HR Update - FY 24 Issue 02

Issue Date: September 22, 2023

In This Issue

• Filling out ADDR and EMER in IRIS ESS
• How to Change Employee’s Name Legal or Display Name
• Work Address Wrong on White Pages or Reports
• Academy for Supervisors 101: Soldotna (In-Person Training)
• HR Piloting a New Hiring Manager Training
• Timothy Parker Retirement
• DOPLR at Alaska State Fair
• DOPLR Comings and Goings

Filling out ADDR and EMER in IRIS ESS

In April it was announced that employees would no longer fillout a PDF or paper copy to update their address information (ADDR) or emergency contact (EMER) information, instead employees (new hires or rehires) would be required to fill out the information in IRIS ESS directly.

Job Aids and guidance for completing the ADDR and EMER transactions in IRIS ESS can be found on the Division of Finance website under IRIS Reference and Resources > Employee Self Service. If after reviewing all the guidance, the employee is still having trouble, they may contact the Employee Call Center for further assistance.Since rolling out the process to the Department of Administration on August 14, we have observed some confusion that has arisen and wanted to provide some helpful tips for supervisors and department admin staff to help make this process as smooth as possible.

Inform Department Talent Acquisition Staff of Any Hires and Their Start Date

This is a critical step in the process. If this step is missed, delays occur in getting access set up, which then delays getting an employee paid. The Talent Acquisition staff in your department must be informed of any new hires and their start date to submit the prehire form for processing.

In July, the Division of Finance released a new automated prehire process that removes the requirement for the Talent Acquisition staff to submit paperwork in IRIS HRM to set up the user record. One of the key pieces of information needed to submit a request to the automation process is the start date. By having the start date, we can eliminate situations where a prehire is entered but never accepts the job.

The other piece to this process is that a hire’s information will not be entered into IRIS HRM until seven days before the start date to prevent a user record from being created before it is needed. Once the information is entered into IRIS HRM, the user record will be available for IT staff to pick up and assign the appropriate accesses by 10 AM the following day. This is also when the user information in IRIS gets updated so the employee may access IRIS ESS.

It is the access to IRIS ESS that is critical for an employee to be able to enter their Address Information (ADDR) and Emergency Contact Information (EMER) in IRIS directly.

ADDR From Date Required to Be Current Date or 90 Days in Future

The ADDR From Date will default to the current date. Employees should not update the From Date unless they are changing it to a future date (up to 90 days). Using a prior date will result in an error message. The use of a current or future date is necessary for accurate tracking of what has been configured for the address information, should any issues come up.

Employee Information Shows Information From Previous Position

When an employee logs in to IRIS ESS on their first day in a new position, the employee information in IRIS ESS will show as a prehire or as their previous position. Employees who previously separated from state service and are returning can sometimes be confused by the IRIS Profile showing their old position information, or their employee status as Terminated. Updating this information is dependent on payroll finalizing the appointment in IRIS HRM, which does not happen until all the required information is submitted, including the ADDR and EMER.

Even if the previous position information is showing for an employee, this will not affect updating the Address Information or Emergency Contact Information. Rehired employees should be informed of this process to avoid confusion on seeing incorrect information when logging in to IRIS ESS.

Right now, most new hires need to submit a Confirmation of Completion of Paperless Pre-Hire Documentation (PDF) to confirm that they have submitted the information in IRIS ESS as expected. (New hires to the Department of Administration should be completing the IRIS Onboarding Tasks, which tracks the completion of the ADDR and EMER in IRIS, therefore, a separate form confirming the completion is not required.)

ADDR and EMER Submission Required For Rehires

Rehired employees are likely to find that there is already Address and Emergency Contact Information in IRIS ESS from their prior employment record. All employees are still required to submit an ADDR and EMER transaction in IRIS ESS to update the effective date of the information, regardless of whether updates are required. Without an update to the effective date, Payroll staff have no way of knowing that the information has been reviewed and is current for the employee. Failure to submit the ADDR and EMER transactions in IRIS can result in delays in processing the appointment packet and potential delays in getting paid.

Resources

Information related to name changes, as well as other helpful resources, are included on the Division of Finance website under the IRIS References and Resources > Employee Self Service > Employee Name Change Information.

Please note, that even if the employee’s legal name or display name is out of date or incorrect in IRIS ESS, this does not prevent submitting an Address Update or Emergency Contact update, since the transaction is tied to the Employee ID instead of the name.

How to Change Employee’s Name Legal or Display Name

Within the State of Alaska, employees can have two different names: the legal name and the display (preferred/published) name. The legal name is required for payroll processing, health insurance, and benefits information. It must match the name that appears on the employee’s Social Security Number (SSN) card from the Social Security Administration. The display name, which is also referred to as the preferred or published name, is the one that is set up with the user’s email and other user information, so that it can be the name that the employee is more commonly known by.

When submitting a prehire to be processed in IRIS HRM, the legal name must be provided for entry into IRIS HRM, and the name used for the email address will translate to the display name. Once the user account has been created, the following are the only ways that the legal name and display name can be changed.

Updating Employee’s Legal Name

If an employee goes through a legal name change, they must submit a notification of a legal name change in IRIS ESS. The notification of name change is submitted via an Employee Information Change (EICF) transaction to the DOF Payroll Production Team who will verify the name with the Social Security Administration before finalizing the name change.

A legal name change will only change the name as it appears in IRIS HRM for the Payroll Process, Health Insurance, and other benefits. This will not automatically update the employee’s email address, user ID, display name, etc. That action will need to be taken by submitting a ticket to IT staff to get the information updated. Department IT Help Desk must assist with these changes in the directory because changing the user ID and email address can affect an employee’s login access.

Updating Employee's Display Name

If an employee does not want to go by their legal name in their day-to-day activities, a ticket must be submitted to IT staff in AlaskaNow. The name that is displayed in the email, the email address, and the user ID must be updated by a Department IT Directory Administrator. This can be done separately from the legal name change and does not change the information entered in IRIS HRM for the legal name.

Work Address Wrong on White Pages or Reports

The Employee Call Center has been getting an increase in calls asking about how to update an employee’s work address if it is appearing wrong in white pages, LDAP user details, or reports. When this happens, it means that the work location is incorrect in IRIS HRM for the employee and this could be for two reasons.

Work Location Being Inferred for Prehire PCN

If the employee has not been appointed yet and their user information was set up using the new automated prehire process, it means that the work location is being inferred based on the last incumbent of the PCN. If no one was in that position then the work location will be blank; but if there was an incumbent, it will take their work location and infer that to the new incumbent. If the position got moved from Juneau to Anchorage, then it could mean that the work location could show as Juneau until the appointment action gets processed.

Work Location Incorrectly Assigned at Appointment

If after the employee has been appointed and the work location is showing incorrect information then a request needs to be submitted to Division of Finance (DOF) Payroll Services (PDF) to get the information corrected. Please start by confirming the information that was submitted on the PARF. If the information shows correctly on the PARF then you can just resubmit to DOF Payroll Services with a note that correction is needed. If the information was entered incorrectly on the PARF then you will want to create a new PARF to get the information updated.

Academy for Supervisors 101: Soldotna (In-Person Training)

The Division of Personnel & Labor Relations’ Learning and Development Team was able to travel to Soldotna to conduct in-person supervisory training from August 21st-August 25th, 2023.

We piloted a new approach that allowed us to assign pre-work to supervisors that they had to complete prior to attending the Academy. This allowed us to reduce the Academy from 5 days to 2.5 days, thus being able to offer two classes while we were in Soldotna.

36 supervisors who oversee over 100 employees successfully graduated the Academy for Supervisors 101, leaving with key HR knowledge, a detailed understanding of the State of Alaska’s Performance Management model in AspireAlaska and a new supervisors toolkit with documents like leave trackers, coaching templates and much more.

With 16 anonymous responses, the in-person Academy has a 4.5/5 rating with supervisors saying, “I recommend this course for all supervisors to take whether new or not”, “Amazing class! I think all supervisors would benefit greatly from taking this class”.

We look forward to being able to provide supervisory training both in-person and virtually throughout the upcoming year.

HR Piloting a New Hiring Manager Training

Division of Personnel and Labor Relations is elated that we are currently in the process of piloting the much-awaited Hiring Manager Curriculum. This curriculum will eventually be available to all State of Alaska Hiring Managers and hiring assistants. The curriculum goes over the laws related to hiring, how to write insightful interview questions, creating a positive candidate experience, and so much more. The hope is to equip Hiring Managers with some key tools to set them apart and be able to hire the best candidate for the positions they post. This curriculum will not be a technical training for using NeoGov.

Currently, human resources staff are piloting the new Hiring Manager Curriculum and when it is ready we will put out an announcement when it is available for all Hiring Managers to take in AspireAlaska.

Timothy Parker Retirement

After 30 years of dedicated public service, our Learning & Development Manager Tim Parker retired on July 31, 2023, which is also his birthday. In his 19 years with the Division of Personnel & Labor Relations, Tim has lead dozens and dozens of trainings and team buildings. Thousands of state employees have been fortunate to be students in Tim’s classes. This photo was taken just after Lt. Governor Nancy Dahlstrom presented Tim with his thirty-year service pin and certificate. Tim is a true public servant.

DOPLR at Alaska State Fair

Did you know that the Alaska State Fair has been featuring giant vegetables since 1936? This year’s winning pumpkin was 2,2023.5 pounds. The Fair was held from August 18 to September 4, 2023 at the Palmer fairgrounds. The Office of the Governor asked every department to staff the State of Alaska’s information booth for one of those day. The Department of Administration was assigned Friday, September 1st. DOPLR took the late afternoon/early evening shift. DOPLR Human Resource Consultant Evan Crow (right) and Deputy Director Camille Brill (left) staffed the booth and fielded all kinds of questions from Alaskans across the state. Sometimes “duties as assigned” involves corn dogs.

DOPLR Comings and Goings

Goings (leaving DOPLR)

• Christina Eddy (Classification)
• Timothy Parker (Learning & Development)
• Kiley Dwyer (Employee Relations)
• Amy Lindsley (Employee Relations)

Comings (New to DOPLR/Internal Promotions)

• Tracy Bader (Classification)
• Sara Mason (Classification)
• Katie Nystrom (Employee Relations)
• Stephanie Smith (Employee Relations)
• Shawna Krueger (Classification)