Employee News - Aug. 17

A service of the King County Department of Human Resources

King County Employee News

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Highlights

Performance Excellence Awards

Congratulations to the 2020 Executive’s Performance Excellence Awards honorees

Several King County leaders today announced the honorees for the 2020 Executive’s Performance Excellence Awards in a series of video announcements, recognizing employees and teams for their exceptional contributions to performance, leadership, service, and innovation to better serve our citizens.

Read the full announcement and watch the video


masked office worker

All employees and visitors must wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status

All people are required to wear masks when indoors in all King County buildings, facilities, structures, and vehicles, effective Tuesday, August 17. The directive applies to employees and all persons entering county facilities including all members of the public, contractors, volunteers, and others entering county facilities.

Click here to read more about the employee mask policy.


Vaccine male nurse female patient

Get vaccinated against COVID-19 at pop-up clinics

King County employees, their families and friends can get vaccinated at one of several upcoming pop-up vaccine clinics hosted by King County Metro in partnership with Public Health - Seattle & King County and their partner Discovery Health.

Click here for details on times and locations. 


All non-essential work-related travel should be cancelled

King County Executive Branch employees should not be participating in any non-essential work-related travel while we continue to fight the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.

All non-essential work-related travel should be cancelled at this time. This includes previously approved travel. Essential travel is permitted for fully vaccinated employees, but must be approved prior to travel.

Travel is essential if it is required to support critical life, health, and safety functions and cannot be delayed or handled remotely. These exceptions will be rare and must be approved by both the employee’s department director and the Chief People Officer.

For more information, please contact your department’s Human Resources Manager.


Farmland

County invests in local food economy with plan to protect 13,500 acres of farmland

As part of the Land Conservation Initiative, King County Executive Dow Constantine has announced a commitment to protecting 13,500 acres of farmland that the growing region will need to sustain a local food economy, promoting equitable access to nutritious, locally grown goods.

Many of the fresh goods that residents purchase at farmers markets, groceries, and restaurants today are grown on farmland that King County has protected with its successful Farmland Preservation Program. The Land Conservation Initiative helps ensure that future generations have equitable access to nutritious, locally grown food as the population grows and the cost of land rises. 

See the full story here.


Employee Spotlights

Mechanic Heavy Duty

Fleet Services among top 50 in the country

King County’s own Fleet Services was recently named among the top 50 leading fleets for 2021 by Government Fleet magazine.

“Our Fleet Services team was pleased to learn that our division made the cut this year,” said Jennifer Lindwall, Director of Fleet. “King County Fleet has consistently been named a Leading Fleet or among the ‘top 50’ fleets for five of the last seven years.”

Read the full story here.


Announcements

Family Reunification Day 2021

Family Reunification Day honors the love and hard work that keeps families together

The majority of parents who have a child removed by Child Protective Services and placed in foster care in King County are reunited with them. King County will celebrate this joyous outcome at Family Reunification Day on August 20.

“I’m grateful for this chance to honor the love and hard work of families, community members, and our team here at the court,” said King County Superior Court Judge Marshall Ferguson. “Every family’s journey is uniquely challenging. It is a joy to be able to celebrate their triumphs with them.”

Click here to read more about this special event. All are invited to attend.

  • Friday, Aug. 20, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. 
  • Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center, 1211 E. Alder Street in Seattle 

canoe sunset

Balanced You Coffee Connections: Summer Vacation

Fall is fast approaching and Balanced You wants to know what you did for your summer! Many of us had a few fun getaways this summer and many are scrambling to figure out that last minute vacation spot before the end of summer.

Join us for the next Balanced You Coffee Connections; the theme will be "Your summer vacation/End of summer plans." Bring pictures and fun items you collected while on your recent vacation or share where you are planning to go with colleagues during this 30-minute fun conversation.


mindfulness script

Upcoming Mindfulness Classes

Balanced You partners with Mindfulness Northwest to offer free classes to King County employees. Mindfulness is a practice that can support you in reducing stress, and bringing awareness and compassion to the present moment. All classes are free for King County employees and held on Zoom.

Mindful Approach to Pandemic Fatigue. Are you feeling exhausted, anxious, overwhelmed? Join us to find out how mindfulness can help.

Meeting Anxiety with Mindfulness. With a warm, supportive teacher, we'll try some simple practices that help reduce stress, depression, and anxiety.

See full Mindfulness class schedule here.


Hands

Anti-Racist White Action Group meeting, Aug. 24

This article is written for white-identifying King County employees interested in learning about promoting anti-racism.

Are you interested in learning what you can do to make King County a more racially just and welcoming place? Do you want to stronger skills to advance institutional change?  Do you want to learn about efforts now underway? Join the Anti-Racist White Action Group (ARWAG) for our next meeting:

  • Tuesday,  Aug. 24 from 12 to 1:30 p.m.
  • To join and request the Zoom link, please contact ARWAG@kingcounty.gov

If you’re new to ARWAG, you’re also welcome to the pre-function/orientation at 11:45 a.m. at the same Zoom link.

The Anti-Racist White Action Group, an official county affinity group, meets regularly on the fourth Tuesday of most months at noon.


VMAG logo

Veterans and Military Affinity Group monthly meeting

The King County Veterans and Military Affinity Group (V-MAG) monthly meeting will feature a presentation on Personal and Public Safety in Urban Environments by the Seattle Police Department Crime Prevention Unit. This presentation is open to all King County employees.


Training Spotlight

Staying Steady – Online – From our Leading the Way series. As leaders we are often balancing multiple priorities and demands. This year has been especially difficult in finding ways to stay steady ourselves and ensure the wellbeing of our teams, especially as we continue with Future of Work planning, re-entry anxiety at home/work, and racism as a public health crisis. Join us for an interactive session that focuses on prioritizing your wellbeing as a leader and supporting your team with strategies to build a sense of stability and resiliency, to work more effectively. Sessions are free and are offered monthly. The next session will be:

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


Project Manager graphic

Featured Job: ITFM Functional Analyst

Salary: $86,840.00 - $110,073.60 Annually

Location: Seattle, WA

Job Type: Special Duty Assignment or Term Limited Temp (TLT)

Department: KCIT - Information Technology

Job Number: 2021-14030

Division: Office of the CIO

Closes: Aug. 22

As the IT Financial Management Functional Analyst for King County IT, you can lead the charge for groundbreaking automation and modernization. These efforts provide improved financial reporting, forecasting, budget and rate development for KCIT and the County.

Learn more about this position or view all available positions


King County Headlines

Street and sidewalk closures around City Hall Park

Executive Constantine statement on Afghanistan humanitarian crisis

Delta Days - a new comic by Meredith Li-Vollmer on Public Health Insider

Looking for back issues?

Click here for previous editions of the Employee News e-newsletter going back to 2019.

Contact us!

Interested in sharing a news story, or have a news tip? Click here to submit an item to Employee News. For questions or suggestions, please contact KCEmployees@kingcounty.gov.