Total Rewards a one-stop shop for staff

Employees can now view up-to-date, personalized information in the Employee Channel within PAWS. Before the launch of the My Total Rewards website, university employees had to search through multiple websites and collective agreements, and perform their own calculations to get the full picture of their “total rewards.”

“We want faculty and staff to be able to easily view and appreciate the total value they receive as part of their employment relationship with the university,” said Timothy Beke, director of My Total Rewards within the People and Resources portfolio at the U of S.

“One way to do this is to create a one-stop shop where employees can get a holistic view of what their salary, pension, professional development, health and dental care, and insurance benefits are worth,” said Beke. “It’s also about giving visibility to the sometimes overlooked services and amenities available to faculty and staff, like access to veterinary services at WCVM, the on-campus pharmacy, or the employee and family assistance program.”

The university engaged an external vendor to develop the My Total Rewards site and provide ongoing support. To date, close to 1,800 employees have accessed the site and early feedback has been positive. However, some concerns were raised about the requirement for employees to accept extensive terms and conditions in order to access the site.

According to Beke, these types of terms and conditions are quite common with many online services, software, or mobile apps that we might use daily. For some faculty and staff, these requirements to access My Total Rewards seemed excessive and unnecessary.

“This feedback was very valuable to us as it identified an unintended barrier that was preventing some employees from accessing their total rewards information,” said Beke.

In response, the team has worked closely with the university’s internal legal team and the vendor to eliminate the requirement for employees to accept terms and conditions to access the site, while still informing employees of the privacy protections in place to safeguard any personal information.

“Ultimately, our goal is to increase awareness and utilization of the various programs that support the health and well-being of faculty and staff,” said Beke. “It’s part of the Mission, Vision and Values of our university and a strategic goal of People and Resources to provide programs, supports and services that help to create a rewarding employment experience at the university.”

For more information, log in to PAWS and locate My Total Rewards in the Employee Channel. Detailed information is also available online in Knowledge Base.

Zaheed Bardai is a communications specialist in Human Resources.