Program Highlights to Help Balance Work, Home, and Life

DIRECTIONS: Pre-Retirement Webinar Sessions

DIRECTIONS: Pre-Retirement Webinar Sessions are offered monthly on the third Tuesday and Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

On Tuesdays, speakers from Deferred Compensation, and pension (NY State & Local Retirement System) provide presentations.
On Wednesdays, speakers from Social Security, health insurance (Civil Service) provide presentations.

The webinars are for employees who are eligible to retire within five years.
Supervisory approval is required for employees to attend webinars during their normal workday.
There is no limit to the number of times and employee may attend the webinars.
Every agency also has an assigned DIRECTIONS: Pre-Retirement Planning liaison who can provide additional information regarding the webinars. Agency liaisons are listed on the website.
Employees have the option to select which webinar days to attend, and do not need to attend consecutive days in the same month. They may opt to attend the Tuesday webinars one month and the Wednesday webinars another month.
Employees may register through Are You Interested in Attending a DIRECTIONS: Pre-Retirement Planning Webinar?
The 11-chapter Self-Help Guide is emailed to participants and can be found on the WLS website, where it is updated each year in January. View the Self-Help Guide.

There are 29 child care centers located at various state sites across New York. Seventeen of these centers are located on SUNY campuses.
Enrollment priority is given to children of state employees and children of SUNY students.
Many centers provide school-age care for before and after school, vacation care, and summer camps.
Each center is a separate not-for-profit organization with a volunteer board of directors who sets policy and oversees the management of the program.
A list of the centers with contact information and a description of each center is available on the NYS Network Child Care Center page.

EAP offers information, assessment, and referral resources to help employees deal with the everyday issues involved in balancing work and life, as well as more serious problems that may impact work performance.
EAP services are confidential. With limited exceptions, no information may be released without the employee’s written consent, no records are kept, and the employee does not have to give their name or agency to the EAP coordinator.
EAP is available 24/7/365 for employees as well as family members at 1-800-822-0244 or online.
The use of EAP is voluntary; an employee cannot be mandated to use EAP services.
EAP is not a disciplinary process; it is used to help employees address work performance issues before they require disciplinary action.
An employee may speak with any NYS EAP coordinator; the coordinator does not have to be the coordinator for the employee’s agency.
EAP can assist individuals and agencies recovering

WellNYS Everyday is an EAP and WLS Wellness initiative dedicated to educating, engaging, and empowering New York State employees and their families, by encouraging participation in healthy behaviors.
Portals are available on the website for education and to track participation.
Every morning a new WellNYS Daily To-Do tip of the day is posted to the website and can to employees and family members. The tip provides creative suggestions and interesting facts, or inspiring quotes based on the current Monthly Challenge.
There is a Monthly Challenge participation program that offers employees and family members the opportunity to register and track a different healthy behavior for certain days each month.
The website features I Did It! and My First or Next 5K. Participants who self-nominate healthy behaviors are recognized on the website and inspire others by doing so.

Participating in wellness activities at work is highly encouraged with the NYS Walking Maps portal. The WellNYS in the Workplace provides over 50 ways to practice wellness while working.