myHR Archives

myHR: October 28, 2020

November is National Family Caregivers Month

Young woman with mask gently touching shoulder of masked elderly woman.

Caring for a loved one who is older, ill, or disabled is challenging work. That work has become even more difficult as families face new realities of caregiving during the COVID-19 crisis. According to the Caregiver Action Network, caregiving during the pandemic has meant increased financial challenges for some families as well as a need to find new ways to handle doctor’s appointments and feelings of isolation.

Managing caregiving responsibilities can be a stressful task. That’s why Penn offers resources to help you find the support you need. Consider these no-cost options during National Family Caregivers Month:

Sharing the Caregiving: Managing Sibling Disagreements, November 3, 1pm-2pm- Siblings can make caring for an aging parent challenging and stressful. You think mom needs in-home care, your brother wants assisted living and mom doesn’t want help at all. Sound familiar? How can you and your siblings get on the same page, help mom find the right care and not get entangled in simmering past resentments? This webinar will discuss how to create a care team, delegating responsibilities, managing sibling conflict, and coping with your own stress. Register for Sharing the Caregiving.
Caring for the Caregiver During the Pandemic, November 17, 12:30pm-1:30pm – With the outbreak of COVID-19 and the emphasis on the elderly needing to exercise the most caution, more and more caregivers are finding themselves torn between self-care, caring for loved ones, and trying to counter their loved ones’ isolation. This webinar outlines the impact of the pandemic on the elderly and strategies for caring for the caregiver in the midst of this health crisis. It will help participants understand caregiver stress and learn tips and coping strategies for the caregiver as well as isolated family members likely battling loneliness. Register for Caring for the Caregiver During the Pandemic.

Penn also offers the following virtual and in-person support resources to help meet your caregiving needs.

Virtual forums for caregivers facilitated by Penn Memory Center - In 2020, Penn Memory Center began holding virtual caregiver forums in response to the uncertainty and tension caregivers faced during in the COVID-19 pandemic. These forums are aimed at providing a virtual space for caregivers to meet, share experiences and perspectives, and cope with others managing caregiving during the pandemic. Visit the Penn Memory Center website for more information including dates, times, and how to register.
Support groups offered by the Perelman School of Medicine’s Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center – The center hosts a variety of support groups that meet in-person to discuss the challenges and coping methods for living with or caring for someone with Parkinson’s Disease. For more information about the support groups, when and where to meet, and how to register, visit the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center website.

You can contact the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), powered by Health Advocate for assistance. Benefits-eligible Penn faculty and staff – as well as their spouses, dependents, parents, and parents-in-law - can use this service at no cost to you. The EAP provides your family with experts who can provide a number of services, including identifying eldercare, in-home care, assisted living, and long-term care. Call 866-799-2329, Monday-Friday, 8am-10pm to speak with a representative. For emergencies, support is available 24/7.

Through Penn’s partnership with Care.com benefits-eligible faculty and staff can also access a variety of senior care services.

Other Resources

Health Advocate has aggregated resources tailored to unique COVID-19 experiences to help you plan, prepare and respond to your caregiving needs.

For more caregiving tips, visit the Caregiver Action Network website. You can also visit the Caring for Your Family webpage for details about Penn’s dependent care benefits.

Onboard@Penn Will Reopen Soon

Masked woman with headset on computer.

Onboard@Penn, like many Penn offices, suspended onsite operations in March due to COVID-19. On November 9, Onboard@Penn will reopen its doors on Walnut Street for in-person operation. All new hires will be able to visit the office by appointment only, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to complete their Form I-9 in person.

The office will re-open so that new hires returning to work on campus can present Form I-9 Section 2 documentation in person. When Onboard@Penn implemented remote operations eight months ago, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) granted temporary flexibility for new hires allowing them to complete the I-9 process virtually. This flexibility deferred the requirement to inspect original documents in person. This virtual process will continue for new hires working entirely remotely. Everyone else is expected to schedule an appointment at Onboard@Penn to present their original identification and work authorization documents in person.

If you completed the Form I-9 process virtually, you will receive an email from Onboard@Penn with an invitation to make an appointment. If you are still working 100% remotely, you do not need to come to campus at this time.

Please bring the following to your appointment:

Form I-9 Acceptable Documents
A green PennOpen Pass
A face covering

In accordance with COVID-19 safety guidelines, Onboard@Penn staff will ensure that visitors present a green PennOpenn Pass, practice social distancing, wear face coverings, and that the space is cleaned in-between appointments.

If you have questions about the reopening of Onboard@Penn, please contact the Penn Employee Solution Center at solutioncenter@upenn.edu or 215-898-7372.

Love Your Mind

Young man pointing to his temples.

Nearly one adult out of five in the U.S. is living with a mental illness. It’s time to leave the stigma behind and open the door to understanding mental health and access to health care. Whether you’re directly impacted by mental, behavioral, and emotional health issues or you’re interested in developing your awareness; your mind deserves some love and support.

Tending to your mental health is as essential as taking care of your physical health. Fortunately, Penn faculty and staff have ready access to wellness and healthcare benefits to promote mind-body wellness, address immediate issues, and provide behavioral health treatment and support.

“I don’t know whom to call or where to start. I need to talk to someone today.”

For 24/7 service, call Penn’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) at 1-866-799-2329.

Trained behavioral health staff can help direct you to the support you’re looking for. All Penn benefits-eligible faculty and staff have 24/7 access to masters-level intake counselors via the EAP. The EAP offers an array of confidential counseling services to help you manage challenges you are facing. In addition to in-person counseling, options include the use of tele-behavioral health technology for therapy and medication management, video, text and chat.

Counseling is free for you and your immediate family members - your spouse, dependent children, and your parents and parents-in-law. Each family member can receive up to eight free counseling sessions per distinct problem, per fiscal year, from the time of your initial intake. If you exceed this limit, the EAP will make every effort to coordinate services with your existing health insurance. You may be referred to your insurance plan for services, where applicable, before your eight sessions are completed if it is determined that your clinical needs require treatment beyond the short-term scope of EAP.

“What if I can’t make it to an in-person appointment?”

Through tele-behavioral health ‘virtual visits,’ you can eliminate common barriers to accessing behavioral health services. This service assures confidential video conferencing in the privacy of your home. This service also provides you with wider accessibility to care, especially where transportation or physical limitations may hamper receiving treatment. The EAP and behavioral health providers, Aetna, Magellan and Quest offer a few different solutions for virtual visits including Teladoc behavioral health and televideo programs. The technology and services differ by provider.

Tele-behavioral health counseling through the EAP is free for up to eight sessions per issue, fees apply to continue beyond eight sessions. For behavioral health providers, the same costs apply for tele- behavioral health service as in office visits.

“What does my health plan cover?”

Penn’s health plans include behavioral health coverage for you and your enrolled dependents. Here’s how to select a provider within your available network:

Step 1: Identify which plan you are enrolled in. Log in to Workday, select Benefits, then Benefit Elections.

Step 2: Locate a provider by selecting the link for your health plan below and following the prompts for provider listings.

PennCare/Personal Choice PPO: Coverage provided through Quest.
Aetna Choice POS II: Coverage provided through Aetna's behavioral health network.
Keystone/AmeriHealth HMO: Coverage provided through Magellan Health Services.
Aetna High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) with a Health Savings Account (HSA): Coverage provided through Aetna's behavioral health network.

You can also call Health Advocate for guidance at 1-866-799-2329.

“What can I do to foster mental health?”

To help you develop mental health awareness and resilience, Penn’s wellness and work-life team offers a range of personal development programs to support physical, emotional, and community health. For example, on October 29 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., Listening Well During the 2020 Election: Encountering Ideological Difference with Empathy and Intellectual Humility. This free workshop is co-sponsored by Penn’s SNF Paideia Program and presented by Batsirai Bvunzawabaya, Associate Director for Outreach and Prevention, at Penn’s Counseling and Psychological Services. In this workshop we will examine this political moment, listening, empathy, intellectual humility as well as how people change. We will learn wellness techniques that can enhance any conversation but can most especially be applied during this contentious election season.

For more information about wellness, visit Penn’s Wellness & Work-Life pages for faculty and staff.

Becoming Stronger Than Before

Smiling Black woman with arms outstretched in brightly lit room.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “there are no gains without pains.” Franklin was talking about how challenging times can make us stronger, more resilient individuals. As the world continues to navigate life through a global pandemic, the concept of resilience and how to achieve it is top of mind for many people. Learn how you can bounce back even higher than before at the virtual workshop, Radical Resilience: Ideas for Sustainable Life Balance, November 18, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

In this interactive workshop, facilitator Amma Napier will discuss the term “anti-fragile,” which coined by New York University professor Nassim Nicholas Taleb takes the idea of resilience to the next level by asserting that there are conditions whereby we are not only able to bounce back, but we become even stronger as a result.

“Health and happiness are inextricably tied together and now more than ever we live in tentative circumstances in which everyone is stressed about something. Whether it is concern about social justice, the impact of the pandemic, or the unstable state of our nation, we are affected in some way and it affects our work, our relationships, and our health,” says Napier, Senior Talent Development Consultant, HR Talent Development.

“Finding strategies to strengthen the bones of our spirit, and to feed the things that make us stronger is what becoming anti-fragile means,” she says.

In the workshop participants will be given tools to increase their ability to be super-resilient and learn the three areas that help create conditions for anti-fragility:

Permission to be Human. This refers to the need to recognize emotions, whether anxiety or gratitude. We must embrace difficult emotions in order to feel the positive ones. When we reject negative emotions, they grow stronger and we block the positive ones. We can deal with the entire spectrum of our emotions by crying, if needed, writing about them, or talking to someone about them.
Dealing with Stress. What allows us to continue to be energized even in the face of stress is the ability to allow time to recover from it. This applies to both physical and emotional stress and affects our mental and physical health. You can become energized through recovery by doing some simple things such as taking a walk to get away from a stressful situation, getting a good night’s sleep, or taking a day off.
Relationships. A Harvard study that followed 700 individuals for 75 years found that the number one predictor of happiness and the number one predictor of health is relationships. These relationships can be with a partner, friend, extended family member, colleague, or someone else. Relationships should be close, intimate, supportive, and healthy. Even though living during COVID-19 has meant forming and maintaining relationships virtually, that’s okay, too, as long as the connections are deep, allowing each party to really talk about things that are important.

Register today for Radical Resilience: Ideas for Sustainable Life Balance and come out of difficult times empowered and ready to move forward.

For more professional development programs, visit the Learn & Grow section of the Human Resources website.

Paid Time Off for Poll Workers

Young masked poll worker receiving a ballot from masked voter.

In less than one week, many registered voters will head to the polls to cast their ballots in the 2020 presidential election. If you have ever voted in-person, a poll worker assisted you in getting checked in and directing you to a booth to cast your vote. There has been a shortage of poll workers this election season as many have decided not to volunteer due to COVID-19 concerns. As a result, there is a nationwide effort underway to recruit poll workers for Election Day, and Penn has announced a way to make it easier for you to engage in this civic duty without a change in status or loss of pay.

In a one-time initiative, Penn is offering administrative time off to regular staff members who serve as nonpartisan, certified polling place workers on Tuesday, November 3. To serve as a polling place worker, you must have an active voter registration, receive advance preparation and training, and commit to 15 hours of work on Election Day.

If you would like to take advantage of this one-time initiative, you must use the Request Time Off process in Workday before Friday, October 30. The type of time off requested should be “Jury Duty Time Off.” Staff members who intend to participate in the program should obtain supervisory approval in advance and be prepared to verify their service to their supervisors.

Staff members who intend to serve in other nonpartisan volunteer positions, in paid or volunteer partisan positions, or as campaign workers, early-voting processors, mail-in ballot counters, polling place watchers, or Ward/Committee assignees should arrange for the use of Paid Time Off in the usual way.

Penn is committed to helping staff that want to work the polls on Election Day. The University also encourages supervisors to extend flexibility to staff in order to allow time to vote on November 3. In Pennsylvania, polling places open at 7 a.m. and lines close at 8 p.m.

If you have any questions about paid time off for poll workers, please contact Jeff Rowland at jrow@upenn.edu

Healthy Meals: Mushroom-Potato Tacos with Scallion Relish

Mushroom-potato tacos with scallion relish. These crispy mushroom-potato tacos are a healthy vegetarian alternative to traditional tacos. Use any leafy green such as kale or spinach for a nice contrasting crunch. Top with delicious scallion relish for the perfect flavorful finish.

Find the recipe here.

Click here to send us your healthy recipes and tips.

Did You Know: GSE's Educators Playbook Tips for Families

Looking for fresh educational ideas for k-12 youth? Visit The Educator’s Playbook, the Penn Graduate School of Education (GSE) online guide for putting GSE research into practice for parents and educators. You’ll find fun, practical articles like 14 activities for building literacy at home, with learning experiences you can share in any location. Visit www.gse.upenn.edu/news/educators-playbook for details.