Brown Bags

2008 Brown Bag Coming Soon!

Previous Brown Bags

Spring 2007 - Exercise and Wellness

In May 2007, NUSAC partnered with the health facilities on both campuses to offer brown bag sessions focused on exercise, stress management, and wellness.  Representatives from the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Norris Aquatic Center (SPAC), on the Evanston campus, and Holmes Place Health Club, on the Chicago campus, presented on incorporating exercise into your day and the effect regular exercise can have on stress levels and overall wellbeing. Participants learned how to incorporate variety into the workday and ways to keep your body healthy and flexible.  Presenters also took the opportunity to introduce attendees to the services provided by the health and recreation facility located on respective campuses and allowed them to signup. For more information on exercise and wellness, or to learn more about campus health facilities, go to http://www.fitrec.northwestern.edu.

Fall 2006 - Understanding Your Health Care Plan Options

In October 2006, NUSAC and the Benefits Division sponsored brown bag sessions on both campuses to focus on employee health care plans in preparation for changes in the upcoming open enrollment process. These sessions were held on the 24th at Kellogg in Chicago and on the 26th at Medill in Evanston and were well attended, with over 185 attendees between the two campuses.

Guy Miller (Associate Vice President of Human Resources) highlighted the upcoming benefits changes, including the increase in number of coverage tiers, an increase in PPO options, and a decrease in HMO options. He emphasized that this year everyone would be required to choose or waive coverage, even if their coverage was not going to change, and that the open enrollment process would be done online. To help explain all of the changes, participants were informed that extensive written materials had been sent to employees, and multiple information sessions were being held. Tom Evans (Director of Benefits/ Insurance/Retirement) and representatives from the various health plans were present to pass out information about the plans and to answer questions. Participants asked many questions, from such diverse topics as how to pick your plan or coverage tier; choosing or keeping doctors and specialists; the effect on drug plans; the logistics of the open enrollment process and when it would begin; and where to get help.

Spring 2006 - Health Care Plan Changes

Guy Miller, Associate Vice President of Human Resources, discussed the possible changes to the University Health Care plans in two spring quarter brown bag sessions given on the Chicago and Evanston campuses in May 2006.  The university will be restructuring the university health plans and presented information to faculty and staff about the possible changes.  It was clear in the presentation that societal health care costs are increasing in the double-digit percentages and this issue is mostly beyond the control of the administration.  Mr. Miller talked about the rising cost of health care in general and explained the strategy the university was using to effectively deal with these rising costs.  Mr. Miller also expressed that the university administration is committed to formulating a strategy that will be the most cost effective for both the university and its employees.  Some possible changes included an increase in the number of family selection tiers (something beyond single or family), a decrease in the number of HMO’s to choose from, and an increase in the number PPO plan options.

Winter 2006 - Understanding the Internal Tranfer-Promotion Policy

NUSAC sponsored brown bag sessions this winter about the internal transfer/promotion policy and eRecruit.  eRecruit is the new process which allows job applicants to submit applications and resumes on-line. The Chicago campus session was held on January 17th and Evanston campus session on January 24th . Gail Higgins, Human Resources Consultant, and Jenee Roosa, Human Resources Analyst, were the featured speakers.  Gail and Janee spoke about the ways in which eRecruit will improve the hiring and transfer/promotion process, including the ability to send automatic e-mail notifications to applicants regarding the status of their application. The sessions were well attended and staff members asked many interesting questions. Topics of discussion by the staff included: Not hearing back after submiting an application, jobs not posted in advance internally and then made public, what type of consideration are current employees given, and issues regarding
contacting references prior to interviews.

As of February 1, 2006 eRecruit will be fully implemented and completely replace the former paper based process. If you are not familiar with eRecruit, you can access it by signing in to HRIS Self-Service. You will need to log in with your netID and password. Once you log in, you will see an icon for job openings which will lead you into eRecruit. You can view all of the NU open position listings, as well as submit an application and upload your resume.

Spring 2005 - Getting the Most from Your Performance Review

Thanks to everyone who attended the NUSAC Brown Bags with Paul Corona, Northwestern’s Director of Training and Development.  In May, on both the Chicago and Evanston campuses, Paul spoke at our Brown Bag presentation entitled “Getting the Most from Your Performance Review.”  He provided some valuable strategies that employees can use to make sure that the year end review reflects all the great things that the employee accomplished.  Most importantly, he stressed that staff members must be actively involved in the review process, and that they should prepare for the review year round.  Paul also went over some ways that staff members can work with their supervisor to develop goals for the future that are important to the employee.  On the Evanston Campus, upwards of 50 staff members were in attendance and about 35 came to the Chicago event.  Those in attendance were particularly concerned with scenarios in which an employee has multiple supervisors, or with cases in which an employee’s supervisor changes and the new supervisor has a different valuation of the numbers in the ratings scale.  Confusion was also cleared up concerning whether reviews are required, what it means to sign the review, and the correlation between the review and merit based salary increases.  Paul closed the Brown Bag with briefly introducing Northwestern’s new review process, the Performance Excellence Process.

Winter 2005 - Update on HR Policies and Procedures

Thanks to everyone who attended the NUSAC Brown Bags on "University Policy Upates and YOU." Guy Miller, Associate Vice President of Human Resources highlighted policy changes in regards to nondiscrimination, smoking, credit union, holiday pay, evaluative authority over relatives, transfer and promotion, and civility in the work place. On the Evanston Campus, over 60 staff members were in attendance as Guy fielded many questions concerning University policy on evaluative authority over relatives and on internal transfer and promotion. On the Chicago Campus, among the 45 staff members in attendance, concerns arose regarding what information the University disperses when an outside entity calls HR to verify employment. All policy updates are included in the newly revised Staff Handbook.

Spring 2004 - Taking Charge of Your Career (Part 2 of career development brownbag series)

Over 200 Chicago and Evanston staff attended two NUSAC-sponsored brown bag seminars on career development.  In February, Lonnie Dunlop, who is Director of University Career Services, presented the first seminar, which was called “Taking Charge of Your Career.” Dr. Dunlop went over an interesting career planning “model” that has three components: a self-assessment of our individual skill and knowledge; an assessment of the changing workforce and work settings; and an analysis of our personal decision-making styles. Using the model as a guide, we can begin taking responsibility for our own career development.

Winter 2004 - Navigating the Northwestern Job Market (Part 1 of career development brownbag series)

In April, a trio of NU human resources staff presented the second workshop, called “Navigating the NU Job Market.” After participating in a fun get-to-know-you exercise, we learned about ways we might make our current jobs more interesting and rewarding, and then learned about NU’s internal transferring policies and procedures along with ways we might present ourselves as strong candidates. The HR experts also presented sample interview questions, including questions we might want to ask when interviewing for a new job, and questions we might be asked. We also got some great resources. The HR staff who led this brown-bag seminar were Leigha Kinnear, Manager of Training and Development, and Gail Higgins and Kimberly Morris, HR Consultants.