A Note from Ryan Simmons


HR has been working hard to enhance the services we offer our employees at CC. We are committed to documenting, communicating, and enhancing our processes to better serve you.  

Until recently, we have been about 30% below our pre-pandemic staffing, and have been prioritizing your immediate needs. I’m happy to announce that we have backfilled the following positions:  
  • Kaelibeth Rose, administrative assistant, will be your immediate point of contact if you need help from HR.  
  • Missy Liu, Talent Acquisition Specialist, will be helping to document and enhance our Talent Acquisition processes and support search committees. She will help deepen an antiracist approach to our staff selection. 
  • Ginger Jurecka-Blake, AVP of Workplace Culture, will partner with Sara San Souci and Matt Cherry in revamping our Hiring, Development, and Performance Management processes.  
Our compensation team has been assessing and reviewing our overall approach to compensation. Updates have been shared at this block’s Roadshow, In the Loop, and will come in our next newsletter. 

Staff and faculty continue to rate our benefits as a highlight of their experience at Colorado College. This newsletter will highlight how you can get the most out of these great benefits.   

Thank you,

Ryan  

Meet Gina Lujan, Benefits Manager

ID: Woman of color with shoulder length hair and glasses, wearing a black and red floral shirt, looking into the camera, standing in front of a brown wall
Gina was raised in El Paso, Texas. She lived in Hawaii and worked at Hawaii Pacific University for 13 years before moving to Colorado and joining Colorado College in March, 2006. Gina holds a BA in Human Services and a MA in Human Resource Management.  She manages benefits, including workers compensation and employee leave for CC. 

If you weren’t able to attend the benefits fair on April 20, Gina has this tip for you: If you use vision benefits, before your next appointment log into the EyeMed member portal and click on Special offers.  The offers you find are stacked on top of your regular EyeMed vision benefits!

Other Benefits Fair Highlights


"Thanks for putting together the benefits fair!" said Lisa Hess Ruth, an attendee of this year's benefits fair. "I was able to talk directly with representatives to resolve a long outstanding dental claim and was reminded that travel assistance covers dependents studying abroad. Also, great to chat with the HR staff and meet new people in the department!"

Another attendee, Jane Byrnes said, “I really enjoyed participating in the fair this year. It’s helpful to check-in with the many vendors who provide our benefits so I can stay updated on their services. I learned that we have a new vendor for Flexible Spending Account and I plan to enroll this year.”

Jeff C. commented, "I am so happy I decided to attend the benefits fair. Friendly faces from the moment I entered. Representatives made it effortless and easy to ask questions and I learned something from each of them. Talking to someone in person is a lot easier than over the phone, which was wonderful. Thanks to all the HR staff for such a nice event. Snacks were a nice surprise!"

Benefits OPEN ENROLLMENT is coming, May 1-31, 2023. Open enrollment is an online process through the eBenefits portal and MUST be completed before May 31. This is your opportunity to add, delete, or change any of your benefits. Watch for communications on May 1st with the open enrollment booklet and instructions.

Other benefit tips: 

- Identifying your beneficiaries for Life insurance and Retirement

- View and update your life insurance beneficiaries 24/7 in eBenefits. 

- Update Retirement beneficiaries at our TIAA site. 

Cigna now offers identity theft protection for employees who participate in the medical plan.

Performance Review Reminders 


  • Employee self-assessments should be completed and with supervisors now.
  • The window for submitting feedback on supervisors closed March 31.
  • Supervisors should be completing evaluations and meeting with employees during the month of April.
  • Performance evaluation forms are due to HR by May 5. Please submit them to ccperformance@coloradocollege.edu.
  • Employees with a rating of ‘does not meet expectations’ who want to appeal must notify their supervisor and HR prior to May 12.
  • Supervisors should notify HR if any employee will be marked as ‘does not meet expectations’.
  • You can find the forms and helpful resources on the HR website.

Did you know?


Mark your calendar!


  • Benefits Open Enrollment in May: this is your time to make any benefit changes you may want for 2023-24. Benefits eligible employees should watch for an email with the open enrollment booklet soon.
  • May 5: completed performance evaluations should be submitted to ccperformance@coloradocollege.edu.

Job Opening Spotlight


Do you know someone who loves working in a book arts studio and is dedicated to education through the arts and histories of the book? A Printer of the Press position is open at Colorado College. This position leads The Press in all aspects of its mission: informing the college and larger local and national communities of our press’s presence and capabilities, working individually and with artists to create printed artworks, inviting students to learn to use its suite of distinguished printing tools, developing The Press’s relations with faculty, teaching courses and workshops across many disciplines, and collaborating with the college library. Interested applicants can see more details here.

Benefits Highlight


This section highlights a benefit that is frequently marked as “did not know about this” on our exit survey.
Life Insurance 
The college provides benefits-eligible employees with basic term life insurance and Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance (ADD) in an amount equal to 1.5x their pay at no cost to the employee. This benefit is automatically assigned to every eligible employee.  The employee just has to name a beneficiary. Did you know that your life insurance incudes travel assistance?  You can see more about that here.

Additional voluntary life insurance and voluntary accident insurance for employees and their dependents is available! If you are interested, please review the benefits booklet for details and sign-up during open enrollment. The voluntary life insurance for employees is based on age and pay and the premium increases as those go up.
Pulse Survey
In our last survey:
  • We were asked about how to stay in touch with the comings and goings at CC. You can see a list of new employees and Tiger Service Award employees on the CC Single Sign On page.
  • 70% of respondents said they think pay should be tied to performance evaluations. What do you think? 

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