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ARS Home » Plains Area » Sidney, Montana » Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory » NPARL Docs » Employee Resources

 

 

Employee Resources

General Employee Information:
• Axon (Intranet) • Benefits • Directories • Emergency • GOV-Fuel • Government Property •  Health & Safety •  Manuscripts / Projects • Pay & Leave • Policies • Purchasing • Training • Travel / Relocation • SharePoint • Visitors(Citizen/Non-Citizen)  

Miscellaneous Information: 
• Calendars • FAQ's • Images •  Libraries • Property

Standard Operating Procedures for administrative procedures can be found at P:\Admin\SOPs

General Employee Information:

  • Employee Information      
  • Employees Invest in ARS
    • Your Two Cents - Share your ideas, best practices and innovations for your work, your office & your organization. Put your two cents out there for Agency leaders (and all of ARS if you choose!) and tune back in for discussion and appropriate actions in the coming months.
    • USDA Connection - USDA's social networking capability. Sign in using your e-auth

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  • Pay and Leave

Time Sheet| EOP| EPP| Leave Transfer Program| Overtime Authorization| Comp Time

    • Where is my time sheet?
      Employees can now access their timesheets online through NFC's WebTA at https://wta.nfc.usda.gov/usda/. Partial hours are recorded in 15 minute increments. See SOP (PDF; 20 KB, dated July 2013) for more information in PDF format.  

      • Your regular scheduled work hours must be accounted for each day. Time can be recorded using different transaction codes; either 01-regular hours worked, 61-annual leave (vacation), 62-sick leave, 62-62-family sick leave, 29- or 50-credit, 32 or 64-compensatory, 32-78/64-78-travel compensatory or other (66-federal holiday, 71-LWOP). 

      • See the Administrative Officer if you need to change the number of hours you are scheduled to work.

    • Pay and Leave Resources (AFM) - (ARS employees see Axon)
    • Salary Tables - OPM (Scroll toLocality Pay Area: Rest of United States)
Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF) Access - use MS Internet Explorer to access this self-service tool that enables you to electronically view and print your OPF documents, and to update your vital Emergency Data. 
Web address: https://eopf.opm.gov/usda
 

Travel Steps| Travel Card| Contributed or Foreign| Relocation

What do you need to do for travel? (Click highlighted text below for PDF)
 

NPARL Travel Procedures (PDF; 54 KB)  

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Miscellaneous Information

  • Calendars
  • USDA ARS Events Calendar   
  • AgNIC
      
  • Frequently Asked Questions for New Employees

    • What are the office hours?
      Core office hours are 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM, although employees are allowed a flexible schedule with supervisor permission.

    • How many people are employed here?
      There are 47 permanent full time employees. During the summer season, employment can increase up to 70-75 people.

    •  What to do if I am expecting a visitor (U.S. citizen)?
             All visitors must sign in at the front desk and receive a visitors badge.

    • How often do I get paid?
      Paychecks are issued bi-weekly and you will receive your first pay check 3 weeks after you begin duty.  

    • How do I access the Sidney, MT SharePoint site? (use MS Internet Explorer only)
      Go to https://e.arsnet.usda.gov/sites/PA/npa/sidney and sign on using your email ID and password.

    • How do I access the ARS Intranet? Click on Axon, use the same username and password as your e-mail, typically usda\first.lastname.

  • Property

  • Can I use work computers or other government property for personal use?
    Please read P&P 253.4. More information is at USDA Ethics Training and also see Plains Area Ethics page.

  • What do I do if I need to remove government owned items off location?
    A Property Pass (Form AD-873) must be on file. Please check with the property management officer or administrative officer for further questions .

  • How do I get repair or maintenance done in my office or lab?
    Fill out a work order (PDF; 240 KB) and turn in to the maintenance department.

  • How do I get keys to perform my duties in other buildings?
    See standard procedures for key dissemination (PDF; 103 KB).

  • What to do if I am expecting a visitor (U.S. citizen)?
         All visitors must sign in at the front desk and receive a visitors badge.

  • Where can I look for a permanent federal job?