myHR Archives

myHR: January 16, 2025

Grow Your Penn Career

hands cupping seeding and soil For many, the New Year means new goals and experiences that sharpen your skills and help you explore career opportunities. Penn Human Resources presents a series of articles to help you develop professional goals matched to your talents, interests, and ambitions. The series is called Grow Your Penn Career.

In this first installment, we’ve gathered a list of amazing resources you can explore in 2025 and beyond:

One way to prioritize your career growth in 2025 is to use the tools Workday offers, including keeping your Workday career profile up to date. Your Workday career profile is like your LinkedIn profile and other professional sites, listing your skills, experience, training, and interests. The content of your Workday career profile can help nurture your professional growth and take your career to the next level. Workday may use the information in your career profile to suggest training opportunities, recommend skill development, and alert you to job postings that align with your specific skillset and experience.

For step-by-step instructions for setting up your profile, read the Self-Service: Your Career Profile tip sheet. If you need additional help, please call the Penn Employee Solution Center at 215-898-7372 or submit a help ticket online.

In future articles in this series, we will focus on other ways to take advantage of Penn’s resources, including Workday, to help you cultivate your Penn career.

New Year, New Beneficiaries?

close up of placing engagement ring on finger Recent celebrations and gatherings with loved ones remind us how much we care for those close to us. They also reveal how families change, and those changes sometimes require practical actions. If you’ve recently experienced a life event such as a marriage, divorce, adoption, or birth, it’s time for you to update your Penn life insurance and retirement plan beneficiary designations.

By properly designating beneficiaries, you gain peace of mind knowing your loved ones will receive the money you want them to have. If you don’t, the money you intend to leave them could instead go to your estate and be distributed as part of probate proceedings. Probate can be time-consuming and stressful for your next of kin.

Designations for your retirement plans and life insurance do not apply to each other. However, the process is made simple using the Workday@Penn portal and the TIAA.org log in for Penn faculty and staff.

How to Check and Update Your Life Insurance Beneficiary

With the Workday@Penn portal, reviewing and updating your insurance beneficiary information only takes a few minutes. You may update your life insurance beneficiary at any time. If you have not selected a life insurance beneficiary or need to update an existing designation, log in to Workday and follow these steps:*

Open the menu at the top left of the Workday homepage
Navigate to your Benefits, Comp and Pay Hub
Select Benefits from the menu, then select Beneficiaries to access details and editing functions.

For full instructions, please see the Workday@Penn Manage, View, and Change Your Benefits tip sheet.

If you have questions about updating your life insurance beneficiary designations in Workday or need other assistance, you can also call the Penn Benefits Solution Center at Health Advocate at 866-799-2329, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-10 p.m. ET.

How to Check and Update Your Retirement Plan Beneficiary

To update your retirement plan beneficiary, log in to TIAA.org to see your account summary. Here’s one way to navigate to the beneficiaries management section of the TIAA site:*

Select the Accounts drop-down menu link at the top of the screen.
Under Your Accounts, click Retirement.
Click the Beneficiaries button near the top of the page.
Under Manage your beneficiaries, select the Beneficiaries tab.
To edit or remove a beneficiary, click the three-dot button next to their name.

Remember that for your retirement plan accounts you must make beneficiary designations for each contract under each of the three plans – Basic, Matching, and Supplemental. Any contracts without a beneficiary designation will default to your estate.

If you need help updating your retirement plan beneficiaries, please contact the TIAA Retirement Call Center at 877-736-6738.

For more details about updating beneficiaries for your retirement plans, visit the Designating Your Beneficiaries web page.

*Benefit service providers may revise their website occasionally, so these steps could change. If you need help, please contact the service providers listed above.

**More Be in the Know Biometric Screening Options**

clinic blood pressure check Completing a biometric screening is an essential step for the Be in the Know 2024-2025 wellness campaign, which is open to all benefits-eligible faculty and staff, plus postdoctoral researchers and fellows eligible for the Penn Postdoc Benefits Plan.

The biometric screening is the only activity required to receive Rewards Cash this year. These free screenings also provide you with key indicators about your health and professional feedback on the meaning of your results.

If you couldn’t attend an on-campus biometric screening last fall, there are other ways to earn biometric screening credit for Be in the Know 2024-2025 campaign year. These convenient choices are available to fit busy schedules:

Submit screening results from your healthcare provider: Obtain a screening between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025. Download the Consent to Release Results form, then follow the instructions to submit your confidential results to Health Advocate.

Two Labcorp options are available through Personify Health (formerly Virgin Pulse). You can complete a screening at a Labcorp service center or receive a home test kit. Just log in to the Personify Health wellness platform, go to the Programs tab and select the Biometric Screenings Options, 2024-2025 link. Next click the START NOW button and choose one of the following:

To schedule a free Labcorp service center screening:
Under Labcorp Patient Service Center, click Schedule Appointment then follow the prompts.
To request a free home test kit:
Under Labcorp OnDemand Home Test, click Continue then follow the prompts.

For all biometric screening options, Health Advocate will automatically send credit to the Personify Health wellness platform — and you’ll earn $75 in Rewards Cash! Please allow 2 to 3 weeks for credit and rewards to appear on your Personify Health rewards tracker.

To earn rewards for the 2024-2025 campaign year, we recommend completing your screening orders and submissions by June 1, 2025.

If you’ve received credit for a biometric screening during this campaign year, you won’t need to complete another one until the campaign launches on July 1, 2025.

For complete Be in the Know 2024-2025 campaign details, including more ways to support your health and earn rewards, visit www.hr.upenn.edu/beintheknow.

Support in the Wake of Disaster

firefighting helicopter drops flame replant over CA burning landscape If you, your colleagues, or your loved ones have been affected by the wildfires in California and other recent weather-related emergencies, the University of Pennsylvania extends its support as you manage the range of challenges and emotions in the wake of these disasters.

Your Penn Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available for all employees who need help coping with the wildfires in California. Penn EAP services, delivered by Health Advocate, include unlimited telephonic and online support, in addition to access to up to eight free sessions with a licensed clinician.

The Penn EAP has prepared resources to help you, such as these guides to national services and available local and regional shelters and organizations that can provide aid to you and your family.

Health Advocate can also assist you and your family with accessing prescription medication, insurance questions, and other healthcare and recovery management issues. These resources are available to you and your family 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Contact Penn EAP

Call: 1-866-799-2329
Schedule an EAP appointment through Penn Cobalt
Email: EAPinfo@healthadvocate.com
Visit: www.healthadvocate.com (PennKey)

A New Year of Wellness with Personify Health

Virgin Pulse, Penn’s wellness platform partner, is now Personify Health. Be in the Know wellness campaign participants will see the new name and logo on the platform site, emails, and the wellness mobile app. You have access to the same programs and services to support your well-being in the new year.

This rebranding has no impact on the 2024-2025 Be in the Know campaign. The Ways to Earn activities, points, rewards, and wellness platform offerings are still in place. Participants will continue to have access to Be in the Know health and well-being programs and resources – plus your current campaign progress (including earned points and rewards) and full account history will remain the same.

When you log in to the Virgin Pulse platform, you will be re-directed to the new Personify Health site. Please bookmark this page for future use.

Pulse Cash is now called Rewards Cash. You can continue earning and redeeming rewards. You will keep any 2024-2025 Be in the Know campaign progress, earned points, and reward amounts.

If you need assistance, contact the Personify Health Member Services team using any of these options:

Select the question mark chat bubble on the log in page to chat with their Member Services team.
If you are logged in to the platform, click the Support button at the top of the platform for live chat service (Monday-Friday, 2am-9pm ET.)
Review web support information at: https://personifyhealth.zendesk.com/hc/en-us
Call Member Services at 855-920-2290 (Monday-Friday, 8am-9pm, ET.)

We encourage you to continue focusing on your health and well-being goals with Personify Health throughout the remaining 2024-2025 Be in the Know campaign year.

Healthy Meals: Winter Fruit Salad

winter fruit salad This crisp, flavorful salad combines nutrient-rich romaine, winter fruits, and cashews for a wholesome meal or side dish. Packed with vitamins, fiber, and healthy fats, it offers a natural energy boost. The simple poppy seed dressing comes together in minutes, making it a perfect, time-saving way to avoid processed food.

Click here to send us your healthy recipes and tips.

Ingredients:

Salad:

1 head romaine lettuce
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup cashews
1 Ambrosia apple, peeled, cored, sliced
1 pear, peeled, cored, sliced
1/2 cup craisins

Dressing:

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon minced onion
1 teaspoon mustard

Directions:

Combine the sugar, lemon juice, onion, mustard, and salt in a blender or food processor.
Process until well blended. With machine still running, add oil in a slow, steady stream until mixture is thick and smooth.
Add poppy seeds, and process just a few seconds more to mix.
Set dressing aside for a while for flavors to blend.
Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl.
Pour dressing over salad just before serving and toss to coat.

Meet With a Registered Dietitian Today!

One-on-One, virtual sessions you can schedule at any time that works for you
100% covered under many insurance plans
Available to spouses and dependents
Fill out the Ramp Health Nutrition Counseling Sign Up Form or call 800-484-7720.

Did You Know: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service Opportunities

Each year, during the month of January, the University of Pennsylvania and our surrounding communities come together to commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This commemoration includes a day of service on our campus and in the Philadelphia community on Monday, January 20 and continues with programming and events through February 7. Read the Events-At-A-Glance for a full list of MLK Symposium Events.