted no later than Wednesday, Dec. 18. If not received by that date, such offers will not be processed until after we return on Jan. 6, 2025.

*Note that NBE hires must have completed all onboarding and be updated to “hired” status by HR before they can start work.

If you have any questions, email the Talent Acquisition team at employment@wichita.edu.

In preparation for the 2023 winter closedown, the HR Talent Acquisition team will implement deadlines related to hiring all positions (excluding Division of Industry and Defense Programs). This will provide a more positive experience for candidates, while ensuring positions are posted and employees are hired successfully prior to the shutdown.

Please review the Talent Acquisition Winter Closedown Plan 2023 communication, as well as the calendar, for more information regarding deadlines/important dates.