UMass Lowell is committed to reducing our carbon footprint and thinking about new ways to conduct business in a more environmentally friendly manner. There are a few significant ‘Green Initiatives’ that are being introduced as part of the continued rollout of the upgraded Human Resource system, called HR Direct. While these are ‘Green Initiatives’, they are also changes which benefit employees and improve the efficiency of our operations.
Green Initiative #1 – You Don’t Need Our Advice to Go Green!:
HR Direct allows employees to view their pay advice online and is also available a day earlier than the printed advice. Employees are encouraged to voluntarily opt out of receiving a printed pay advice. To turn your pay advice GREEN please send an email to hr@uml.edu stating you’d like to stop receiving a printed pay advice.
Green Initiative #2 – Direct Deposit of Travel Reimbursements & Advances:
Beginning with the October 16th payroll, employees will now receive travel reimbursements & advances directly in your bi-weekly pay check. This will have a positive environmental impact as UMass will eliminate multiple cycles of printing and distribution of reimbursement checks. Employees get the benefit of having a single process to receive paychecks and reimbursements from the University.
Green Initiative #3 ‘ Self-Service Time Reporting:
Almost 500 employees are currently reporting their time via HR Direct self service and no longer are completing paper timesheets. This significant reduction in paperwork will save users and departments from printing, authorizing, and storing all this paper. This alone will reduce our campus consumption of paper by an estimated 100,000 sheets per year. The Human Resource Office expects to roll this out to all departments by the end of the year.