At the beginning of each semester we ask you to start planning for your adjunct faculty (TFAC) hires and rehires for the next semester. Getting an early start will help to ensure employees have:
- Access to key systems and resources they need for their job.
- Sufficient time to set up and plan for their classes.
- The correct benefits elections for the summer.
Work Together and Submit Early
HR Contacts should partner with their area department chairs and/or undergraduate/graduate directors on their planning phase prior to the start of each semester. Open communication will help to reduce turnaround time.
- Create your PeopleAdmin Quick Hire links and postings early. The sooner you advertise, the sooner you can complete the hire. The HR deadline for an August 1 or January 1 hire date is typically at least a full month before class starts. Review the published HR deadlines to see this year’s deadlines.
- For Fall semester or academic year hires, begin the planning conversation in May/June and aim to have all hiring proposals at the status of “offer accepted/create onboarding” in PeopleAdmin no later than mid-July.
- Notify the Benefits Office immediately if you later determine that your TFAC will not return in the fall as you will be responsible for both the employer and employee share of unpaid premiums.
- For spring semester hires, the planning conversation should start in October and hiring proposals should be at the status of “offer accepted/create onboarding” in PeopleAdmin no later than mid-November (this is an earlier proposed deadline due to the winter holidays).
Consider August 1 and January 1 Start Dates
In planning and setting hire dates for instructors, departments may consider adjusting TFAC appointments to:
- August 1 for fall semester or academic year hires.
- January 1 for spring semester hires.
Why it matters: Instructors should be hired at least two weeks before the first day of class to ensure they have access to key systems and resources they need to prepare. This also ensures they are officially employed in time for faculty orientations, faculty reporting day and any department specific meetings or trainings.
Use Offer Letter Templates in PeopleAdmin
Always use the offer letter templates in PeopleAdmin.
Why it matters: Do not create your own offer letters because that increases room for error.
Tips For New Hires and Rehires Greater than 1 Year
- As soon as you move the hiring proposal to the workflow state of “offer accepted/create
onboarding,”immediately create the onboarding event to assign the faculty pre-hire task list
in PeopleAdmin.
- Why it matters: Delays with this step will negatively impact all future steps in the new hire process.
- Note: International TFACs must have their faculty pre-hire task list assigned by the Office for International Scholars. Do not assign onboarding for any TFAC who answered "I am not a U.S. Citizen" on their application.
- Remind employees of the “action required” [pdf] emails they will be receiving such as background checks and pre-hire tasks in People Admin.
- Communicate with the course scheduler. Let them know once the hire action for the instructor has been fully approved. The
scheduler will contact the Registrar’s Office to start the process of getting the
right courses associated to the instructor in the Blackboard system.
- Why it matters: This is an essential step toward getting them access to build their course sites. Learn more about Blackboard and why it’s so important.
- Use the following tools to help track progress being made toward completion of your hires:
- All HR Contacts have access to monitor TFAC progress on their pre-hire tasks in PeopleAdmin using this job aid [pdf].
- Supervisors may use this checklist [pdf] to monitor everything they (and the employee) needs to do to ensure successful onboarding is complete.
- The New Employee Guide spells out key steps, highlights time-sensitive actions and important deadline and provides a wealth of additional information to employees and supervisors.
Tips for Summer Hires
HR Contacts must notify the Benefits Office by April 22, 2022 about which TFAC employees who taught in the current spring semester will be returning in the upcoming fall semester.
- Follow these steps[pdf] to submit the required notification to Payroll through HCM PeopleSoft.
Why it matters: Benefits for TFACs will automatically terminate June 1, 2022 unless notification is received. If your TFAC employees should continue to receive benefits through the summer, you must notify the Benefit Office prior to the auto termination process for their spring appointment.