The Office of Human Resources will be holding performance review workshops for managers and non-managers.

How to Conduct an Effective Performance Review: The workshop will provide managers with the tools and information necessary, even while working remotely, to conduct an effective performance review. Participants will learn how to accurately document performance
, how to provide effective feedback to employees
, how to write a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)
, how to assess professional development and training needs
, how to continue to motivate your employees
 and how to conduct difficult conversations with employees who need to show improvement.

How to Make the Most of Your Performance Review: This workshop will provide employees with the tools and information necessary to make the most of the performance review, even while working remotely. Participants will learn how to accurately document your performance, create a file highlighting your accomplishments, think about what would be helpful for professional growth, and how to have a productive conversation with your supervisor.

For more information and to register please visit the Human Resources website. For questions please contact Cynthia Farqhuar.

With tax season well underway, ITS Security wants to remind the community to be aware of tax-related scams. Thousands of people have lost millions of dollars and their personal information to tax scams. There is also an influx of scams related to economic impact payments or so-called stimulus checks. The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages, or social media channels to request personal or financial information. As a reminder, never give out your social security number, credit card, or other personal information to telemarketers or in response to emails or text messages requesting this information. Watch this helpful video to learn how to spot a possible tax scam. Visit the IRS website to view a current list of known scams. Report all unsolicited emails claiming to be from the IRS or an IRS-related function to phishing@irs.gov.

Interested in learning how to stay secure while working from home? Curious about how to spot fraudulent emails? Join ITS for a security awareness webinar on May 14 from 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. to learn best practices for securing your Zoom sessions, guidelines for accessing sensitive data, general information security best practices, and an open Q&A session. Please register to attend the upcoming webinar. Please send any questions or topics you would like addressed to security@brandeis.edu.

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Zoom recently released a new version (5.0) to address and enhance the security and privacy of the video conferencing tool. All Zoom users are required to update to the new version (5.0) by May 30. Zoom's improved security measures include stronger encryption, complex meeting IDs, and default passwords when scheduling a meeting. In addition, meeting hosts will have a new easy-access Security button on the meeting menu bar which will enable the host to quickly lock meetings, remove participants, and restrict screen sharing and chatting in meetings.

The update applies only to the installed application on your computer, not the web login. For some users, Zoom may automatically prompt you to update. To apply the update manually: open the Zoom desktop application, click on the user icon on the top right then select 'Check for Updates' from the drop-down menu. If new updates are available, you will be prompted with an 'Update Available' message; click 'Update' to install. Alternatively, visit zoom.com/download and follow the prompts to update or install Zoom. 

To learn more about protecting your Zoom session, visit the ITS website. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at help@brandeis.edu or 781-736-4638.

Please join the ODEI mailing list to receive periodic updates and announcements about our programs and events.  Alternatively, send an email to odei-request@lists.brandeis.edu, with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.

In the midst of these extraordinary times, the Brandeis Ombuds Office remains available on a daily basis as a confidential, impartial, independent, and informal resource for undergraduate and graduate students, campus staff, alumni, and anyone with a connection to the Brandeis community.  In our role as Ombuds, we support the dignity, well-being and safety of each person by providing a safe space to talk confidentially and off the record about difficult situations and offer conflict resolution support. 

The onset of COVID-19 has brought shifts in policy, academic and professional expectations, changes in our communication and interpersonal engagement with social and physical distancing. As a team, we are available to the entire campus community. We are a community resource to process any type of challenging situation, a bridge to navigate campus resources, and to serve as a coach to help, support, and empower you. 

Ombuds, are available to help in many ways. For more information please visit the University Ombuds website.

Brandeis University seeks to replace its Institutional Advancement CRM, Millennium, with a modern, scalable system designed to address fundraising, alumni and constituent engagement management, gift administration, and donor stewardship functions across the University. In addition to replacing the end-of-life legacy system, key requirements of the new system include being responsive for mobile use, enabling integration with a variety of third-party applications including Workday, and providing role-based security so that applicable functions can be extended to users across campus.

Requests for Proposal were sent to six vendors, and after evaluation, three firms were invited to provide product overviews via virtual presentations. Institutional Advancement, members of the Alumni Association, central ITS, and other campus partners will participate in these vendor presentations during the month of May. Members of the community are invited to attend the general overview sessions, scheduled for two hours each during the upcoming week (May 4-6).

If you are interested in receiving the link to watch one of the upcoming overview sessions, please contact Leigh Osler Creveling or Donna Booth.

Do you miss connecting with your colleagues after a meeting, passing each other on campus, or water cooler conversation?  Although you have email, video conferencing and the traditional phone call to connect, ITS would like to share that there are alternative communication tools to consider to stay connected and engaged with one another during this time. Google Hangouts and Slack are two chat platforms for individuals and groups to connect through direct messaging with an individual or a group; helps keep conversations organized, and is accessible from anywhere, anytime.  Google Hangouts is a click away in Gmail - available at no cost to the community and allows you to send instant messages to individuals or groups. Slack is an alternative chat platform that offers both free or paid tiers; in addition, to direct messaging, you can create public or private channels around a specific topic or project, files, and links can be shared too. 

The use of these collaboration tools are not intended to replace emails, but rather gives the option of instantly messaging a Brandeis colleague. To learn more about each of these tools including a comparison of features or to get started, visit the ITS website.

Providing feedback on a regular basis is critical for the development, retention and success of our employees. Given the current external environment and the impact on our campus operations, providing feedback, being engaged and managing expectations with employees is vitally important during this period of uncertainty.

It is important to continue with the annual performance evaluation process which provides valuable performance feedback to employees. Performance reviews for the period July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 are due to Human Resources on or before June 30.

For more detailed information please visit the Human Resources website.

The Office of Human Resources and Skill Path will be offering the following virtual full-day workshop:

• Essentials of Communication and Collaboration, Wednesday, May 6

For more information and to register please visit the Office of Human Resources Training and Professional Development Webpage. Please contact Cynthia Farquhar with any questions.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides options for you to consider as you navigate financial decisions in the coming months. Brandeis University has chosen to adopt the following CARES Act provisions for our retirement plans:

• Penalties and withholding are waived for qualified distributions from retirement plan accounts
• Retirement plan loan limits have been increased
• Optional suspension of required minimum distributions (RMDs) for 2020

A detailed email has been sent to plan participants and can be found on the Human Resources website. As always, we recommend reaching out to your financial consultant to review your current situation - along with short - and long-term financial goals - before making any decisions.

It's fresh, it's fun, it’s customizable!

Sign up today for the brand new customizable Warner Farm CSA program, and receive a personalized box of fresh, delicious, locally grown vegetables, delivered right to the Brandeis campus. Our new CSA program offers the option to customize your shares and your delivery schedule, so you’ll receive all the produce you love and nothing you don’t! Choose from three sizes of vegetable shares, as well as fruit, flower, mushroom and egg shares. Deliveries take place from June through October every Thursday from 2:30-7 p.m. right to the Spingold Theater. It's the best way to eat healthy and local this season without breaking the bank! Visit www.warnerfarm.com/csa or email csa@warnerfarm.com to learn more.

COVID-19 UPDATE: Here at Warner Farm, we are carrying forth with our CSA for the 2020 season. We are eager to provide a fresh and reliable source of local produce in order to support and feed folks through these difficult times. We have been growing food for our community for over 300 years, and are prouder than ever to continue to do so. We want you to know that we are taking all steps required this season to grow, pack, and distribute our produce safely and responsibly. We are staying up to date with Mass.gov's resources and information, and are fully complying with all recommended precautions and procedures.

Please consider joining our farm family and signing up for our 2020 CSA program. Your support of our farm (and of local agriculture) means so much to us. We hope you will give us the opportunity to show our appreciation, and support you as well with fresh, delicious produce throughout the 2020 season. Hope to see you in June.

Teladoc is a convenient and affordable way to access quality care for general medical, behavioral health and dermatology services by web, phone or a mobile app. Teladoc allows you to virtually connect with a network of board-certified doctors available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Virtual care allows you to see a provider in real-time through a secured two-way video. Brandeis employees that participate in Tufts Health Plan can access an array of services. 92 percent of issues are resolved after the first virtual visit. For more detailed information about how it works please visit the Teladoc website.

Bright Horizons Back-Up Care provides access to back-up care for your children, adult and elder family members. During this unprecedented time, we want to make sure you’re aware of updates and enhancements to better support you.

• Additional Family Supports for Benefit Eligible Employees – With the current strain on working parents’ work/life routines, we want to remind you that you have a free premium membership ($150 value) to Sittercity, which provides access to a comprehensive database for finding sitters, nannies, elder companions, pet care, and housekeepers.
• Updates to COVID-19 Policies – For updated guidelines on back-up care related to COVID-19, visit: http://www.brighthorizons.com/covid19.

Please visit Human Resources website to view detailed information about the Dependent Care Resource & Referral Pilot Program.

Tired of getting emails that look like spam or newsletters? During this time of virtual living and working, phishing scams are rampant across the world. ITS strongly recommends all faculty, staff, and students enroll in Proofpoint, an email protection tool, to add a layer of security to your Brandeis email account. Proofpoint will help protect you by automatically filtering spam (e.g., marketing, cold sales, etc.) or bulk (e.g., newsletters, other mass mailings, etc.) messages from reaching your inbox. By default, both spam and bulk email are filtered but you can control what reaches your mailbox. Once enrolled, you will receive a daily digest at 8 a.m. ET containing any message(s) that have been filtered. This allows you to manage which message(s) and sender(s) you would like to receive in your inbox. Proofpoint will also scan any link(s) to a website within an email message to determine whether the site is known to be malicious and add a layer of security encryption to the URL.

To learn more, visit the email protection webpage on the ITS website which includes video tutorials, getting started guides and FAQs. For more information or questions, contact security@brandeis.edu.

As we use technology in our day-to-day lives, information security is even more critical in both our professional and personal lives. In an effort to protect university computing resources and data against malicious activity, ITS is working to ensure that all university-owned machines meet the security protection requirements outlined in the Written Information Security Policy. To date, ITS has deployed a suite of security tools and services to approximately 60% desktops and laptops. As a friendly reminder, ITS will continue to work with schools, departments, and centers and institutes to deploy the security protection software to machines that can be updated remotely. The suite of tools includes endpoint protection (enSilo; replaces Symantec and Malwarebytes), data backup and recovery (Code42 CrashPlan), and identity data protection (Spirion) software. To learn more, visit the Understanding Your Security Tools page on the ITS website. If you have any questions, please contact security@brandeis.edu.

University Records Management (URM) would like to remind you that both electronic and paper materials used/created at home need the same protections as Brandeis records used/created on-campus. Be sure to consider how you are keeping, filing, and disposing of PII, sensitive, and/or confidential information. Contact URM at records@brandeis.edu with any questions or for more information.