Dear Colleagues,

In our previous update, we announced that the new employee self-service portal, R’Employee Services, will launch on January 12, 2026. To ensure that the portal truly meets the needs of UCR employees, UCR Human Resources (HR), in partnership with Information Technology Solutions (ITS), conducted a soft launch to stress-test the R’Employee Services portal in a real-world environment. Thanks to the active engagement we received from our HR partners, SSC leaders, and subject matter experts, during soft launch we were able to identify areas for improvement. With their help, we were able to determine key enhancements that would improve the user experience.

That being said, we are extending the soft launch until April 30, 2026. Over the coming weeks, we will be engaging our HR Partners and SSCs in the following:

●    Extended User Acceptance Testing (UAT): This will allow us to validate complex real-world scenarios together.

●    End-to-End Process Walkthroughs: We will conduct "Process Clinics" to validate the entire journey—from the moment an employee submits a request in the portal to the final processing within the SSC. We must ensure every hand-off is seamless.

●    Refining the Experience: We will work together to ensure that the portal's communications and workflows reflect our commitment to a person-centered HR experience.

Thank You for Joining the Avanti Town Hall and R'Employee Portal Demo

We would like to express our appreciation to those who joined us for the Avanti Town Hall and R'Employee Portal Demo. The new go-live date is May 1, 2026. We look forward to sharing this updated schedule with you.

If you have questions or feedback about the changes, please send an email to hrpolicy@ucr.edu.

Let’s continue moving forward—together.

S. Alex Nájera, Chief HR Officer and Associate Vice Chancellor

Matthew Gunkel, Chief Information Officer and Associate Vice Chancellor