“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.  The secret to getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting on the first one.”  – Mark Twain

Happy New Year to you and your family! As we begin a new year I hope you are feeling refreshed, renewed, and ready to accomplish some of the goals you have set for yourself, both personally and professionally.

I’m a list-maker myself so being able to accomplish tasks, even small ones, and check them off my list makes me feel like I’m making progress. One goal I have set for this year is to get the Employee Update sent out twice per month (watch for it to hit your inbox the 1st and 3rd Friday). If you have content you think would be relevant for the update, please send it my way!

What goals have you set for yourself for 2018? Do you tend to set goals and then give up part way through the year? If you are still working on defining your goals, aim to make them S.M.A.R.T goals to help you stay on track and attain them this year. Wishing you a successful 2018!

Specific: Is it a clear and direct statement?

Measurable: How will I know when the goal is achieved? What am I aiming for?

Attainable: Is it challenging enough to stretch me, yet realistic enough that it could be achieved?

Relevant: Is it something that fits with my role and something that I can do?

Timely: What is the timeframe to achieve this goal? By a certain month? End of the year?

 

Milestone Birthdays

Kurt Schimek, Farm Service Elevator General Manager celebrated a milestone birthday recently.  To help him celebrate the FSE office dressed up in their ugly Christmas sweaters.

The LSI Accounting department was also celebrating this past week with co-worker, Renae Chermak, accountant for MinnWest.  Her co-workers decorated her cubicle with streamers and balloons and gave her a bouquet of dead flowers.

 

Spotlight on Benefits

Welcome Kim Mason-Welle!

Kim started with us at the end of November in the role of Compensation & Benefits Manager.  She brings an impressive depth of knowledge and experience to our team from a comprehensive career in Human Resources.  Kim’s strengths particularly shine when it comes to benefits and compensation, also known as “Total Rewards” in the HR world.  She is quickly getting up to speed learning payroll, benefits and comp systems and programs we have in place.  We look forward to her leadership helping us continue to grow and enhance our services in this function going forward.

You can expect to see more information coming throughout this year from your HR team highlighting our benefits programs, perks, and trends.  Part of Kim’s role is to bring more awareness to options and services available to employees and to increase our collective knowledge as health care consumers.  She’ll also continue to analyze our total rewards plan designs in our effort to provide the most competitive package we can for our most valued resource: our people.

You can reach Kim via email at Kim.Masonwelle@life-scienceinnovations.com or call her at 320.222.5717

 

2017 Year-End Tax Forms:  W2s and 1095-C Forms to Employees

As a new year has started, along with tax season, the human resource department has already received requests for 2017 W2s.  The IRS stipulates that employers are required to furnish employee W2s by January 31st of each year so expect to see your W2 by the end of January.  Please refrain from asking for your W2 to be provided to you earlier than January 31st, as we are working to have them distributed to everyone as quickly as possible.

In addition, the IRS has extended the due date for employers to provide form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, to employees by March 2, 2018.  Because of the extension, some employees may not receive this form by the time they are ready to file their 2017 tax return.  Employees may rely on other information received from us or other coverage providers for purposes of filing their tax returns, as it is not necessary to wait to receive these forms before filing tax returns.

Recruiting Corner

Happy New Year Everyone!  If you or someone you know is looking for a career change in 2018, we welcome your referrals!  Below is a listing of our current positions and status of our recruiting process, but you can ALWAYS check out our Employment Page listings online ANY time of year at http://life-scienceinnovations.com/employment/#openings. We update these listings at least once a week!

Openings

Current status of all organizational openings.

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Welcome New Employees

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Employee Count

As of 1/5/18 we have 2,014 employees

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Human Resources

The Human Resources/Employee Services Team specializes in benefits and payroll, compliance and policy, employee relations, legal compliance, and company & employee overall well-being. We are located on the first floor of Life-Science Innovations on the MinnWest campus at 1800 Technology Drive. We look forward to working with you!

Please message us via email at employee.services@life-scienceinnovations.com or give us a call at

320.222.9515 or 888.320.9750 extension 2515