The safety and well-being of the university community is Ohio State’s top priority and a responsibility we all own. To advance this priority, every year Ohio State requires all employees and students to complete online training focused on recognizing, preventing and reporting sexual misconduct, and on assisting those who might have experienced sexual misconduct.

As an Ohio State employee, you have been assigned the Report=Support! course in your BuckeyeLearn transcript. This easy-to-follow, interactive module takes about 30 minutes to complete. This year, merit-eligible employees who do not complete Report=Support! by April 29, 2022, will not be eligible for annual merit increases that take effect September 2022. Visit Ohio State’s Title IX website to view Frequently Asked Questions or email equityeducation@osu.edu for additional information. For technical assistance, contact the IT Service Desk at (614) 688-4357 or through Self Service.

On Wednesday, February 2, Doris Orsborn announced in an all college email that a new process is available in Workday for employee business leave, which is used for approval of attendance for non-travel events where the employee will be away from their routine work schedules (e.g. virtual conferences or meetings). The new process is required for Optometry faculty and staff and is effective as of February 1, 2022.

Previously, when attending a virtual conference and without travel costs, the transaction was entered in Workday as a spend authorization for travel. Going forward, a virtual conference is entered as business leave only. No one is required to enter both a business leave and spend authorization. The business leave workflows to the employee’s manager. The manager has an “approval” step and a “close request” step for each transaction. Please contact Doris Orsborn if you have any questions.

When purchasing goods or services, a vendor may ask for a signed contract or agreement that includes terms and conditions. Please do not sign the agreement, as contracts may only be executed by university officials who have received delegated signature authority from the university’s Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has delegated signature authority for the majority of university contracts to the President and/or the Senior Vice President for Business and Finance and Chief Financial Officer. This includes contracts initiated by departments and colleges. If you have any questions about a signature needed to purchase goods or services, please reach out to Doris Orsborn or Kate Horton.

When the university upgraded to Workday, not only did it change all functions across campus, but it also made some unexpected changes to due dates for the annual performance review process and Annual Merit Compensation Process (AMCP).

Historically, the college has used the dates of July 1 to June 30 for our annual performance evaluation timeframe. However, these dates must adjust to align with the Workday AMCP processing date of July 1.

Beginning this year, the college will set a new ending date for all performance evaluations. The new period for all staff performance reviews will be July 1, 2021 to May 31, 2022, just bumping up the ending date a month earlier. Going forward next year, the evaluation timeframe will be June 1, 2022 to May 31, 2023. Kim Oyer has updated the performance review and the staff evaluation forms on our Business Office webpage to reflect this change and can be found at https://u.osu.edu/optometrybusinessoffice/performance-reviews/

Who would you like to nominate for the Kudos Award? This award, presented to one staff member annually, recognizes excellent service to the college. The awardee receives a one-time $500 cash payment and a plaque. To nominate a staff member for this prestigious award, review the criteria and access the nomination form on the Business Office website. Nominations may be submitted electronically through February 28 by clicking on the following link: https://go.osu.edu/KUDOSnomination. Our previous winners are Charity Levengood, Rebecca Roby, Freda Dallas, and Mat Johnson. Who will be next?