Welcome to the November 2016 Q&A.
This is our monthly installment addressing questions and suggestions received through the online suggestion box (top menu bar on the intranet). We respond to questions with agency-wide relevance, and we cannot answer questions that may affect client or staff/personnel confidentiality protections.
Some questions/suggestions are summarized or simplified in the interest of clarity, brevity or to address tone.
Some questions require more time to answer than is available or are received after we started drafting this Q&A, so missed this installment. We’ll work to address them in later installments.
Suggestions/Questions list
- Technology frequently asked questions (FAQs)
- Parental Leave
- Policy regarding dogs in the office
Suggestion/Question: Technology frequently asked questions (FAQs)
The IT department must get some of the same questions over and over again. You also know things that we would probably be excited to know. For example, last month you posted that tip about how to send a fax from your computer. That is unbelievably helpful! Thank you.
I was hoping you might be able to post an FAQ so that we can look up how to solve some of our simple problems. Maybe it exists somewhere and I just don’t know where it is. One example is that I just had to replace my cell phone and can’t remember how I set up email on my phone the first time. There are always little things like this that it would be easier for those of us who have a little bit of tech skill to look up than to call you about and I imagine it could save you some time as well.
Response:
I’m glad the tips I post are helpful. We do have an FAQ page on the intranet where I try to post answers to commonly asked questions.
On the IT homepage, you can find the link to the FAQ page in the second paragraph or on the navigation links on the right (Training/Guides/FAQs/Help).
We currently have FAQs on the following areas. If folks have some suggestions for FAQs to add, feel free to email or phone me directly with your suggestions.
Division: IT – Daniel Saroff
Suggestion/Question: Parental Leave
Last November, the Q&A featured a question about possible expansion of the parental leave policy or the possibility of adding a short term disability program that would cover parental leave. At that time, the plan was to review at the beginning of this calendar year and get back to staff. Has there been any progress on this matter? I know many things are held up due to the turnover in HR, but wondered if this had been explored any further since last year.
Response:
Due to a number of factors, including the loss of the Director of HR, and the complexity of this policy, we haven’t completed our exploration of the issue as quickly as we hoped. At this time, we continue to follow the existing parental leave policy; we are still examining how to potentially update the policy on parental leave.
We are also currently reviewing all HR policies in an attempt to modernize them and make them more reflective the Agency’s current scope. Once this process is complete, all policies must be approved by the Committee before they can be instituted.
Division: HR – Delfina Hite
Suggestion/Question: Policy regarding dogs in the office
What is the CPCS policy on employees bringing dogs into CPCS offices?
Response:
We are currently working on creating a policy regarding dogs in the workplace. Once the policy is complete, it will need approval by the Committee before it can be instituted.
Division: HR – Delfina Hite