Employee News
Telling the stories of King County employees
Looking for some Election Day excitement? Meet your neighbors and continue your commitment to public service by volunteering as a drop box closer. Drop box closers are the friendly face the public sees on Election Day, ensuring that every vote is counted, and every voice is heard. Who: You and your co-workers What: Closing ballot drop boxes across King County When: Election night, Tuesday, Nov. 3 from 6-8:30 p.m. Where: A drop box location near you Sign up: Click here. Most voters wait until Election Day to return their ballots and drop boxes are often busiest… Read More
QuickBooks Level 1 – Online – North Seattle College – Explore everything you need to get started with QuickBooks Desktop. This class is $85.00 and takes place on Thursdays for two sessions on Oct. 15 and 22. Register here More opportunities are available on our King County Eventbrite page. For more information, contact the Learning and Development Team at KCTraining@kingcounty.gov or visit Learning and Development at www.kingcounty.gov/learning.
Today we celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day and the rich heritage, culture, contributions, and resilience of Indigenous people in our region and here at King County. There are 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington State and King County is home to a thriving Native American population from Tribal nations across the country. We are on the ancestral lands of the Muckleshoot, Snoqualmie, Puyallup, Tulalip, and Suquamish Tribes, and the Duwamish people. Our region benefits tremendously from the generations of Native people on whose land we currently live, and who today continue to fight… Read More
The King County Superior Court and Community Committee presents a facilitated panel discussion on the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and how it functions within Washington’s Department of Corrections (DOC), in particular how Washington State prisoners interact with the ADA-mandated reasonable accommodation process and the DOC’s duties in providing reasonable accommodations to prisoners with disabilities. Thursday, Oct. 15 from 12:15 – 1:30 p.m. Join via Zoom. Use passcode: 239752. To dial in, call 253-215-8782 and use ID# 91789390895. King County Superior Court Judge David Whedbee will host the discussion between Assistant Attorney General Candie Dibble, who regularly… Read More
System updates are now complete. We appreciate your understanding and support.
We are nearing the end of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage month, but we still have so much to share with you. King County Metro’s very own, Penny Lara, has shared with us a video of her and her family reciting one of her favorite poems – “A Callarse (Keeping Quiet).” She has also shared the significance poetry has in her culture. Read more to learn more about Penny’s story, and view the video below. By Penny Lara, Transportation Planner III, Metro Transit Growing up in Mexico, poetry has always been a part of my family…. Read More
Crossposted from Cultivating Connections Since 2016, DCHS has promoted awareness and use of free and confidential neighborhood medicine disposal programs as a strategy to prevent opioid overdose death, medicine abuse and suicide. DCHS, along with partners that include King County Waste Management and Washington Poison Center, produced a successful “Don’t Hang on to Meds” public health messaging campaign focused on promoting at home medicine safety strategies such as securely storing medicines in use and disposing of unused and expired meds. The campaign and local information dissemination efforts boosted traffic to the www.TakeBackYourMeds.org website where in… Read More
This event, hosted by King County, will feature local King County Afro Latino artists showcasing their artwork, talking about their community involvement, and explaining how art plays a crucial role in fighting for Social Justice. Monday, Oct. 12, from noon to 1 p.m. Join via Zoom. Use passcode: 216492 – Register for this event here on Eventbrite. For more information, contact Margarita Aguado at MAguado@kingcounty.gov or Maria Jimenez-Zepeda at Maria.Jimenez-Zepeda@kingcounty.gov. View the full list of events for Latinx Heritage Month here.
Crossposted from Metro Matters October 2 marks the 10-year anniversary of Metro’s first RapidRide, the A Line. Providing frequent service that connects Federal Way, Kent, SeaTac, and Tukwila, the A Line has grown to carry an average of 9,100 riders on weekdays since launching a decade ago. Across King County, Metro’s RapidRide lines offer riders faster, more frequent, and more reliable bus service, fast all-door boarding, enhanced stations and passenger amenities, and on-board Wi-Fi. Read more.
Crossposted from DES Express All county customers can now make payments online through the ePayment Storefront system, which launched early this summer. This is an important and timely improvement, since most King County in-person services are shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Congratulations and thank you to employees from several divisions in the Department of Executive Services (DES) and other departments for their hard work and collaboration. Read more.
Leadership and Management Series through North Seattle College – Online – Develop your leadership, communication, motivation, and problem-solving skills with this workshop based series. Take all four classes in the series to enhance your professional toolbox with skills to be used in a variety of workplace situations. All four classes need to be completed to receive a completion in PeopleSoft. Register here Oct. 14 – Communication Skills Oct. 21 – Decision-Making Oct. 28 – Dealing with Difficult People Nov. 4 – Team Leadership Communication and Problem Solving Skills with Lenny Borer – Online – Facilitated by… Read More
When conducting virtual meetings, either between King County employees or with the public, it’s critical to follow best practices for cyber safety. Recently, there has been several episodes of public Zoom meetings featuring bad actors, including those who posted objectionable material for all to see. To keep our customers safe, KCIT has created an At-Risk Meeting Notifier. This tool searches the public internet for Zoom meeting information and checks the meeting’s security settings. When we find a meeting that looks to be at high risk of being disrupted, we notify the host. To avoid such incidents, KCIT security experts strongly recommend following these practices: If you would like to make your meeting private, but there is already public… Read More
Each year King County employees help hundreds of nonprofit organizations do vital work in our community and around the world by donating to the Annual Giving Drive. The start of this year’s Giving Drive coincides with Disability Awareness Month, which King County celebrates each October. The following are four participating nonprofits whose work helps people with disabilities: Alliance of People with disAbilities (9438) – To provide independent living resources and advocate for the well-being and assure full exercise of human rights of persons with disAbilities. Center for Independence (9185) – Empowering people with disabilities to live independently… Read More
The King County Latinx Affinity Group is hosting several events throughout the year to encourage employees during these challenging times, and celebrate Latinx Heritage Month, recognized as Sept. 15 – Oct. 15. Several of these events are planned in collaboration with Sound Transit Latinx in Transportation (LiT), and the Seattle Department of Transportation’s Latinx Caucus. They are intended to educate and empower community members to join together in supporting one another, the Latinx community, and other King County communities as well. To learn more about these events and the Latinx Affinity Group… Read More
In honor of Latinx Heritage Month, recognized as Sept. 15 – Oct. 15., the King County Latinx Affinity Group has hosted several events to celebrate the Latinx community. In addition to these events, the Group has also developed opportunities to honor and highlight the great work being done on behalf of other minority communities. In July, the group held a Lunch and Learn to discuss working alongside the Black Lives Matter movement, and how to support the efforts being made to raise awareness and create change in response to the injustices experienced by the Black community. To… Read More
October 15 is the annual Shakeout drill, an opportunity for us to practice what to do during an earthquake. Many of us have participated in this drill while in an office building, but few have at our homes. We encourage employees to take time before the event to check out if their new workspace is earthquake ready. Do you have large hanging items such as mirrors, plants, artwork or pictures, or lighting hanging near your workspace? If yes, considering moving them or finding ways to make them secure during an earthquake. Are you able… Read More
During an emergency having timely information on what is happening is critical. King County employees can sign-up for KCInform, the employee alert and warning system, to receive information on incidents that can affect their work and safety. King County will conduct a test of KCInform at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, alongside the annual ShakeOut drill to test earthquake preparedness. KCInform is used to reach County employees during an emergency with timely information about infrastructure disruptions, facility impacts, changes in your department’s business operations, and other critical impacts. Your King County desk phone and @kingcounty.gov email are already in the… Read More
We want every baby to get off to a strong, healthy start in life, and King County’s Paid Parental Leave Program is there to support employees welcoming new family members into their lives. Eligible King County employees may receive up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave following the birth, adoption, or foster-to-adopt placement of a child, so they have more time to bond with a new child. This supplemental benefit is available to both new mothers and fathers, and is calculated based on the employee’s existing leave accruals at the time of the… Read More
To allow for system maintenance, the PeopleSoft system will not be available Friday, Oct. 9 from 3-9 p.m. During this planned outage, the Business Resource Center (BRC) will apply maintenance. This work will begin on Friday, Oct. 9 at 3 p.m. and is scheduled to be completed by 9 p.m. 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 PeopleSoft users and… Read More
What’s happening? Users may be unable to access some or all Microsoft 365 services. Users may see impact to the following Microsoft 365 services: SharePoint Online/OneDrive for Business Microsoft Teams Microsoft Forms Microsoft Intune Exchange Online Outlook.com KCIT is working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.