America Saves Week is Feb. 19 – 26. This is an annual opportunity for organizations to promote good savings strategies and a chance for individuals to assess their own saving status.

Effective Mar. 1, the reporting relationship for the Background Check Investigations unit will change. The Background Check Investigations unit will no longer report to the Department of Public Safety and will instead report to the Employment & Staffing unit in the Office of Human Resources.  

The next HR Facilitator quarterly meeting is scheduled for next Monday, Feb. 27, at 2:30 p.m. in the Stone Center auditorium.

On Oct. 18, 2011, OHR sent out a memorandum on an “Overtime Comptime Monthly Report” that was available on-demand by accessing the E-Print System at https//itsapps.unc.edu/eprint/login.do. This report has now been updated to more accurately track overtime and comp time accruals and usage.

Learn more about health and wellness offerings available to you on campus and throughout the greater Triangle area during the 2012 Work Well, Live Well Expo.

Ongoing training in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) is mandated by all federal granting programs including NIH and NSF. The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs is offering a course that will satisfy the RCR training requirements for the NIH and NSF research grant applications. Further, upon completing the basic training seminar, postdoctoral scholars will also have the opportunity to teach the ethics course to graduate students and lead discussion sessions. The primary goal for the course for Postdoctoral Scholars is to address RCR topics.

The Office of Human Resources offers a variety of classes each month that are available from the course catalog. These learning opportunities are free and open to faculty and staff. Please see the attached flyer for available classes in March.

ITS has scheduled a maintenance outage for hr.unc.edu. The site will be offline and unavailable next Tuesday, Feb. 21, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.   

We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.

Save the date for 24th annual Carolina Blood Drive Tuesday, Jun. 5, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Smith Center. Be a hero and help save a life. For more information, contact benefits@unc.edu.  

Learn more about health and wellness offerings available to you on campus and throughout the greater Triangle area during the 2012 Work Well, Live Well Expo.

Claims for the 2011 plan year must be filed with P&A, the flexible spending account (FSA) plan administrator, by Apr. 30. Services must have been rendered by Mar. 15. Employees can check the balance of their FSA, status of claims submitted and pending reimbursements by registering with P&A online at https://www.padmin.com/ncflex/.

The UNC Staff Assembly has again issued a challenge to the more than 31,000 staff members employed by the University of North Carolina System: Show that you have a heart.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) offers free tax assistance to low and moderately low-income individuals who need assistance in preparing their tax returns. Certified volunteers sponsored by various organizations receive IRS training to help prepare tax returns in communities across the country. VITA sites are generally located at community and neighborhood centers, libraries, schools, shopping malls, and other convenient locations. All locations offer free electronic filing. To locate the nearest VITA site, call 800-829-1040.

Mark your calendars now to save the date for the 2012 Work Well, Live Well Expo on Friday, Mar. 9 from 11 a.m. until 2p.m. in the FPG Student Union.

A review of EPAWeb Position Management shows some positions that have generic or non-descriptive working titles, such as “Director” or “Assistant Dean,” as opposed to something more descriptive like “Director of HR Communications” or “Assistant Dean for Human Resources.” As working titles are contained in a number of reports generated for internal and external use as well as displayed in the UNC Directory and job postings, it is important that these titles be more descriptive of the specific responsibilities of the position.