May 17, 2002 UNT Inhouse publication: Monthly HR orientations available for Spanish-speaking UNT employees

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Monthly HR orientations available for Spanish-speaking UNT employees

New UNT employees who primarily speak Spanish now have more opportunities to learn about the university and personnel policies, thanks to monthly orientation sessions given in Spanish.

All new UNT employees are required to attend orientation within 30 days of their start date, but because the Spanish orientation sessions were only held once a semester, Spanish-speaking employees had been attending the English sessions and relying on a translator to understand the information shared.

Kristin McMeen, university training coordinator, says that certain benefit options are not available to new employees after the 30-day window has passed, so it is crucial that employees clearly understand they have a limited amount of time.

"This gives us the opportunity to better welcome new employees who speak Spanish as their primary language. We share crucial information about their work environment. By offering the program in Spanish, we are more certain that they understand that information," McMeen says.

The sessions include topics such as basic work rules, sick leave and vacation leave, the employee fitness program, the Employee Assistance Program, compliance programs, diversity and general facts about UNT.

Supervisors have three opportunities this summer to send employees who primarily speak Spanish to Spanish orientation. The dates are June 5, July 9 and Aug. 8, and all three sessions are from 8 a.m. to noon in Marquis Hall, Room 116. Supervisors are asked to contact the Human Resources Department ahead of time to sign up their employees for the sessions by calling Employee Relations and Training at 565-4246, by sending an e-mail notice to Bhavna Vaswani at bvaswani@unt.edu or by registering online at https://home.unt.edu/hr/training/treg.htm.