Kudos for KC Metro staff smiling through the storm!
On Friday October 14, a King County Metro rider appreciated her ride so much she submitted an online commendation. She says:
“A big hug to all of you at Metro who do such an amazing job. I just wanted to say thank you, the weather is terrible today and there are lots of cranky customers so I wanted you to know how much I appreciate all of you.”
Thank you for letting us know how much you appreciate our Metro staff and their dedication to providing high quality customer service with a smile!
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Social Media Spotlight: King County Youth Justice Twitter
KC Youth Justice highlights King County and its partners’ efforts to steer more youth away from courts and detention and reduce youth interaction with the juvenile justice system – especially for youth of color who are disproportionately represented in it.
Follow KCYouth on Twitter today!
Click here to view all King County social media pages.
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Q&A: Public Health takes on lead poisoning at work
Crossposted from Public Health Insider
When we think about people at risk of lead poisoning, we may think about children exposed to lead-based paint, or those exposed to lead through certain hobbies. But did you know that thousands of workers in this country are exposed to lead at their workplaces – day in and day out? Alarmingly, the federal and Washington state worker health & safety standards to protect those workers are inadequate and are based on outdated science from the 1970s. In addition, workers of color in King County are at particular risk for lead poisoning because of the types of jobs they do.
We sat down with Steve Whittaker with Public Health’s Environmental Services Division and the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program (LHWMP) to find out more about this problem and what Public Health is doing to protect workers in King County and across Washington state. Steve is a toxicologist with many years of experience in this topic area.
Read more at Public Health Insider
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Tech Tip: Zombie records can come back to haunt you (and the county!) BEWARE!
Brought to you by the King County Public Records Committee and the Records Management Program
Records retained past their mandatory retention period could put you and the county at financial risk – not to mention risk of embarrassment.
Just like zombies, records can do the most harm after they have reached the end of their life. Undead records lurk in basements, closets, on old floppy disks, and forgotten places on network drives – buried and lost amongst the clutter. But, they will come back to haunt you in the event of a public records request or litigation action.
How to kill a hoard of zombie records in three easy steps
- Make sure they’re zombies Just because the records are on the older side and are no longer needed to support day-to-day business doesn’t necessarily mean they’re zombies. For records to be a true zombies they must be past their retention period. This is different from archival records or records required to support current or imminent litigation actions or current public records requests.
- Acquire weapons needed to defend yourself Before you kill zombie records, make certain you can defend yourself from attack. Documenting destruction of government records promotes both transparency and accountability. In the event of a legal or audit challenge, this documentation provides crucial evidence of “defensible disposition” demonstrating that you were aware of and compliant with current records retention requirements.
- Kill them…. Kill them dead To truly kill zombie records you need to make them unreadable and irretrievable. The King County Records Center offers free secure physical records shredding at their facility through the direct destruction program. To ensure complete destruction of a digital records, seek out and delete all copies.
Good records management practices keep zombie records from doing life-altering damage not to mention devouring your valuable time. Need a professional zombie records slayer? Contact us today!
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Seasonal home maintenance classes
Whether you own your home or are renting, make sure your home is ready for the seasons ahead! This seminar is presented by HomeStreet Bank to help you learn basic home maintenance, what you need to do when the temperature changes, covering the cost of home maintenance, and you’ll be provided with a home maintenance checklist.
There are two dates available for this class:
- Wednesday, November 2 from noon to 1 p.m. at the Chinook Building in downtown Seattle
- Monday, November 7 from noon to 1p.m. at the South Treatment Plant in Renton
Registration is required for this event. Call the Hometown Hotline at 888-425-6990, or go online to: www.homestreet.com/KingCo
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New discounts available for employees
Discounts for the Summit at Snoqualmie 2016-2017 Season Pass are available through December 31, 2016. To take advantage of the King County Discount for Xpass (all ages), Gold, Unlimited and Limited (ages 12-61) season passes follow these online instructions. To purchase passes for Snow Guarantee, Child (ages 0-6) and Senior (ages 62-69) please follow these instructions. Information about the discount pricing can be found here.
Shopping discounts: CorporateShopping.com connects employees to over 250 top national retailers offering incredible employee discounts and private offers. Register now. For questions about this program or assistance with registration please email info@corpshopping.com
Car Rentals at Hertz, Avis and Budget: For Hertz discounts input code: CDP number 1742729. For Avis discounts input code: AWD number D134100. For Budget discounts input code: BCD number Z408900.
See all available discounts on the Employee Discount Webpage.
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Safety and security at work
Ensuring your safety and security at work is our top priority. Recently, King County hosted an employee Lunch and Learn with representatives from the Sheriff’s Office and the Facilities Management Division (FMD) Security Unit sharing information and resources.
In response to employee requests, we now have a list of safety tips online. This information from the Seattle Police Department is designed to help you enhance your personal safety and avoid potential trouble.
We have also launched a new online security incident report form. You can use this form to report non-emergency incidents to the FMD Security Unit for possible follow-up. You can report incidents that happen at work or on your commute. FMD Security will also continue to take incident reports by phone at 206-296-5000. As always in an emergency, call 9-1-1 for immediate assistance.
We also plan to add more safety training classes and host more Lunch and Learns focusing on safety and security at work. Look for announcements about these offerings in future issues of Employee News.
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Featured Job: Information Assurance Engineer Senior
Closing Date/Time: Mon. 10/31/16 4:30 PM Pacific Time
Salary: $41.57 – $52.69 Hourly, $86,465.60 – $109,595.20 Annually
Job Type: Career Service, Full Time, 40 hrs/week
Location: Chinook Building – 401 5th Ave, Seattle, Washington
Department: King County Department of Information Technology
Description: King County Information Technology (KCIT) is seeking a Senior Security Engineer. The Senior Security Engineer will be responsible for daily monitoring, management and administration of information security. The Senior Security Engineer proactively protects the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of information technology resources. Incumbents resolve information security issues for internal and external customers and enforce security policies, standards and procedures.
King County Information Technology Department is taking organizational change from multiple, functionally focused organizations (decentralized model) to one world class technology services provider.
Learn more about this position or view all available jobs.
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The Annual Employee Giving Drive: Nonprofits helping kids
The County’s 2016 Annual Employee Giving Drive is approaching the halfway point, and this year’s goal is to raise $1.82 million. King County employees have donated $419,780.58 so far, bringing the drive to 23.1% of the goal!
If you’ve made it to one of the nonprofit expositions, you may know you can win prizes just by learning about five attending nonprofits! (This can be done virtually, as well.) To enter a drawing for the grand prize of Seattle City Pass, movie tickets, and fun giveaways, visit nonprofits (in person, or through the online video presentations) and fill out the “passport.” The drawing will take place November 9. You will be notified if you win, and winners will be posted on the website.
This week, we’re featuring four nonprofits serving children in the King County area, and each is eligible to receive donations through the Employee Giving Program!
- Seattle Children’s Hospital and Research Foundation (9002) – Seattle Children’s Hospital, Foundation and Research Institute together deliver superior patient care, advance new discoveries and treatments through pediatric research.
- Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America (5048) – We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.
- March of Dimes Foundation, Washington Chapter (4024) – To improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality, through programs of research, community services, education and advocacy.
- St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (serving AK, ID, MT, OR & WA) (4015) – Researches and treats deadly childhood diseases – primarily cancer. Families are never billed by St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food. Discoveries freely shared worldwide.
The Employee Giving Program is a philanthropic resource for King County employees that benefits county employees by providing prescreened nonprofits, allowing you to plan your giving, making it possible for you to donate time (vacation or compensatory hours), and offering anonymity.
You may pledge either online in PeopleSoft or with a paper form. Through payroll donations, employees can donate to as many as 20 nonprofits, and contributions can be made bimonthly (first two pay checks each month), monthly (second paycheck each month) or annually (first paycheck in January).
Every donation made through the Employee Giving Program is tax deductible. Just keep track of the proper paperwork and you can deduct your donations when you file your taxes!
This year’s drive runs through November 18. For more information, visit the EGP site. For additional questions, contact your EGP Ambassador, email EmployeeGiving@KingCounty.gov or call 206-263-9405.
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The Kitsap County Civilian Navy visits King County to learn about Supported Employment
In June 2016, King County hosted the Kitsap County Civilian Navy to share best practices about supported employment in order to assist them to grow and develop their own Supported Employment Program. During the Navy’s visit they toured the workplaces of three employees: Jennifer in DES Records and Licensing Division, Tony in DPH Financial and Administrative section, and Kirsten in DCHS Community Services Division, who showcased their work.
Debra Wood, Kirsten’s supervisor, states, “It’s been wonderful to see Kirsten grow. [The Supported Employment Program] is a terrific! I want everybody who has a developmental disability to have the opportunity to experience this kind of support to help them grow into who they know they can be.”
Watch the short video below that highlights the Supported Employment Program and the Navy tour. Please contact Christina Davidson, Supported Employment Program Manager, to learn more about ways you can take advantage of this program.
In addition to King County’s program, the Navy also tour Microsoft’s Supported Employment Program to gather ideas from the private sector. More private and public sector organizations are seeing the benefits of inclusive hiring and developing programs to increase representation of individuals with developmental disabilities.
“It is very exciting to see large organizations in the both the private and public sector solve their business needs utilizing this untapped workforce,” says Christina Davidson, King County’s Supported Employment Program Manager.
Employee News 