Employee News - Aug. 26

A service of the King County Department of Human Resources

final

 PRINT THIS EMAIL

Highlights

Vaccine shot

Get vaccinated Aug. 30 at King Street Center pop-up clinic; more clinics scheduled

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.

Discovery Health will be administering all three vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson) and will return to a King County worksite location to administer the second dose or you can obtain your second dose at a location in your community after the appropriate amount of time.

Walk-ins are welcome, but you can also schedule an appointment for your preferred vaccine.

Click here for details on times and locations of other pop-up clinics. 


Vaccine drive thru

What is the benefit of getting a COVID-19 vaccine? 

Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is not only important in protecting you from contracting the virus, but you are also helping to protect your family, friends, co-workers, and customers, especially those who may be at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 and those who cannot be vaccinated.

The vaccine will help keep you from getting sick or seriously ill with COVID-19. It protects you by teaching your body’s immune system to fight the virus without having to experience a COVID-19 infection. In the clinical trials, the COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available were found to be highly effective in protecting people from COVID-19.

Read more here about the benefits of getting vaccinated. 


Dr Michele Andrasik

COVID-19  Vaccine Q&A with Dr. Michele Andrasik from Fred Hutch

Join Dr. Michele Andrasik, Senior Staff Scientist at Fred Hutchinson, for an in-depth overview of the COVID-19 vaccines safety and efficacy. The information provided will assist attendees in their efforts to make informed decisions to protect themselves, their families and their communities from COVID-19. A 20-minute presentation will be followed by a 40-minute anonymous Q&A session.

Dr. Andrasik is a clinical health psychologist working to build and enhance partnerships with marginalized communities in clinical research, with a focus on ongoing vaccine trials for HIV and COVID-19. 

  • Thursday, Sept. 9 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
  • Click this link to join the webinar 
  • Please sign in to Zoom as ‘Anonymous’ for questions to stay anonymous.

Employee Spotlights

Excellence Award 2020

2020 Innovation Award for Cost honorees

The Department of Executive Services and Office of Risk Management worked together to save King County residents $97 million in a settlement for the cleanup of the Lower Duwamish.

These honorees have considered challenges within their delivery of services to King County residents, and developed solutions that address an important need. Through the True North values of “We solve problems” and “We drive for results,” these honorees met each challenge in a creative and forward-thinking manner.

Read more about this award here and link to the video announcement.


Announcements

The key dates to start your vaccine schedule

Vaccine video

All King County Executive branch employees must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18, 2021, and there are some important dates you need to know to meet this requirement.

We’ve put together a short 90-second video that outlines the key dates for the three approved vaccines – Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson – and when you’ll need to start the vaccine schedule to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18, 2021.

Watch the video here.


Vaccine card

How to provide verification of vaccine status

King County recently updated its requirements for wearing masks for Executive Branch employees and launched a new process to voluntarily provide vaccination information for verification.

If you choose to do so, you have a couple of options for providing proof that you are fully vaccinated:

  • Initiating the COVID-19 Vaccination Declaration process through your NEOGOV Dashboard (click on Dashboard > Forms > COVID-19 Vaccination Declaration) and attaching a copy of an official document, OR
  • Showing one of the following to an HR professional or other designated department representative:
    • your actual vaccination card, or a photo or a copy of it,
    • a copy of your state vaccine record, or
    • a verified medical record.

Find out more here.


PeopleSoft

PeopleSoft HCM Outage Notice

To allow for system maintenance, the PeopleSoft system will not be available this weekend, August 27-29.

During this planned outage, the Business Resource Center (BRC) will be performing infrastructure updates.

This work will begin on Friday, Aug. 27 at 3 p.m. and is scheduled to be completed by 6:30 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 30.

The system will not be available for access by any County staff during this outage window. There will be a communication sent out to all County staff when the system becomes available.

We realize that this outage impacts all PeopleSoft users and we appreciate your understanding and support.


Inquest headshots

Learn about King County’s Inquest Program

Did you know that King County is the only county in the U.S. with a charter that mandates inquests?

The King County Inquest Program is an administrative, fact-finding inquiry into the manner, facts, and circumstances of a death at the hands of law enforcement.

This 16-minute video recording from the Anti-Racist White Action Group (ARWAG) meeting discussing the Inquest Program is now available. Watch to learn more about its significance, and how the Inquest Program affects racial justice.

Featured speakers are Calli Knight, Director of External Relations in King County Executive’s Office, and Gail Stone, Law and Justice Policy Advisor in Performance, Strategy and Budget.


teens school

Back to School Discounts

King County employees have access to a variety of discount programs, providing savings on everything from electronics to travel to entertainment. Here are a few great deals for the fall season!

  • Dell PCs and electronics. Get 12% off sitewide PCs and select Dell branded electronics with code SAVE12 in addition to. Sale ends Sunday, Aug.29. Coupon can be combined with other sales events for even more savings. Member ID for King County is SS18360128.
  • Washington State Fair: Employees can save on tickets to the Washington State Fair, Sept. 3-26Click here for instructions on how to purchase your discount tickets. Once you log in to the Corporate Perks portal, your discount pricing will be unlocked. There is no need to enter an additional discount code.
  • University of Washington football is offering discounted tickets to three Local Government Appreciation games. Click here for more information about these discounts..

See all available employee discounts at www.kingcounty.gov/employeediscounts


Fall recipes

Coffee Connections: Fall Recipes

Take a break out of your day to connect with new people! Balanced You will be hosting Coffee Connections every other Wednesday through the end of 2021 to help battle the social isolation some may feel from remote work.

Join us for the next Coffee Connections where we’ll chat about fall recipes. What are your favorite recipes once the weather starts getting cooler? Do you have a favorite seasonal fall ingredient? What is your comfort food? Bring your lunch and join this 30 minute fun conversation.


Training Spotlight

Equity and Leadership – Online – Created in partnership with the Office of Equity and Social Justice, Equity and Leadership is designed to support participants’ ability to recognize the role that race and racism have on disparities in our workforce and to understand the responsibility for people leaders to create racially equitable work environments for their teams. Sessions are free and are offered monthly. The next session will be held:


Security Tips: Vishing

Cybercriminals not only use the internet and email to gain access to sensitive information, they use telephones to their unlawful advantage. Vishing is the term for criminal attempts to influence action or gain confidential information over the phone using social engineering.

How it works:
Criminals have the ability to call from a blocked, “spoofed,” or private number, making it easier to pose as a fellow employee, an authority figure, or any person or organization that you would commonly interact with.

Any information regarding the processes or technologies a company uses would assist in a breach of an organization. Information that you may not consider very sensitive, such as employee names, titles, or ID numbers, could certainly help these criminals.

Remember to stop, look, and think before answering unfamiliar numbers, or before calling phone numbers you see in emails, internet ads, or pop-ups.

If you have any questions, please contact kcitcsat@kingcounty.gov.


POTW Ariya lying down

Pet of the Week: Ariya

Hi, my name is Ariya and I'm available for adoption! I'm an affection lady, that loves getting attention on my own terms. I would appreciate a family that will give me the space I need, and with time, I will be a very devoted friend!

You can find out more about me and my other friends on our website at www.kingcounty.gov/adoptapet.  Note that 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.


KC logo

Featured Job: Paralegal - Economic Crimes Unit

Salary: $30.67 - $38.88 Hourly 

Location: Seattle, WA 

Job Type: Regular, Full time, 35 hrs/week 

Department: Prosecuting Attorneys Office 

Job Number: 2021-14085

Closing: Aug 30

The Economic Crimes Unit handles property and economic crimes committed in King County. Paralegals are the pillars holding up the ECU’s dedication to justice. Beginning your public sector career and working on unique & complex cases starts with your application!

Learn more about this position or view all available positions.


KC Headlines

Imagining and creating a new economy - Cross-posted from Best Starts for Kids

What we need is action: Reflections on King County’s pandemic response - Cross-posted from Public Health Insider


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.