As we get settled into the new year, let’s take a look back at one of the last events of 2023. To wrap up the year, DSF hosted an event featuring the GW Women’s basketball team vs Stonehill College. GW dominated, winning 67-34.
Watch as our Facilities team members go head to head during halftime!
Interim Vice President for Safety & Facilities Baxter Goodly sent the following message to staff earlier this month.
Happy New Year, Team!
I trust your time away from campus gave you a chance to recharge and that you’re ready to tackle 2024’s fresh challenges.
We had a very productive 2023 – and I do mean productive. Our Facilities team completed over 23,000 service call phases since August. That’s a big number indicating all the hard work our staff is doing each and every day, but I actually want to focus on the decrease we’ve seen since implementing zones in Facilities Buildings and Grounds. During the 2021 Fall Semester when we were still primarily operating as individual shops, we had almost 2,500 more service calls. More impressively, the average time it took to complete service calls dropped from 10.59 days in November 2021 (the month we began the shift to zones) to 4.23 days in November 2023. I attribute these decreases to both the preventive maintenance and the increased teamwork that have resulted from moving to zones.
FBG accounts for the majority of our staff, but we can’t forget about the tremendous contributions from the rest of FPCM.
Finally, we are continuing our efforts to refresh AiM and FixIt. These systems touch every part of FPCM, meaning successful completion of this project is critical. Once we’ve reached the finish line, we’ll have created a system that better empowers our customers, increases technician productivity, helps managers improve operations, and strengthens our ability to collect and report on data and trends. We’ve already spent over 650 hours on this project already and I thank all those who have helped ensure we stay on schedule and on budget.
Your participation in these projects and our daily operations is essential. Without you, we can’t serve GW, let alone continue our journey to improve our processes. Thanks for everything you’re doing and here’s to a fantastic year ahead!
All the best,
Baxter
We’ve tallied up the totals for 2023 and we’ve got three trophies to hand out for the most Five Star FixIt reviews! In total, 119 separate people received over 400 kudos from customers last year. That’s a lot of appreciation to go around! Thank you all for making 2023 a customer service success and congratulations to Souk Vongs, Brian Johnson, and Terry Branch! We’ll connect with you to make sure you get your trophies. Final results for the top ten are below.
Souk Vongs – 16
Brian Johnson – 14
Terrence Branch – 14
Carl Bryant – 12
Raymond Wallace – 12
Jose Ventura – 11
Christopher Gammon – 10
Jose Melgar – 9
Julio Martinez – 9
Nestor Fuentes – 9
A round of applause for this weeks Kudos recipients!
We encourage you to read all emails sent to university employees, but we realize it’s easy to miss the details in the barrage of content sometimes. Below we’ve compiled a few highlights from recent editions of the GW Information Technology Newsletter, GWell, and Digital Download.
GWIT’s newsletter
New myGW
The myGW website and GW Mobile app are being redesigned to streamline access to the university’s online services. The new myGW mobile app is also now available for download in the mobile app stores, replacing the existing mobile app. The current GW Mobile app will continue to function until February 1st. Stay up-to-date on rollout details at the New myGW initiatives page. Access the new myGW prior to the official cutover on February 1st by visiting go.gwu.edu/mygw.
HR’s monthly newsletter.
New Year, New Deals With TicketsatWork
Whether you are looking to celebrate the new year or to plan your next vacation, TicketsatWork has many deals for GW employees to explore this January on flights and hotels, clothing and accessories, choices for maintaining your physical, mental, and financial wellness, and much more! To sign up at no cost, click become a member and enter our company code: GWU.
Benefits Tips and Reminders for the New Year
The 2024 Benefits Tips and Reminders (PDF) is now available to help you start the new year with the most up-to-date benefits information. This document provides step-by-step instructions for how to begin using your newly elected benefits for 2024 such as how to access your medical ID cards, how to contact our benefits’ vendor partners, how to create online accounts with vendor partners, and how to fill a prescription if you have yet to receive your ID card. You’ll also learn about important FSA deadlines and more! As you take some time to review the information provided, remember that you can always contact us for assistance with any questions regarding your 2024 benefit elections.
Quick tips from GW Communications & Marketing Digital Support
Emma Mass Email Overview
January 10, 2024 | 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Learn how you can connect with your audience using Emma, GW’s university-wide mass email tool. This training will cover the user login process, contact management, and Emma’s drag-and-drop campaign editor. Register for the Emma Training.
Each week we’ll be sharing the upcoming training and professional development opportunities available here at GW.
Wednesday 1/17
FBG Quarterly Safety Training
Join us for this quarter’s safety training, which will focus on Lockout Tagout Red Tag. Lockout Tagout, or LOTO, is the de-energizing and securing of equipment, machinery, or processes so hazardous energy isn’t re-introduced during servicing or repair. This includes closing electrical circuits and valves, neutralizing extreme temperatures, and the process of affixing a label, or tag, that communicates information about what’s being done to the machine or equipment and why it’s important. This training will specifically focus on Red Tag; alerting employees not to operate tagged equipment. In order to ensure that this training is accessible to as many people as possible, participants can choose to attend either the morning or afternoon session.
Session One
Session Two
Thursday, 1/18
Let’s Talk Privacy! General Privacy Awareness Workshop
Join us and learn how to be responsible and transparent in the way we collect, maintain, and use Personally Identifiable Information (PII). This workshop will provide you with a better understanding of the essentials of Privacy, including individual responsibility to use PII only for authorized purposes and to protect it from loss.
Each week we’ll be sharing the upcoming training and professional development opportunities available here at GW.
Monday 1/16
APPA – Leadership Academy
Are you looking to become a more effective leader? Appas course on Facilities management may be for you. This is a 4 level course provides users the skills to change and develop organizations helping to guide and manage the assets of the institution.
Level I Helps your institution achieve sustained superior results by focusing on making individual leaders more effective. The most successful teams and organizations are led and driven by the character, strengths, and talents of their individual members.
Level II Focuses on understanding the dynamics of working together and successful ways to sustain trust which can be used to support successful relationships and team efforts.
In level III Participants develop and strengthen leadership skills while learning basic principles for organizational and managerial effectiveness. Attendees experience a dynamic learning environment utilizing engaging discussion groups, learning games, discovery exercises, synergy, and project collaboration.
Level IV Prepares you with the organizational skills needed to sit at the table in order to provide excellent learning environments.
Time: 8:30am – 11:30am
11:30am – 3:30pm
Location: Virtual
Register now
Wednesday 1/17
FBG Quarterly Safety Training
Join us for this quarter’s safety training, which will focus on Lockout Tagout Red Tag. Lockout Tagout, or LOTO, is the de-energizing and securing of equipment, machinery, or processes so hazardous energy isn’t re-introduced during servicing or repair. This includes closing electrical circuits and valves, neutralizing extreme temperatures, and the process of affixing a label, or tag, that communicates information about what’s being done to the machine or equipment and why it’s important. This training will specifically focus on Red Tag; alerting employees not to operate tagged equipment. In order to ensure that this training is accessible to as many people as possible, participants can choose to attend either the morning or afternoon session.
Session One
Session Two
Kicking off the year with Kudos!! Congratulations to our first 2024 recipients!
We encourage you to read all emails sent to university employees, but we realize it’s easy to miss the details in the barrage of content sometimes. Below we’ve compiled a few highlights from recent editions of GWell, Focus on Yourself Fridays, and The GW Staff Council Pillars Newsletter.
HR’s monthly newsletter.
Faculty and Staff Meal Plans
Faculty & Staff Meal Plans are available again for the Spring 2024 semester! These plans come at a discounted price for Faculty & Staff and are paid for through payroll deduction (either biweekly or monthly). The deadline to enroll in a plan will be January 12, 2024; no changes can be made after a plan is selected. To learn more about how to sign-up, pay for, and use a Faculty & Staff Meal Plan please visit the dining website.
Resources to help you develop professionally.
LinkedIn Learning
This past year, Focus on Yourself Fridays provided LinkedIn Learning recommendations in each newsletter. The most popular LinkedIn Learning recommendation was Event Planning Foundations.
Other popular courses included Emotional Intelligence Basics, and Leading without Formal Authority.
The official newsletter for GW’s Staff Council.
Learn How to Make Your Work More Accessible
There are ways that you can make your work more accessible to everyone who encounters it, including those with disabilities. Below are some ways you can learn more about making content usable and accessible.
FPCM Senior Associate Vice President Baxter Goodly sent along the following message to FPCM staff for the holidays.
Team,
We’re coming to the end of 2023 and I can say with confidence that another Fall semester filled with service improvements and major projects has earned all of you a restful Winter Break. These last several months at GW have been marked by significant events, including the introduction of a new university president, the initiation of a substantial effort to revitalize AiM, and the execution of one of the most well-organized move-ins in recent memory.
Your dedication and hard work have truly charted our course for the year, making it a period of transformation and unparalleled productivity (a claim I’m proud to report is backed up by the numbers). Each of you has played a crucial role in the success of our endeavors, and I am immensely proud to be part of such a dynamic and committed team.
As we reflect on the achievements of 2023, I am filled with optimism about the future. The challenges we faced were met with resilience and collaboration, setting the stage for a promising New Year. Looking ahead to 2024, I anticipate more impressive milestones to come, many of which I can’t predict as they will be the result of your own creativity and planning in the face of unexpected circumstances. Together, we will continue to enhance the campus environment and provide the best possible support for our university community.
Many of you will be on campus during the break, ensuring the smooth operation of our facilities and the well-being of our students. I acknowledge your dedication and hard work, and I hope that amidst your responsibilities, you find moments of joy with your loved ones.
Wishing you all a safe and rejuvenating break. Be well, stay safe, and I look forward to reconnecting with you all in 2024!
All the best,
Baxter
