Mason Staff Senate

State Employee Financial Wellness Virtual Fair

Mason employees are invited to view and interact in a live session providing financial information and resources from Virginia Credit Union (VACU), Virginia Retirement System (VRS), Virginia Department of the Treasury (TRS), Virginia529, New York Life, and Employee Assistance Program (EAP) representatives.

Game and door prizes will be awarded at the end of the fair! 

Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020
Noon to 1 p.m.

Register Now

Announcements from University Libaries

University Records

As we begin a new academic year and continue in an increased virtual environment, University Records Management would like to remind the Mason community that any records created by employees are a compliance area for the university at large.

During this time where many of the ways we conduct our business have changed, we are still subject to the records regulations set forth by the Library of Virginia under the Virginia Public Records Act (VPRA), as well as other laws and agreements.

See the August 2020 memo regarding Records Management regulations and practices for more information, and contact recmgt@gmu.edu with any questions. 

Sustainable Scholarship Virtual Forum

Representatives from the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University, George Mason University, Old Dominion University, William and Mary, and James Madison University will soon be in contract negotiations with Elsevier, the largest science, technology, engineering, and math scholarly publisher.

On Friday, Oct. 2, at 9:30 a.m., the group will host a Sustainable Scholarship Virtual Forum to share information about the group’s collective priorities concerning equity, accessibility, and costs of bundled scholarly journal packages. The Mason community is invited to attend. More information and registration details available here. 

Human Resources and Payroll Announcements

Safe Return to Campus Training

All faculty and staff who are returning to campus must compete the Safe Return to Campus Training in MasonLEAPS. The training includes important information about Mason’s safety protocols and steps each of us should take for the safety of ourselves and our community.

The easiest and most accurate way to ensure compliance is for supervisors to use the “Manage Employee Learning” or “Reporting” tools in MasonLEAPS. Each supervisor can view training and transcripts for anyone in their reporting structure; job aids for viewing reports and assigning training can be found on the Safe Return to Campus website. 

HR Liaisons are important partners in ensuring training compliance. Liaisons can run a report for their unit using the Transcript Status report, which can be found under Standard Reports in MasonLEAPS. Liaisons can view the job aid on how to run the report here. Please note that because MasonLEAPS “division” data is pulled from Banner, not all employees assigned to a specific department or unit may show up in the reports.  

If you need to request additional department or unit data, please contact Vicki McGough at vmcgough@gmu.edu and include your name, department, and if possible, a list of netIDs or G Numbers.  

The following considerations are important when running reports to ensure training compliance: 

  • Not every faculty or staff member will be returning to campus. 
  • Individual supervisors have the most accurate understanding of individual employees’ plans and are expected to ensure that those reporting to them have completed the training before returning to campus. 
  • Employees, including affiliates, must have an active job in Banner to login to MasonLEAPS. Faculty can now login up to 90 days before their start date, as long as they have an active start date in Banner and their netID and password are active. 

We hope this information helps in making the best reporting plans to meet your unit’s needs. Should you have questions about the training, reach out to safety@gmu.edu. 

For questions about reporting, reach out to Vicki McGough at vmcgough@gmu.edu. 

  

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Reduction Option

On Aug. 5, 2020, Mason introduced the voluntary and temporary full-time equivalent (FTE) reduction option to help employees respond to the competing demands imposed by the pandemic, as well as support efforts to experience greater life/work balance. 

Please read below the full memo for more details, including who is eligible, how this option works, how this option can help employees, and how it may affect benefits, retirement, and leave.  

If you have further questions, contact Human Resources and Payroll at hr@gmu.edu.