Category: Human Resources

All benefits-eligible state employees must participate in open enrollment. Log in to the Member Administration Portal to make your elections.

Upcoming events:

• Online open enrollment presentation from 9 to 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 19. Registration is not required.

Take advantage of the scheduled virtual and in-person presentations, as well as on-demand options. To add meeting reminders to your calendar or for additional information, visit the Open Enrollment website. Any questions should be directed to TotalRewards@wichita.edu.

All benefits-eligible state employees must participate in open enrollment. Log in to the Member Administration Portal to make your elections.

Events this week:

• Online open enrollment presentation from 9 to 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10. Registration is not required.

Take advantage of the scheduled virtual and in-person presentations, as well as on-demand options. To add meeting reminders to your calendar or for additional information, visit the Open Enrollment Website. Any questions should be directed to TotalRewards@wichita.edu.

All benefits-eligible state employees must participate in open enrollment. Log in to the Member Administration Portal to make your elections.

Virtual and in-person presentations will be offered:

• 3:30-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4 in 266 RSC, Pike Room
• 3-4 p.m. Thursday, Oct 5
• 9-10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10
• 9-10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 19
• 3-4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24

This is a very busy time, so the Total Rewards Team is not available for walk-in traffic or to make individual appointments regarding open enrollment. Please take advantage of the scheduled virtual and in-person presentations, as well as on-demand options.  For additional information visit the Open Enrollment Website. Any questions should be directed to TotalRewards@wichita.edu.

This is once again an active enrollment, meaning that all covered state employees must participate or be enrolled in a default plan. 

Events this week:

Sunday, Oct. 1: SEHP will begin opening enrollment portals throughout the day. All benefit-eligible employees should have access to their benefits open enrollment portal by close of business on Oct. 1^.

Please take advantage of the scheduled virtual and in-person presentations, as well as on-demand options.  For additional information visit the open enrollment website. Any questions should be directed to TotalRewards@wichita.edu.

The 2024 fiscal and academic year annual appointment notices are available online and will not be printed and distributed to departments. Thursday, Aug. 31 is the deadline to complete your notice.

Please note that University Support Staff (USS) and non-benefit-eligible employees (students, lecturers and temporary employees) are not subject to the annual appointment notice process.

Therefore, Unclassified Professionals (UP) and faculty can view, electronically acknowledge and print their 2024 appointment notice through myWSU:

• myWSU (Chrome is the preferred browser)
• Faculty/Staff tab
• Human Resources links
• Notice of appointment (You may need to clear the browser cache to see the link)

The 2024 appointment notices will be available to view, electronically acknowledge, print and revisit through Aug. 31. Due to the sensitive nature of the data, always close your browser to protect your privacy.

Contact the Help Desk at 316-978-4357 for assistance with logging into myWSU, if needed.

For questions with any of the information contained on your fiscal year 2024 appointment notice, discuss with your supervisor and they may contact HR.ServiceCenter@wichita.edu if needed.

Please note: Appointment notices are generated at a specific point in time with the beginning of the fiscal year for staff (or academic year for faculty). If your information changes after that point in time, it will not be reflected on the 2024 appointment notice.

Employees enrolled in 2023 coverage through the State Employee Health Plan can earn a premium discount worth $480 annually and HSA/HRA rewards dollars up to $500 per year, just by participating and logging healthy activities throughout the year.

• 2023 HealthQuest program overview video and quiz: Earn five credits for watching this video and completing the short quiz.
• Learning modules: Earn up to 10 credits by completing on-demand learning modules in the HealthQuest portal. There are many different topics to choose from.
• EAP on-demand trainings: Earn up to 10 credits combined by completing EAP on-demand trainings that are available through the HealthQuest portal and attending EAP webinars (max one credit per day).

Take advantage of some of the on-demand and online options to earn HealthQuest credits.

• Aug. 10 – Family Wellness
  • Living a healthy lifestyle is an ongoing journey involving planning and support. When families lock arms to adopt healthy habits such as eating well and exercising, it becomes a family affair. Rebecca Berlin, Health Coach, will help you to learn more about children’s health and strategies to build lifelong habits that contribute positively to the wellness of your family.

Live sessions are limited to the first 2,000 attendees. All others can view the recording six hours after the live event.

Members that attend the live session or view the recording within seven days of the original broadcast will receive one HealthQuest Credit for attendance. Credits take seven to 10 business days to be reflected in your HealthQuest Portal post completion.

No registration required. Simply follow the instructions on how to access this webinar directly on the HealthQuest Portal under Marathon Health Webinars.

Upcoming events will be published each month, but if you’d like to plan in advance, check out all currently scheduled HealthQuest events. 

The 2024 fiscal and academic year annual appointment notices are now available online and will not be printed and distributed to departments. Thursday, Aug. 31, is the deadline to complete your notice.

Please note that University Support Staff (USS) and non-benefit-eligible employees (students, lecturers and temporary employees) are not subject to the annual appointment notice process.

Therefore, Unclassified Professionals (UP) and faculty can view, electronically acknowledge, and print their 2024 appointment notice through myWSU:

• myWSU (Chrome is the preferred browser.)
• Faculty/Staff tab
• Human Resources links
• Notice of appointment (You may need to clear the browser cache to see the link.)

The 2024 appointment notices will be available to view, electronically acknowledge, print and revisit through Aug. 31. Due to the sensitive nature of this data, always close the browser to protect privacy.

Contact the Help Desk at 316-978-4357 for assistance with logging into myWSU, if needed.

For questions with any of the information contained on your fiscal year 2024 appointment notice, please discuss with your supervisor and they may contact HR.ServiceCenter@wichita.edu if needed.

Note: Appointment notices are generated at a specific point in time with the beginning of the fiscal year for staff (or academic year for faculty).  If your information changes after that point in time, it will not be reflected on the 2024 appointment notice.

The 2024 fiscal and academic year annual appointment notices will be available online no later than Monday, July 10. They will not be printed and distributed to departments. Thursday, Aug. 31, will be the deadline to complete your notice.

Please note that University Support Staff (USS) and non-benefit-eligible employees (students, lecturers and temporary employees) are not subject to the annual appointment notice process.

Therefore, Unclassified Professionals (UP) and faculty can view, electronically acknowledge and print their 2024 appointment notice through myWSU:

• myWSU (Chrome is the preferred browser.)
• Faculty/Staff tab
• Human Resources links
• Notice of appointment (You may need to clear the browser cache to see the link.)

The 2024 appointment notices will be available to view, electronically acknowledge, print and revisit through Aug. 31. Due to the sensitive nature of this data, always close the browser to protect privacy.

Contact the Help Desk at 316-978-4357 for assistance with logging into myWSU, if needed.

For questions with any of the information contained on your fiscal year 2024 appointment notice, please discuss with your supervisor and they may contact HR.ServiceCenter@wichita.edu if needed.

Note: Appointment notices are generated at a specific point in time with the beginning of the fiscal year for staff (or academic year for faculty). If your information changes after that point in time, it will not be reflected on the 2024 appointment notice.

Holidays for state of Kansas employees are designated on an annual basis by the governor and the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) for eligible employees.

The following dates have been designated as paid holidays for all departments of Wichita State for the 2023 calendar year. This information is also available online at any time.

• Discretionary day*
• New Year’s Day (observed) – Monday, Jan. 2, 2023
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – Monday, Jan. 16, 2023
• Memorial Day – Monday, May 29, 2023
• Independence Day – Tuesday, July 4, 2023
• Labor Day – Monday, Sept. 4
• Veterans Day – Friday, Nov. 10 (classes are in session on this day)
• Thanksgiving Day – Thursday, Nov. 23 and Friday, Nov. 24
• Christmas Day – Monday, Dec. 25

*The discretionary day must be used during the payroll calendar year. For 2023, it must be utilized between Dec. 25, 2022-Dec. 23, 2023. This paid leave benefit is used for observance of a holiday, family event or other special day. Employees who work a Monday through Friday schedule should plan to use their discretionary day on or before Friday, Dec. 22, 2023.

Employees will not be paid for the discretionary day in lieu of taking the time off, and the banked hours expire at the end of each payroll year. Employees will use standard leave request procedures to seek leader approval in advance of taking the discretionary day.

Employees enrolled in 2023 coverage through the State Employee Health Plan can earn a premium discount worth $480 annually and HSA/HRA rewards dollars up to $500 per year, just by participating and logging healthy activities throughout the year.

Take advantage of some of the on-demand and online options to earn HealthQuest credits:

• Program overview and quiz: Earn 10 credits for completing this assessment.
• Health education modules: Earn one point for each health education module completed through the Marathon HealthQuest portal (10 total points possible).
• EAP on-demand trainings: Earn up to 10 points combined by completing EAP on-demand trainings that you can access through the HealthQuest portal and attending EAP webinars. 

Upcoming events will be published each month, but if you’d like to plan in advance, check out all currently scheduled HealthQuest events.

Looking ahead:

• State of Kansas – Mindfulness: Being Present in Your Work and Life: July 5, 1 p.m.
  • The idea of mindfulness or being mindful is complete engagement in the present moment. It is a state where you are not thinking, reflecting, judging or deciding, but are instead simply experiencing the things currently in your available experience. In many ways people are largely unaware of our present moment and often operate on “auto-pilot” to some degree. The auto-pilot mode is our default mode of operation. Even when we find ourselves in a pleasurable quiet moment we automatically begin to daydream about others, plan/worry about the future or ruminate about the past. We miss living in the present moment because we fail to pay attention to it. Mindfulness is about waking up to the present moment and paying attention to our experience. Learning mindfulness is not difficult; however, it is difficult to remember to do it. This training discusses mindfulness and how to incorporate its practice into your life.