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In this Issue
Open Enrollment for your 2021 benefit elections will end at 8:00 p.m. tomorrow, Nov. 20.
Open Enrollment is your opportunity to make the changes you want in your health care coverage levels and to enroll in a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) plan for 2021. You won’t be able to make any changes after tomorrow. Your choices will be effective Jan. 1.
If you don’t want to change your benefits or enroll in an FSA for health care, dependent daycare, or parking for 2021, you don’t need to take any action. Your current choices – except for FSA – will carry forward to 2021.
If you’ve added new dependents, don't forget that Human Resources needs a copy of the documents showing their relationship to you. Generally, this means a marriage certificate for your spouse, and birth certificates for your children. These are also due tomorrow by the deadline. You can email your documents to the Benefits Team at benefits@metc.state.mn.us or fax them to 651-602-1507. When you do so, please include a line that has your employee ID number so the Benefits Team can associate your submission with the correct employee.
Log on to metcouncilbenefits.hrintouch.com to start your enrollment. Having trouble with your password? Call 1-866-822-8688 to have it reset, or reset it online by following the instructions. Having trouble enrolling? Call 1-855-866-9662 to enroll by phone. These phone lines are open Monday-Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
You can confirm what you’ve selected or confirm whether you did your open enrollment correctly. Log on to metcouncilbenefits.hrintouch.com, click on "Enroll Now," then on Employee Summary Report on the left side of the page under "My Docs." This will show your 2021 Open Enrollment choices, followed by your current (2020) ones. Don’t worry if your Open Enrollment choices show a previous year's effective date. They’re really your elections for 2021.
Need more information? One final online information session is scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 20, 9:00–10:00 a.m. Download appointment to your Outlook calendar
Questions? Email the Benefits Department at benefits@metc.state.mn.us or call the Council Benefits-One line at 651-602-1601 or visit the Benefits page on MetNet.
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Met Council employees can now buy home office furniture and receive reimbursement under the Council’s Trade Time for Fitness program.
But act soon. The deadline for submitting your claims for reimbursement is Dec. 1, 2020. The Council cannot reimburse you for purchases you make between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31, 2020.
Trade Time for Fitness allows you to trade in your annual leave hours in exchange for up to a total of $2,000 per payroll year in reimbursements for eligible health- and wellness-related expenses.
Under this expanded program, reimbursements are paid in the same year that purchases are made, in line with IRS regulations. Like this year, you can submit eligible purchases you make in 2021 for reimbursement in 2021.
If you bought home office equipment after Minnesota’s stay-at-home order on March 27, 2020, your purchases are eligible retroactively from that date, as long you have the proper purchase documentation. This offer will be in effect until official notice is given – likely through the COVID-19 pandemic, when some employees must work from home.
Eligible purchases are limited to home office items. Examples include:
- Office desks
- Sit/stand desks
- Office chairs
- Task/desk lighting
Council-provided items, of course, are not eligible, such as computer equipment, keyboards, monitors, docking stations, mouse pads and similar equipment.
To learn more about the program and to access the online claim form, please visit the Trade Time for Fitness MetNet site. If you have trouble accessing the Trade Time for Fitness page, or would like to verify the eligibility of an item, please contact FitForLife@metc.state.mn.us
Please join Human Resources for the next "Ask HR" topic on Engagement and Retention, tomorrow, Friday, at 11:00 a.m. Staff received and Outlook invitation with the information to join the Webex.
The purpose of these sessions is to provide access to and information about HR's work and how it impacts workforce equity.
All sessions have been posted on MetNet on the Human Resources page under "Building Diversity". At the bottom of the Building Diversity page, you can also find Human Resources Work Plan to build an equitable workplace (PDF).
LOD’s Learning Institute classes are now open and available for enrollment for the first half of 2021. Preparing for Supervision and Personal Effectiveness certificate classes are open for all employees. Career Enrichment classes are open for all employees unless otherwise noted. Leading Challenging Conversations and the Management certificate classes are available for managers only. You can choose one or all classes in a certificate. To get started, view all class flyers and program information on MetNet.
Click on the Learn Quick Start Guide to register for a certificate or enroll in a class today! Visit the Talent Hub to learn more and access Learn.
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Make a difference in your professional career or in the career of someone else through the 2021 MentoringWorks program. Apply by selecting Be a Mentor or Be a Mentee. For detailed information on the program, please visit MentoringWorks on MetNet or see the flyer for more details. A recorded Information session is available on the site as well. Applications will be accepted throughout 2021.
Who is eligible?
Employees who have passed their probationary period and received a ‘Met Expectations’ or higher on their last performance review, and are not currently on a Performance Improvement Plan, and have their supervisor’s approval. Bus and rail operators, interns, and post-retirement option (PRO), contract or temporary employees are not eligible.
We are nearing the end of our first year using the Perform system. As with all new system implementations, it has been a year of learning and adapting to new ways of interacting with staff, capturing performance related information, and delivering annual performance evaluations which are due Dec. 11.
The Perform team is committed to continuously improving the Perform experience for managers and employees. Feedback on your experience using Perform will be requested soon. A survey will be launched to managers tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 20 seeking feedback and ideas. The survey will help us improve the 2021 process and timelines, so your prompt response to the survey will be greatly appreciated.
The internship program team has been working to prepare for the summer of 2021. This year requests will be done in an online format through the new Internship SharePoint site. All requests will need to be submitted through the site; this also includes any extension as well for those managers that are hoping to extend their current intern.
The internship team will be hosting a 30-minute demo on how to submit your requests and extensions so by the time the request period is open, you can start requesting your interns. We’ll be following up with all hiring managers and supervisors soon with an Outlook invite to attend the demo.
The internship SharePoint site will also contain general information about the internship program as well as updates on timelines and more.
The recording of this year’s event, which took place Nov. 16, is now available. It features photos, videos, and information about the award winners in Community Development, Environmental Services, Metro Transit, Metropolitan Transportation Services, and Regional Administration, and remarks from our leaders, highlighting the accomplishments of this past year.
The event program lists the names of all the awardees, as well.
Thanks for all you do every day to support our work and the people of the Twin Cities region!
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