Executive Constantine's proclamation recognizes March as Women's History Month
King County Executive Dow Constantine has issued a Proclamation for Women’s History Month encouraging all King County residents to honor the "historic and central roles that women of every race, class, and ethnic background hold every day that are essential to the progress of our County and nation."
Read the full proclamation here.
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Have your say in the 2021 Employee Survey
More than one quarter of eligible employees have already completed the 2021 Employee Engagement Survey and let County leaders know about their experiences at King County.
As of Thursday morning, March 11, more than 27% of participating employees have completed the survey. You can see a complete breakdown of participation rates here.
If you haven’t completed the survey, look in your King County inbox for an email from KC Employee Survey (kcemployeesurvey@us.confirmit.com) with the subject line “Welcome to the King County 2021 Employee Survey.” Read more here.
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Appearance of variants in King County reinforces need to stay vigilant
According to Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer, Public Heath – Seattle & King County, now is not the time to let our guard down about measures to reduce the risks of COVID-19. In his February 23 Public Insider Health blog post, he said:
"COVID-19 is threatening us in new ways, and we need to rise to the challenge. The B.1.1.7 variant can spread more readily and B.1.351 viruses might reduce vaccine effectiveness. For these reasons we need to continue to do all we can to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and push our case rates as low as possible."
Mask fit tips: New guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) includes ways to increase the protection that masks can provide. Wearing a mask is an important safety step in preventing the transmission of COVID-19, so make sure you are wearing your mask correctly. Review the guidance attached for improving mask fit. Keep yourselves and those you care about safer by following this new CDC guidance.
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Daylight Saving Time begins this weekend
Remember to move your clock forward one hour this weekend. Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday morning at
2 a.m.
Daylight Saving Time in Washington will be in effect from
2 a.m. on Sunday, March 14, until 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021.
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Sleep Health for Daylight Saving Time
Sleep can be elusive for so many of us, especially during times of extra stress and anxiety. With Daylight Saving Time here, Balanced You wants to share tips and resources that will be helpful in supporting your sleep health.
Making Life Easier (MLE) has a Sleep Health resource page that is free to King County employees.
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Log in here and enter ‘kingcounty’ as your user name.
- Navigate to ‘Wellness Tools’ and click on ‘Sleep Health’
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Free Virtual Mindfulness Class: Mindful Eating
Mindful Eating brings mindfulness to food choice and the experience of eating. Mindful eating helps us become aware of our thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations related to eating, reconnecting us with our innate inner wisdom about hunger and satiety.
We’ll explore mindfulness and how its application to eating helps us become wiser and more joyful in our approach to eating.
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Register for account with your medical plan provider
Creating an account with your medical plan provider gets you access to useful online tools and resources.
Kaiser Permanente members: If you haven’t already registered for Kaiser Permanente’s online services, we encourage you to do that at www.kp.org/wa/register. You can also use the Kaiser Permanente Washington mobile app to register for an online account: www.kp.org/wa/mobile. Once you’ve registered, you’ll have access to many convenient features, including starting an e-visit to schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccination (upon eligibility).
KingCare and KingCare Select (Regence): With a Regence account, you can access your specific benefits, look for doctors in your network and even estimate costs based on your coverage. Sign up at www.regence.com/member/registration, or download the convenient Regence mobile app, available for iPhone and Android.
Career Support Services
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STAR-LA Interview Practice and Feedback – This one-hour VIRTUAL, small group workshop is designed to provide mock interview practice and feedback using the STAR-LA method as taught by King County Career Support Services. This workshop is ideal for participants who have attended the Strategic Interviewing Tips and Techniques workshop or have watched the 10 minute STAR-LA method video found on the Career Support Services website.
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Creating Effective Application Materials – This two-hour virtual workshop will provide you tips and strategies on how to make your application materials stand out. Learning objectives include:
- Understanding the purpose of the job application, resume, cover letter and supplemental questions and how to make each of them more effective
- Deciding what to include in your resume and the best format to showcase your qualifications
- How to write a cover letter tailored to the specific position
- Identifying and showcasing your accomplishments
- Thursday, March 25 from 1-3 p.m.
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Register here
For additional online workshops offered by King County Career Support Services (CSS), visit their Eventbrite page. For more information about CSS along with links to career related tips and resources, visit www.kingcounty.gov/CSS.
Training Spotlight
Hour of Mindfulness for Employee COVID-19 Responders – Online
In this one-hour workshop, we will review the various aspects of mindfulness practice, the ways mindfulness can help reduce stress, reactivity and burnout, and the science that supports the practices. The workshop includes hands-on learning of several simple but effective mindfulness practices that participants can put to use in their lives right now. This class is free and takes place on:
Please visit our King County Eventbrite website and our Learning and Development website for more learning opportunities. For more information, contact the Learning and Development Team at KCTraining@kingcounty.gov or visit Learning and Development at www.kingcounty.gov/learning.
Tech Tip
King County Security Tips - Hovering over links
How can you tell if an email is safe? Even if you catch red flags in an email, such as typos or poor grammar, an urgent demeanor, or even a spoofed domain, how can you truly decipher the safety of an email?
An immediate step you can take is to watch out for one of the most critical tell-tale signs of a phishing email—a mismatched or fake URL.
Why is hovering important? What can it do for you? Hovering not only allows you a moment to think before proceeding, it allows you the opportunity to see where a link is going to redirect you. This is especially important because not all links lead to where they appear, or insinuate they'll go. When you hover, check for the following to ensure you're staying safe and secure:
- If the email appears to be coming from a company, does the hover link match the website of the sender?
- Does link have a misspelling of a well-known website (Such as Micorsoft.com)?
- Does the link redirect to a suspicious external domain appearing to look like the sender’s domain(for example, micorsoft-support.com rather than microsoft.com)?
- Does the hover link show a URL that does not match where the context of the email claims it will take you?
- Do you recognize the link’s address or did you even expect to receive the link?
- Did you receive a blank email with long hyperlinks and no further information or context?
If you notice anything about the email that alarms you, do not click links, open attachments, or even reply. If everything seems okay, but you're still not sure–verify! Ask your IT team or leadership if the email is legitimate before proceeding. Remember, you are the last line of defense to prevent cyber criminals from succeeding and making you or King County susceptible to an attack.
Pet of the Week: Hilda
Hi! My name is Hilda and I am available for adoption. I am a sweet and gentle older lady (about 10 years old) that would enjoy a nice, quiet home to retire in.
I am calm and love being petted, especially on my neck and chin. I prefer to not be around other cats, that way I can have all of the attention to myself!
You can find out more about me and my other friends on our website at www.kingcounty.gov/adoptapet. RASKC has moved to adoptions by appointment only. If you have more questions, you can contact RASKC via phone at 206-296-7387 (PETS) or email pets@kingcounty.gov.
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Featured Job: Veterinary Technician
Salary: $21.73 - $27.55/hr
Location: Kent, WA
Job Type: Special Duty Assignment or Term Limited Temp (TLT)
Department: DES - Executive Services
Job Number: 2021SG12892
Division: RALS - Records & Licensing Svc
Closes: March 21
Position works closely with the veterinarians onsite; prep animals for surgery; provide medical care; assist with technical procedures; requires a passion for shelter pets.
Learn more about this position or view all available positions.
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King County Headlines
King County Elections to host virtual candidate workshops
Seattle and King County to bore 2.7 mile tunnel from Wallingford to Ballard
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