Category: Compensation

Subject Matter Minute, Episode #71 – Flex Reimbursement Process

The below post is taken from the Video Blog, the Subject Matter Minute. You can view the episode on YouTube if you would like. Find it here: Episode #71 – Flex Reimbursement Process

If YouTube is blocked for you or your agency, you can scroll to the bottom of this post to view it from Google Drive. (I would prefer you view it on YouTube, so I know how many people have watched)

You can also listen to an audio version.

Hello and welcome to the Subject Matter Minute! Glad you could join me… We are waist deep into what they call the Open Enrollment period, so I hope you have watched all the relevant episodes that go over items you can enroll in and/or change during open enrollment.  I covered one of these things in the last episode. That was episode #70, and it covered the Flexible Spending Accounts. If you didn’t watch and aren’t sure what I’m talking about… and you haven’t gone through the open enrollment process yet, be sure to watch it. This episode is also about the Flexible Spending Accounts, but today we will be covering more of the process of submitting documentation. So… today we are covering the Flex Reimbursement Process. (music)

Before I get started, I need to give a shout out to this episode’s Subject Matter Experts… Karyn Williams and Karissa Toalson. Thank you for being patient with me and my dozen or so questions!

So, you set up your Flexible Spending Accounts and have money coming out of your check pre-tax for out of pocket medical expenses, daycare and even some over the counter supplies. How do you go about actually getting reimbursed? Well, you are obviously going to need some documentation to prove that you had these expenses. So that is what we are talking about today. 

There’s a few ways to submit your documentation. You can do it the old-fashioned way and actually print out and hand over and/or mail the documentation. You can also gather your electronic documents and email them, or you can use the portal to submit them. I gather that the portal is the preferred method as far as EGI is concerned, but there is a caveat with that. I’ll elaborate in a bit.

So, what documents are you going to need? First, you will need the reimbursement claim form. This form is linked in the show notes. You will need to fill this out… I will show you how. 

Next, for medical reimbursement, you will need supporting documentation, most of which is EOBs or explanation of benefits. You get that from the Cigna or Delta Dental website. Not to worry, once again 🙂 I’ll show you how. 

You may also need receipts if it’s something that doesn’t have an EOB (explanation of benefits) associated with it, like vision or if it’s covered over the counter items. 

For Daycare, you’ll either need an itemized receipt or you can have a signature of the provider on the claim form. I’ll show you what I’m talking about. 

First… I’m going to show you how to gather all your “stuff,” then I’ll show you how to do it the paper way and then I’ll show you how to do it on the online portal. Ok? Alright, let’s go find our EOBs on the cigna website.

Ok… Here we are at the cigna website. Go ahead and login. If you haven’t before, you will need to click on “register.” You may need your insurance card to register.

Once you are logged in, go to the top menu bar and hover over Claims, and then click on claims. You can see that this is showing only my claims right now. If you have a family and want to see all of the claims, you can click “view all” here. 

Side note… please don’t freak out that I’m showing this information. I really don’t care if you know who our doctors are. 🙂

So… I’m viewing all at this point. The other thing that you may need to change is the year you are viewing. If you are doing this during the year you are submitting for, you want to select “year-to-date.” But, if you are doing this in February for the previous year, you will want to select “prior year.”

Now you can see all of the claims for the year. And yes, there are a lot of them. You want to look for the ones where you owe money. Alright? It’s pretty clear. Depending on how much you elected for your medical reimbursement, I find that things are much easier if you use the biggest charges. For instance… If I only had $1500 in my flex account, I can do it all with just one EOB… this one right here for over $1600. 

But no matter how you do it, this is how you get your EOBs. Find one where you owe and click on “download EOB.” That will open the EOB in a new window and/or tab. From here, you can either download it or print it… depending on how you are submitting your documents. In my browser, the buttons for this are in the upper right corner. Yours may differ slightly. 

Now I’ll show you how to do the same on the Delta Dental Website. Go to deltadentalwy.org and click login. (link is in the show notes) Select subscriber, then login, and then click on claims. Take a look down the “patient pays” column for the services you paid for, and then click “view” in the EOB column. The EOB will open in a new window or tab. The printing and downloading are the same as they were for Cigna. 

Now that you have all of your EOBs gathered up, let’s go over how to fill out the reimbursement claim form. 

Here is the flexible spending reimbursement claim form. As it says at the top, this is for medical, daycare and over the counter reimbursement.

Top part is pretty straightforward. Fill it out. 

The next section is the Medical section. This is where you list all of your EOBs and/or your receipts for medical items. As it says in red, you need to list each service date separately. For you long-timers, this is a bit different. You used to be able to group services from one provider. No longer… Please list them separately. Then fill out the rest of the information, put the amounts and the total.

This is a good spot to pass on something I’ve learned over the years. When filling out the medical reimbursement section, you can avoid that letter you get when the total is more than you elected with your flex account with a simple trick. This letter. (show letter)  As long as your total is over the amount you elected for flex, you can just put the “correct” amount as the total. So… for instance… All the providers add up to $1540, but you only elected $1500 for your medical flex. Put the providers in the appropriate way and then put $1500 as both totals. EGI will reimburse the $1500 and you won’t get the letter. Tricky, right?  

The next section is the daycare reimbursement area. This is slightly different. For one thing, if you remember from the last episode, you can’t claim money that hasn’t yet been deposited or contributed to your flex account. Also, you need to get the tax ID number or social of the provider and put it with the name of the provider. Then go through and put the date of service, the dependents name and the rest. Same deal… put the amount and the total. 

Remember that with daycare reimbursement, you can’t request more reimbursement than is in your daycare flex account. If you do, you will receive a letter that looks like this. (show letter) However, the system will track the claim and reimburse you for that extra as funds come into the account. 

Ok… next is the new “over-the-counter” claims section. You can claim certain over the counter medications, but not all, so it’s best to do a little reading in the Flex booklet that’s linked in the show notes. So you fill that out just like the other sections. 

Make sure to read the information below that section. It’s important information. Also, before you sign, you should read all the info below the signature line. That’s just good practice when signing your name, right??

Next sign and date here if you have already printed it out and if not, print it and sign and date.  

The next step is submitting all of this stuff on the online portal. (or dropping it off to EGI, or sending it to EGI) But, before we go there, I want to warn you that they want all of the documents combined into one document for upload. Also, if you can put the supporting documentation in the order of your claim form, it’s a big help to EGI when processing. If you have a year’s worth of EOBs and they do not match up to your claim form, your claim may be returned to you. 

There may be a bunch of you out there that know how to combine and order files in Adobe Acrobat, and that’s great. Just do it. 

(VO)  For those that don’t have access to Acrobat, or know how to use it, there is a free online tool that can make it happen. 

It’s called Merge PDF Files and it’s also by Adobe. Unfortunately, you do have to create a free account to use it, but it’s pretty straightforward. The address is https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/merge-pdf.html. The link is in the show notes. Just drop all the EOBs, scanned receipts and the claim form into it, reorder the files, merge the files and download the merged file. 

Another option that I’ve heard of is to put the papers in order and xerox to your email on a copier.

In any case, once you have all your files merged, you can go to the portal to do the uploading. 

Go to the portal by using your bookmark…. Or by going to the A&I website, then clicking on Employees’ Group Insurance, then scrolling down and clicking on the portal link. On that page you will find helpful videos showing you how to register and how to use the portal during open enrollment. For now, just click on “employee portal access.” Click on “log in.” Then sign in however you have in the past. I use Google personally. 

You don’t have to go far to make this happen. In the top section, you will see a tab called “Flex.” Click on that tab. Next, you will click on the “upload flex claims” button. You can refresh your memory about the details by reading the information on this page and when you are ready, click “new upload.” Next, click “select file.” Click “choose file,” select your file, and then click “attach file.” I can’t show you, but don’t forget to click “submit” after attaching, as sometimes folks do and the claim is not actually submitted. I’m not going to be doing that right now. So, I’m going to cancel.  

You should see your file in the documents tab, but you might need to “show more items” and scroll down. Once EGI audits the claim, you will see it in this list under the flex tab. 

Ok!! I know that’s a lot, but it is what it is. 🙂 Get in there and get reimbursed! I gotta fly… see ya next time.

Subject Matter Minute, Episode #65 – Ideas Festival

The below post is taken from the Video Blog, the Subject Matter Minute. You can view the episode on YouTube if you would like. Find it here: Episode #65 – Ideas Festival

If YouTube is blocked for you or your agency, you can scroll to the bottom of this post to view it from Google Drive. (I would prefer you view it on YouTube, so I know how many people have watched)

You can also listen to an audio version.

 

Hello, and welcome to another Subject Matter Minute, I’m Matt Nagy, thanks for joining me!

Well, the votes are in, and……. I didn’t listen. I’d say an overwhelming majority of you told me to just shave my head clean. But, apparently, I’m not ready. So…. thanks for your input, and we will see what happens down the road.

You guys mind if I vent for a second? Skip ahead if you don’t have time. I’m guessing a bunch of you went to the University of Wyoming and stayed in several of the finest rentals the town has to offer. I lived in some pretty serious junk back in the day. Well, the slumlord issue certainly hasn’t changed.

My daughters are both renting from the same outfit, but different places. The younger of the two has a place that has a ton of old, original windows. So, in the summer she roasted. I mean roasted. And now in the winter, even with a space heater going all night, she can’t get it past 60 degrees.

My older daughter lives in this tiny house. (not an actual tiny house) You would think it would be nice and cozy…. But it’s not. The heat doesn’t keep the house warm at all. Same deal, can’t even get to 60 degrees. Well… I walked in the door a bit back and found her supplementing her heat with the electric oven. I did the dad thing and told her it was dangerous and would cost her even more, but it reminded me of one of my places in the 90’s.

We had baseboard heat and it was costing around 160 to 170 a month for electricity. Back in the 90’s! Well, we weren’t paying for gas, so we would crank all of the gas burners, put a fan in the doorway and blow the heat into the living room. Talk about dangerous! But, the moral of the story is that nothing has changed. You either gotta have a lot of dough or you have to wear alot of clothes! Thanks for listening….

Alright, on to the goods….

For those of you who were around back in 2020, how many of you remember getting an email about a program designed to get ideas from employees about ways to save the state money, improve processes, etc? I remember it, and I remember being very skeptical. I remember thinking that, you know, it’s always about money. And even though they were offering financial incentives, I figured they would probably be laughably low. The program immediately went off my radar. Well, the state did eventually reward some folks for their ideas. And…… it was more generous than I thought it would be. And… the state is bringing it back, so today I want to talk about the Ideas Festival. (music)

Before I get started, I would like to thank Erin Williams, our HRD Administrator, for getting me all the information. She is today’s subject matter expert. Thanks Erin.

For those of you who have been around forever, you may remember the same program, with a different name back in the late 80’s through the 90’s. In that 11 year span, they gave out just over 10,000 dollars to 31 people. They also gave out 40 days of leave to folks that saved smaller amounts.

Then they revamped the program in 1999. That year alone, they gave out just over $7,000 to 9 people, and 51 days of leave to others.

The program was called STAR back then, for Saving, Tips And Rewards. Like I mentioned earlier, the most recent program is now called the Ideas Festival. The email I remember, back in 2020, garnered 1340 proposals. For this round, they gave out just under $10,000 to 13 people, with one person receiving $3000 by themselves and another getting $1,350.

The cool thing about this program is that it is the state taking advice from those on the ground. Those doing the work. Those getting their hands dirty… either for real or figuratively. All those conversations you have had with your co-workers about, “if only we did it this way,” or “you know… things would run a lot better if…” Those daily conversations could turn into cash in your pocket.

However…. That part is really just about money, right? Pinching pennies, saving the state money, yada, yada, yada. Well, this time they are expanding the program to include awards for people that come up with ideas or projects that simply make the state a better place to work. Kind of a “culture change” award. The awards won’t be based on money saved. And thus, it’s not all about money… it’s about quality of life. This is my favorite program of the 2 for sure. This one makes me feel good. It takes the focus off the money and puts it on happiness.

Don’t get me wrong, I really like them both. Who wouldn’t want some extra cash? And afterall, I am a taxpayer, and would generally like the state to work with less where it makes sense. But… we all have to spend a huge chunk of our lives working, and every attempt to make it less arduous is a plus in my book.

So, the “if you save us money, we’ll give you money” aspect of the challenge rewards people up to either 5% of the total saved, or $5,000, whichever is less. So, $5,000 is the max reward. And they will give out rewards to the chosen projects up to the program budget.

For the culture change part of the program, the rewards will most likely be non-monetary. Admin leave days are on the table for sure, but there may be other rewards. Yet to be determined. There’s no limit on the number of “culture change idea” awards. The state can give out as many as they deem are worthy.

So, if you and your co-workers have had ideas that you thought could never happen, the ideas festival is the time to propose them. Even if it seems like there is a barrier, be it money, time, or bureaucracy, this is the program that could get it pushed through.

Start writing up your plan and keep your eyes open for the announcement. HRD should be sending out the form and instructions very soon.

That’s it for today’s Subject Matter Minute! Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and a fun new year. And here’s to an unusually warm winter so my kids can stay comfortable in their own homes.

Subject Matter Minute, Episode #64 – Pet Insurance

The below post is taken from the Video Blog, the Subject Matter Minute. You can view the episode on YouTube if you would like. Find it here: Episode #64 – Pet Insurance

If YouTube is blocked for you or your agency, you can scroll to the bottom of this post to view it from Google Drive. (I would prefer you view it on YouTube, so I know how many people have watched)

You can also listen to an audio version.

Hello, and welcome to another Subject Matter Minute! I hope you enjoyed our beautiful fall weather before it turned on us. It was a great one.

It cracks my wife up, but I still run into you guys out there, you know, where you know me, but I don’t know you? She considers it fame… I keep reminding her that it’s Wyoming fame, so, a pretty small group. But… I was in Cheyenne a week or so ago and ran into a couple fabulous state employees. Wanted to give a shout out to Benoit, who I ran into on the WyDot campus and to Brenda from the Health department who I ran into at the Albany later in the day. Thanks for saying hello, it was great meeting you!

Ok… now it’s time for the serious part of the show. I’ve started getting horrified with my hairline and massive bald spot, and I’m starting to think that it may be time to take it all off…. Down to the skin. I’m curious what you guys think? It’s been a long time since I’ve asked for your input, and this is a very serious matter. A life change if you will. Lemme know what you think in the show comments!

Alright…. Let’s talk about the subject of the subject matter minute now. Today I’m going to talk about a new insurance offering by the state, Pet Insurance. (music)

Before I get started, I want to thank the crew at EGI for looking over my information and making sure I got it right. Like is so often the case, they are the subject matter experts for this episode.

Back when I had dogs, I’m not even sure pet insurance was a thing. And I’m sure I wouldn’t have even considered buying it. However, these days, I think it makes a lot of sense. Pet medical bills are often equal to human medical bills. We have some friends that are currently struggling with the concept of repairing an ACL on their dog for the small sum of $3000. Heck, 20 or so years ago, our dog suddenly lost the use of her back legs. She was paralyzed. So we took her down to Fort Collins and $1500 later, they said there was nothing they could do. She did slowly recover use and regained most of her ability, but that was $1500 back then.

So anyway… the state is now offering pet insurance through Metlife. This is a voluntary benefit, which means that we pay for it out of pocket. It’s also something that can not be payroll deducted. We just have to pay for it on our own…

I honestly have no idea if the rates are better than others out there. It’s a group plan, so they should be lower. But just so you know, I haven’t done any comparisons with individual plans out there. You might want to do so.

So, what do you get?

  • Insurance plans that can cover the entire pet family with no breed exclusions
  • Freedom to visit any U.S. veterinarian and reimbursement up to 90% of the cost of services
  • Family plans covering multiple cats and dogs on one policy
  • 24/7 access to Telehealth Services for immediate assistance
  • Discounts up to 30% and additional offers on pet care, where available
  • Optional Preventive Care coverage
  • Coverage of previously covered pre-existing conditions when switching providers

We control the monthly cost by adjusting 3 components, the amount of coverage, the deductible and the reimbursement percentage. You can have coverage from $500 to unlimited, deductibles from $0 to $2500, and reimbursement percentages from 50% to 90%.

You can see here what’s covered:

The optional preventive care coverage includes things like flea and tick, spay and neuter, heartworm, behavioral training, teeth cleaning and more.

Of course there are some pre-existing conditions that they won’t cover. You can see what these sorts of things are on the Metlife website. The link is in the show notes. https://www.metlifepetinsurance.com/pre-existing-conditions/

Most of the information that you might need about this is linked in the show notes. There are also very clear instructions for how to get a quote and signup. The quote system allows you to add multiple pets, so it seems pretty handy.

We are currently pet free, but I think that if we were to get back into the pet life, we would definitely look into some insurance. Our paralyzed dog that I mentioned earlier had to use a doggy wheelchair for a while and I remember that being hundreds of dollars. The pet industry knows that pets are family and they certainly charge as if they are!

So check out the new coverage, it may be just what you need to reduce one area of financial stress. That’s it for this episode. Thanks for tuning in and I’ll see you next time… with… or without…. hair.

Subject Matter Minute, Episode #63 – Employee Referral Bonus

The below post is taken from the Video Blog, the Subject Matter Minute. You can view the episode on YouTube if you would like. Find it here: Episode #63 – Employee Referral Bonus

If YouTube is blocked for you or your agency, you can scroll to the bottom of this post to view it from Google Drive. (I would prefer you view it on YouTube, so I know how many people have watched)

You can also listen to an audio version.

Hello, fellow State of Wyoming employees! It’s been a while, eh? I was even repeatedly asked why I had quit doing the Subject Matter Minute. Well, good news, I haven’t. I had a subject that just didn’t come together, so after waiting too long, I had to pivot and find a new one. This is a fun one!

Before I get to it, I wanted to say that I hope everyone was reasonably pleased with their raises? Now, if we could just get to the point of yearly cost of living increases, maybe we couldn’t complain about it anymore, right?? Well, we’ll see…

So being mostly Wyoming-ites out there, I’m guessing a large number of you have probably crashed into some big game on the highway. I almost hate to say it, but I have been lucky and have not. But, as we all know, it’s a fairly common occurrence. Well, unfortunately, my parents clobbered a deer at 60 miles an hour last week. They drive a Subaru station wagon and all the airbags deployed. If you have never had airbags deploy, you need to know that they also deploy a bunch of dust or powder. It kinda seems like your car is on fire. It’s probably not, but just so you know. Well, anyway, my dad was driving and he is fine. I don’t think he was even sore. Unfortunately, my mom was reclining a bit and that extra space may have been the difference. She has a compression fracture in her back. She is able to get around but isn’t supposed to in order to allow for healing. My mom is 80 years old, so being sedentary is not good. And, she’s got some fairly serious pain going on. So… send out some good thoughts to my mom. Hopefully, I’ll have good news in a few months.

Ok, so that wasn’t fun… but the topic today is. I don’t know if you are aware, but the state is having a hard time filling a ton of positions. Well, HR has been trying to figure out ways to attract more people. They are trying to think outside the box. Beyond the marketing tricks… Well, the state, as you may have noticed via an email that went out recently, is now offering a referral bonus for folks who help fill a position.

Before I give you the deets, I want to thank Stefanie Stack of HRD for answering questions about today’s topic. Thanks, Stefanie!

Here are the deets. It’s simple. Check out the available jobs, and let your friends and family know. There will be a place on their application to put your name down. Boom, 250 bucks in your bank account. Ok, so it’s $250 for permanent positions and $100 for temporary positions. Obviously, they need to actually get hired for us to get the bonus.

Honestly, they don’t need to be friends and family for you to get the bonus! Just as long as you can get your name on their application. Can you entrepreneurs out there figure something out?

There are a few things to know about this. First of all, the person being hired must not have worked for the state in any capacity in the last year, or 365 days. Also, temporary employees (AWEC, TP01s) are not eligible for the referral bonus. The only exception is if a TP01 has been continuously employed for 6 months or more. And finally, the referring employee’s name must be listed on the application.

I don’t know, maybe everyone you know is happily employed? But if not, take a look at the available jobs and let them know. I don’t know about you, but an extra $250 is always nice.

I have some links in the show notes. A link to the referral bonus brochure as well as a link to the State of Wyoming jobs page.

Ok, that’s it for this subject matter minute. I’ve been knocking on wood since my opening remarks about never hitting a large animal on the highway. You guys be careful out there.

Subject Matter Minute, Episode #55 – Market Adjustment (Raises!) Process

The below post is taken from the Video Blog, the Subject Matter Minute. If it’s a little hard to read, it’s because it’s taken from the spoken word. You can view the episode on YouTube if you would like. Find it here: Episode #55 – Market Adjustment (Raises!) Process

If YouTube is blocked for you or your agency, you can scroll to the bottom of this post to view it from Google Drive. (I would prefer you view it on YouTube, so I know how many people have watched)

You can also listen to an audio version.

I know us long-timers have been uncertain as to whether we would see another raise again anytime soon. But this is good news! Raises are coming and they are coming soon. I’m going to give you the background information and the timelines of this process. And since the state could use the same process in the future, this episode should be somewhat evergreen…. If you are watching it in the future.

First of all, the process to get us July raises began years ago. A&I HRD  currently uses 6 different salary surveys that are vetted and published yearly. Each year when the surveys are published, A&I HRD compares our current pay tables and actual employee pay to the relevant labor market which consists of other states and private entities. So, we are trying to compare apples to apples here.

If we look at a timeline over the course of the last two years, it may shed a little more light as to why it is not uncommon for the data to be up to 2 years dated by the time raises take effect: 

  • 2020 – market data was collected and published towards the end of the calendar year. 
  • 2021 (spring) – A&I HRD performed its market analysis and submitted proposals to the Governor.
  • 2021 (fall) – The Governor reviewed these proposals, compared these to revenue forecasts submitted by the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG), and made a recommendation to the Legislature. 
  • 2022 (spring) – The Legislature made adjustments and approved the compensation package for pay increases. 

Ok, next I want to break down some of what HRD’s market analysis looks like and how it led to the proposal that was eventually adopted. 

Each year a bunch of turnover metrics are tracked and published. Employees write letters relating to issues with pay. HRD also sent out the Employee Satisfaction Survey. They look at recruitment data and how long it takes to fill a position once it is advertised. They also look at vacancy rates, and how many positions sit vacant because we are unable to fill them. Market data and the cost to move employees to the new market rate is calculated. All of this is compiled in the Workforce Report which can be found on A&I’s website (refer to SMM #51).  Given the severity of the current market lag, HRD took this information a step further and compiled a 157-page document on Compensation Facts. This was sent to the JAC last December to support the paytable movement and pay increases for employees.

So, in this document, instead of looking simply statewide as HRD often does in their published documents, each agency had its own highlights which allowed directors to speak to the legislature about pay issues in their agency. This seemed to help.

At the time the Compensation Facts book was published, the Executive Branch was $97.8 million dollars per year behind the 2020 market in employee pay. We work on a 2-year biennium, which means to move employees to the 2020 market rate would have been an ask of almost $196 million dollars. So HRD created a more realistic plan to try and get employees closer to the market without breaking the bank. The first step –   move the pay tables to the new market rates. The second step –  implement the Market Merit Matrix. The Market Merit Matrix allocates a percent increase to an employee based on our performance and the relationship of our pay to MPP, or midpoint, of the pay grade. The last time a matrix was implemented was in 2015! 

 With support from the Governor’s Office and the Legislature, the Executive Branch was ultimately awarded $37.2 million in General Funds to adjust employee compensation.

So how do we not know exactly what each employee’s raise is today? Well, we don’t. Our workforce is anything but static. The first step is to move the pay tables to the 2020 rates from where we are currently, which are 2017 rates. The State Compensation Policy requires each employee to be paid at the minimum (at least) of the pay grade for their job. So we must first move each employee that is behind the paytable minimum to that new minimum.  

Once everyone is at the new minimum, the market merit matrix is implemented. Because the workforce is constantly in motion with new hires, transfers, and terminations, HRD had to implement a cut-off date of April 1st… meaning our pay and position details as of April 1st will determine the increase. (If you experienced a job change or pay change after April 1st, please consult your agency HR to see if you are eligible for a matrix increase.) Here’s what the matrix looks like without the actual percentages in it. Here is where the percent raise will be once the table is finished. So, the yellow fields on top numbered 7 through 1 are an individual’s position in the range based on the percent of market. So… bottom 10% here, all the way to the top 10% here. The performance aspect of the matrix, rows 0-14, are based on the employee’s PMI score from the 2020-2021 review period. 

As you know, we only see a word score at the end of our evaluation… so, “meets expectations” or “commendable.”  The decimal point figures in the matrix come from a background calculation that takes the total number of points awarded on the PMI and divides them by the number of scored competencies. This allows incremental improvement in work areas to be reflected in pay. 

As an example, let’s say a non-supervisor gets the following scores on their 6 competencies. Each has a point value associated with it. You add those points, divide by 6 (because there are 6 competencies) and that is your score with a decimal point. A supervisor would do the same but would add up 8 competencies and divide by those 8. 

The next big question you are probably interested in, is when we will know what our raises will be? HRD is working to allocate the matrix dollars and will send out individual letters with our matrix details, percent raise, and new pay rate by the end of June. . Our raise (or market adjustment 🙂 is effective July 1st – this means that you will see the difference in our July paycheck… so at the end of July.

Please know that HRD’s work does not, and has not stopped with this allocation and the matrix they are building. As noted before, HRD performs a market analysis each year. The Joint Appropriation Committee (JAC) has made employee compensation an interim priority topic for further discussion this year. This means that even as these raises take effect, discussions on employee pay are ongoing and happening in the background which… who knows…may lead to more good news in the future.

  

Subject Matter Minute, Episode #54 – Online Training Webpage

The below post is taken from the Video Blog, the Subject Matter Minute. If it’s a little hard to read, it’s because it’s taken from the spoken word. You can view the episode on YouTube if you would like. Find it here: Episode #54 – Online Training Webpage

If YouTube is blocked for you or your agency, you can scroll to the bottom of this post to view it from Google Drive. (I would prefer you view on YouTube, so I know how many people have watched)

You can also listen to an audio version.

Hello and welcome to another Subject Matter Minute, I’m Matt Nagy, thanks for joining me!

Today’s topic is training, and that got me thinking about the fact that I have never given you guys my work background. I certainly didn’t start off in training. So, if you’ve got a second, I’m going to tell you how I ended up at the state. I mean, you do know quite a bit about me already, so why not this? Remember, you can always click below to skip this.

Well, it all began at the University of Wyoming where I got a Broadcasting/Journalism degree. Nice thing about UW is that we got to play with all the equipment, so we actually got to make television. And so you know, this was before computers were used for editing video. Yeah… we had to do it with monstrous ¾ inch and Betamax tape. And when you shot video, you had this huge tape deck that you recorded to. Serious pain. But we didn’t know any better.

After I got my degree I stayed where I was and worked for UWTV. Basically working for the guys that taught me. I spent like 9 or 10 years there.

Then I had a kid. My boss at the time let me flex my schedule and it was great. But then a co-worker became the boss and decided that didn’t work for him. So… I quit and became a stay-at-home dad. (interesting side-note… the first day that I stayed home was the day that the planes hit the towers. I was home watching the Today Show. That’s also my birthday. 🙂

Anyways… I had been creating websites on the side, so I did bring home some money, but it was fabulous taking care of my girls, and raising them for years.

Then Governor Freudenthal created an organization called the Wyoming Distance Learning Center and I decided it was time to get back to work and it was a great choice. We were tasked with helping any State government agency or organization with distance learning. It was fun, hard, and short. Cause then Governor Mead came in and killed it.

My co-workers all got jobs elsewhere and I was absorbed by the state. That was back in 2012… I missed the Tier 1 retirement by 2 months. So now I have to wait till I’m 65 to retire…..

So…… was I going to talk about something else in this episode???

Oh yeah! Training! (music)

So, that is how I became an eLearning training guy at the state. And as such, I am responsible for training! So… I have created training, I’ve collaborated with some folks for training and I’ve found other sources of training at the state and I have put it all together on a neatly organized webpage.

So… if you are in need of training, you have employees who are in need of training, or you are just curious about what we have to offer, follow me over to the A&I website.

So here we are on the colorful A&I website. It’s simply ai.wyo.gov. There’s a couple ways to get to the online learning page. You can go up to divisions – human resources – consultative services, and there’s online learning right there, or you can go the easy way. Come down here to under “for state employees” and click on online learning.

Read the intro… you’ll see that we’ve created things on wyotraining.wyo.gov. You can access my youtube channel here and you can subscribe. The first thing up here is suicide prevention. These courses are provided by the governor’s office, the Wyoming department of health, and the Wyoming department of administration and information – they partnered to provide these. They usually cost money, but they are now free to state employees, and there’s a bunch of different ones. That’s really good information for both somebody who is feeling suicidal, but also for somebody who knows somebody who may be. If you’re interested in that, watch this little intro video. There’s also an infographic right here and more information here on the wyoming department of health’s website.

If you haven’t noticed I’ve been sending out financial literacy webinar emails once a month. This is a lunch and learn that is put on by the “society for financial awareness.” These are the past topics that we’ve covered. You can click here to any one of them. Make sure that when you get the email that you sign up because you’ll get an email about the recording and honestly the live version is very good. He’ll answer questions as well.

As all my long time listeners know we have access to linkedin learning training anyone at the state or anyone actually at the state that has a library card. The state library puts it on, but anybody with any library card can get there. You’ll have to input your card number and the pin wyld to access it. There’s a link to the login page… there’s more information from the state library… and of course there’s the subject matter minute episode all about it.

Down here are all the courses that I’ve created over the years that reside on wyotraining.wyo.gov, so take a look at this list… check them out. You will need a key to get into any of these… there’s a link to the keys right here. It’s not really keeping anybody out… that’s really just so I can sort by agency.

Down below that we have more that are more geared towards managers and supervisors. Some of them are videos that anybody can access, but check those out if you’re a supervisor or a manager or want to be one.

Next we have a large catalog of training from risk management. If you click on this catalog right here it’ll open up the catalog and they have anything from active shooter to hazardous materials handling. And all of them have a preview button. Let’s do driver safety. Let’s open that. You can go through this preview. I don’t think it’s the entire course… which wouldn’t make sense, but it gives you an idea of the quality and if it’s what you need. So we have access to all of those through risk management, and if you want to access those talk to your HR rep and they will get you access.

Next we have a short list of miscellaneous courses that didn’t fit anywhere else, so check those out. Most of them are videos on youtube… so easy to access. And then finally down here at the bottom we have the subject matter minute latest episode as well as a link to the subject matter minute page which puts all of the topics covered in a list. You can also go to the blog, the audio only stuff, and you can go to the playlist on youtube and you can subscribe. So that’s the A&I website. If you guys have any more training available to all state employees that could be put on this page please let me know.

Ok, so this is part of what I do at the state, and now you know where to find it. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. And, until then, I’ll see you next time, on the Subject Matter Minute.

Subject Matter Minute, Episode #53 – Current Covid-19 Policies

The below post is taken from the Video Blog, the Subject Matter Minute. If it’s a little hard to read, it’s because it’s taken from the spoken word. You can view the episode on YouTube if you would like. Find it here: Episode #53 – Current Covid-19 Policies

If YouTube is blocked for you or your agency, you can scroll to the bottom of this post to view it from Google Drive. (I would prefer you view on YouTube, so I know how many people have watched)

You can also listen to an audio version.

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Subject Matter Minute! Congratulations on surviving another trip around the sun! Welcome to 2022. Also known as COVID: Year 3.

I’ll get back to the covid thing, but first I want to say that I hope everyone had a great holiday season!? Hopefully, your flight wasn’t one of the thousands that got canceled and you ended up spending the holiday on a smelly coffee-stained airport carpet. I know a lot of people did…. Hopefully, it was none of you.

I had a fun break. I especially enjoyed it when the snow gods dumped 5 feet of snow on the Snowy Range Ski area. It was over a week, but I got to enjoy the two best days of snowboarding I’ve ever experienced there. (at Snowy Range, that is) It was delightfully deep. And now… finally… we have a mountain range full of snow to play in. I was starting to get worried.

Hopefully, those of you that enjoy the snow are also getting out to play now.

Alright… let’s talk about COVID. (music)

Before we get started, I want to thank Tricia Flores and Nicki Reitmeyer, both of HRD, for getting me the info on what the current state of affairs is at the state regarding covid.

Also, since the pandemic is an ever-changing, fluid situation, this episode is very time and date-specific. If you are watching much past the weeks of January 10 through, say…. January 28th, you may want to find out if things are different. Today I’m going to tell you what the policies and procedures are NOW.

Let’s start with the basics. Masks. Mask policy at the state is currently set by each agency’s Director. So, if you are just heading back into the office for the first time or you are visiting another agency, please find out before you get there whether or not you need a mask. Let’s just keep that simple.

Next… if you have possibly been exposed or are showing symptoms, you can get a covid test that is at no cost to you. Cigna will cover it. For now. They regularly re-evaluate this and coverage could change. The bottom line is that it’s currently free to you and me. Now… Cigna will not cover the test if it’s simply so you can get on a flight to Cancun. You must have possibly been exposed or be experiencing symptoms. However, as you have probably heard, the Federal Government has purchased home tests that will be available soon. The ordering system is not set up as of this recording. I assume that these tests can be used for whatever situation you deem necessary.

Next, let’s talk about leave associated with covid and the vaccine.

First of all, the policy makes it very clear that the hope is that people can telework. Any admin leave will only be allowed if you are unable to telework. (I’ll get back to that)

Also, while the State personnel system does not ordinarily provide regular paid leave to AWEC and TP01 classifications, the COVID-19 Administrative Leave Policy will apply to both.

First, the policy goes through a list of negatives. Basically when covid admin leave will be denied. Instead of going through those, let’s concentrate on when it will be granted. 🙂

So, the factors to be considered in determining whether COVID-19 Administrative Leave applies includes:

  • whether we have the option to telework, in which case we must telework instead of using the Leave;
  • whether the Governor or State Health Officer has ordered the closure of your Agency or your building;
  • whether we have been directed by the Agency to self-quarantine;
  • whether we have been directed by a doctor to self-quarantine;
  • whether we have been diagnosed with COVID-19;
  • whether we have had direct contact with a person that has been diagnosed with COVID-19;
  • whether we provide an essential government service that, if limited, would adversely impact the Agency’s ability to function. (I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that even if your job is deemed “essential”… if you are horribly sick with Covid-19, you will be allowed to take Covid leave. Don’t quote me on that, however.)

Ok, these are the factors used to determine if you can use COVID leave.

Once it is determined that you are eligible for the leave, HRD will determine the amount needed. This is initially up to 5 working days. HRD will re-evaluate at the end of the 5 days to see if more time is needed.

COVID admin leave can also be used if schools or daycares are closed due to COVID.

The HRD Admin may grant twenty days of COVID-19 Administrative Leave to us under the following circumstances:

  • We are the custodian of a child under 13 years of age, or of a child under 18 years of age who has disabilities that require full-time care; and
  • The school or daycare which the child attends has closed due to COVID-19; and
  • We are unable to telework.

However, if childcare responsibilities are shared among two state employees (either because both employees are parents or guardians of the child, share custody of the child, or share a household with the child), then:

  • COVID-19 Administrative Leave will only be granted under this policy if neither of the state employees is able to telework; and
  • The twenty days granted under this policy must be shared among the two state employees. Ok? You only get 20 between ya.

Also… something to keep in mind. The COVID-19 Administrative Leave doesn’t have to be taken consecutively. So if you can telework intermittently, or find someone to help with childcare intermittently, you can spread out the leave.

Ok… Also…One hour of admin is approved to receive the vaccine. An hour per shot.

Up to 3 days of admin leave can be used for reactions to the vaccination.

Up to 10 days of admin leave can be used for the time that you are waiting for COVID-19 test results. However, if the test is negative and you are still feeling sick, any additional time must be sick leave.

As with all COVID admin leave, the HRD Administrator has the authority to approve beyond these general guidelines on a case by case basis with a detailed request. So, if you are feeling sick beyond the 5 days, it is possible to get more admin leave. I know some people are sick for a long time.

I feel like I need to revisit the teleworking thing. It sounds like if you are able to telework that you cannot use the admin leave. This isn’t true. If you are unable to telework because you are sick with covid, or your young child needs care due to daycare closure… you are unable to telework… so you can use the leave. Hopefully, that’s clear. 🙂

To finish out the admin leave info, the time code to use for this leave is: Salary =ADQRT, Hourly=HRAQT.

Meanwhile, scientists are learning more about the disease every day and they are adjusting guidelines based on this knowledge. The Wyoming Health Department has just released new quarantine and isolation guidelines based on the CDC’s new guidelines. These guidelines are quite complicated as they recommend different procedures based on vaccinated or not vaccinated, fully vaccinated vs. not fully vaccinated, date of last vaccination shot, etc. So…. I’m going to give you the link to the page that explains this on the CDC website. It’s much more clear there. Also, the recommendations for healthcare and correctional facilities are slightly different, so I’ve put the link to those below the video as well.

Ok… remember, if you are watching this video much past the release date, you will definitely want to check with your supervisor or your HR Rep to see if the rules have changed. Honestly, you’ll want to do that anyway… Right now, however, a ton of people are getting sick with COVID, or dealing with it in one way or another, so it’s good to know your options.

Alright, that’s it for today. Be careful out there and stay well! See ya next time.