King County submits plan to re-open limited business activity in COVID-19 recovery 

King County Executive Dow Constantine, King County Council Chair Claudia Balducci, and King County Board of Health Chair Joe McDermott today submitted a plan to the state Department of Health that would allow limited and modified openings for a wide range of businesses and personal activities. The county’s application includes recommendations from King County local health officer Dr. Jeff Duchin that would: allow all outdoor recreation permitted in Phase 2 in Gov. Inslee’s Safe Start plan expand opening indoor fitness studios for one-on-one activities allow restaurants to begin opening indoor seating at 25% of normal capacity allow hair… Read More

COVID-19 and unrecognized realities experienced by black people 

Crossposted from Public Health Insider  Face coverings help protect our community from COVID-19. Unfortunately many members of the Black community are concerned that wearing face coverings may lead to dangerous and harmful encounters with law enforcement or other community members. Racism influences perceptions of face coverings and those wearing or not wearing them.  After rounds of engagement and feedback from community partners, the decision was made to roll out the face covering policy as as a directive, not an order, so as to prevent further policing of black and brown communities or perpetuate further… Read More

Featured Job: Disease Research & Intervention Specialist – Hepatitis A 

Salary: $30.67 – $38.88 Hourly  Location: Seattle, WA  Job Type: Special Duty Assignment or Term Limited Temp (TLT)  Department: DPH – Public Health  Job Number: 2020AB11705  Division: Prevention  Closing: 6/17/2020 11:59 PM Pacific  Learn more about this position or view all available positions. 

Tech Tip: Reminder about regular emails from KCIT vendor KnowBe4.com 

Each Wednesday all King County email users will receive an email from authorized King County vendor KnowBe4.com about phishing scams. King County Information Technology (KCIT) has partnered with KnowBe4.com to regularly provide information and training to employees about phishing scams and other email red flags. KnowBe4.com is a leading industry expert in security awareness training. Its mission is to help employees to make smarter security decisions, every day, and keep the County’s and employees’ information secure.   Employees are encouraged to read through the helpful information in each email and review the security tips… Read More

MOS and MTA Certifications available online 

Through a partnership with the Washington Library System, Career Support Services and the Administrative Professionals Committee now offer employees the opportunity to connect with the King County Library and Seattle Public Library for MOS and MTA certification exams, as well as online study guides. Employees can earn their Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) and Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) certifications from home at no cost, as well as access study guides and practice tests to help earn the certification. As a reminder, employees may also use the online learning website www.Lynda.com at no cost with their… Read More

Reminder: PeopleSoft outage starting Friday, June 5, at 3 p.m.

To allow for system maintenance, the PeopleSoft system will not be available this weekend, starting today, Friday, June 5, at 3 p.m.  During this planned outage, the Business Resource Center (BRC) will apply vendor updates and maintenance.  This work will begin on Friday, June 5, at 3 p.m., and is scheduled to be completed by 6:30 a.m. on Monday, June 8.   The system will not be available for access by any County staff during this outage window. There will be a communication sent out to all County staff when the system becomes available.  We realize that this outage impacts all… Read More

FSA rules relaxed in response to COVID-19 

During Open Enrollment last year, you may have elected a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) to have money taken from your paycheck, pretax, to pay for dependent day care or certain medical expenses not covered by your health plan. Now, your expenses may have changed due to the coronavirus pandemic, so the IRS has relaxed rules pertaining to Health Care and Dependent Day Care FSAs. These changes are effective through the end of 2020. Increase or decrease your FSA contribution If you have a Health Care or Dependent Day Care FSA, you can… Read More

Working together to repair our region 

On Sunday, King County Executive Dow Constantine joined King County employees and volunteers to clean up and repair damage done to County buildings and resources. Executive Constantine shared his experience on Twitter, and through this accompanying message.  “I was in downtown Seattle this morning to personally thank King County employees and volunteers who are repairing our facilities that were damaged by violent opportunists who hijacked last night’s peaceful protest against racial injustice. Some of our facilities – a childcare center, a homeless shelter, a homeless day center, bus stops – had broken windows or were… Read More

PeopleSoft HCM outage this weekend, June 5-7 

To allow for system maintenance, the PeopleSoft system will not be available the weekend, June 5-7.  During this planned outage, the Business Resource Center (BRC) will apply vendor updates and maintenance.  This work will begin on Friday, June 5, at 3 p.m. and is scheduled to be completed by 6:30 a.m. on Monday, June 8.   The system will not be available for access by any County staff during this outage window. There will be a communication sent out to all County staff when the system becomes available.  We realize that this outage impacts… Read More

Facilitating Effective Meetings online webinar, June 10 and 11

A common challenge faced by individuals in business is how to lead and facilitating meetings that are interesting and solicit active engagement. This two-day training covers the skills used by a facilitator to design and run an effective meeting. How to be a better participant is also discussed. Topics include specific facilitation skills, group decision making skills, and how to deal with disruptive behaviors. This webinar will be led by notable trainer and meeting facilitator Lenny Borer, who specializes in classes on communication and problem solving skills, meeting facilitation, instructor training and… Read More