Office Resources (Under Construction)

Loaner laptops

• Staff may reserve loaner laptops for work through Google calendar under Rooms → (Laptop). Please always do this before taking one. The laptops are kept in the filing cabinet across from the Corner Conference room, and require an active MIT kerberos account is required to login. Refer to J-PAL's Computer Policy or contact IT for more information.

Conference lines

• Staff can reserve conference lines for phone calls with external partners through Google calendar under Rooms → (Conference Line). Always reserve a conference line when you use it to avoid multiple people using the same line at the same time. Helpful tip: Please never share the conference line pin number with external partners, as it can be confusing if multiple people try to “host” the call. Policy and RET teams have their own Zoom accounts, which can also be reserved through Google calendar as conference lines.

Conference and Meeting rooms/ Open Office and Open Desks

Staff who do not have a private office can book a conference room for internal or external meetings and calls that last more than a few minutes. This can be done through Google calendar under Rooms 

• • For non-J-PAL meeting spaces, you can book Rooms E19-202, E19-607, and E19-709.  These are all available through the online reservation form: https://classrooms.mit.edu/classrooms/#/choose.

  • When staff travel, we encourage them to let their colleagues know that their space is available by adding it to the Global Open Rooms calendar.  You can find instructions here.

Lactation rooms

• • The nearest Lactation Room is located on the third floor of E18 (Rm 317) (http://whereis.mit.edu/?go=E18).  Instructions for reserving this room can be found here.

Collaborative Area

• The collaborative area is the large, open area with yellow walls in the middle of the office. There are lounge chairs and tables where staff can work quietly, read, or work together on projects. As the collaborative area is in the middle of an open office, so it shouldn’t be used for large group meetings or lunches, and noise should be kept to a minimum.

Printers

• Global’s printers are named: ‘Main Street Color,’ ‘Main Street B&W,’ and ‘Collaborative Wall B&W’.

  • Toner cartridges and printer paper are located in the white cabinet near the printer. If you use the last of the toner of a certain color, please put in a request through the Supplies/Maintenance Requests form to order more. 

Listservs

• J-PAL has numerous listservs to make email communication easier and more efficient. Typing keywords into a new message in Gmail will make a list of relevant listservs appear. Examples of J-PAL Global listservs include:

  1. Global_[vertical]_staff@povertyactionlab.org [Ex: Global_admin_staff@povertyactionlab – all the Global admin staff]

  2. Global_[vertical]_[level]@povertyactionlab.org [Ex: Global_policy_managers@povertyactionlab.org - all Global policy managers]

  3. Global_staff@povertyactionlab.org - all Global staff

• Examples of J-PAL listservs include:

  1. Design@povertyactionlab.org - for the design team at Global

  2. Help@povertyactionlab.org - for the IT team at Global

  3. Webteam@povertyactionlab.org - for the website team at Global

  4. Salesforce@povertyactionlab.org - for the Salesforce team at Global

  5. Sectors@povertyactionlab.org - for J-PAL initiative and sector staff

  6. jobs@povertyactionlab.org – for job-related inquiries

• Randomhelp@googlegroups.com is an external listserv used by J-PAL/IPA and affiliated staff to share research resources, crowd-source problems, and more. Sign up with your J-PAL/IPA email account.

  1. If you would like to join with your PAL email address or using a different email address or you know someone else who would like to join, please request to be added here. When joining, please fill in the mandatory field with your affiliation.

• The J-PAL/IPA Alumni (jpal-and-ipa-alumni@googlegroups.com) Google group supports communication within the larger community of current and former J-PAL/IPA employees. Most of the postings are for job openings, though occasionally they are on other topics. Sign up with your personal email account and please list your affiliation (J-PAL or IPA). In order to sign in with your personal email address, you must be logged into your personal gmail account. Sign up here if you do not have a personal gmail account. Once you’re signed in, go to this link and click “Apply for Membership.” Requests will be approved in 1-2 business days. If you do not include your affiliation for the alumni group, you will not be accepted.

• MIT also has various listservs that can be helpful to opt into:

  1. Webmoira is the server on which staff can subscribe to listservs. In order to subscribe, search for keywords like: 

     1. Summer-micro-lunch – the MIT Dept. of Economics holds weekly pizza lunches during the summer where graduate students can practice presenting their work.

     2. Vultures – MIT community members send a message to this list when they have an event and there is food left over that is up for grabs. 

     3. Free-food – this list is also for MIT community members to advertise free food options in and around campus. 

• To learn more about listservs moderation and management go here and here. 

Chatter

• Chatter is a social network on Salesforce, and Chatter Groups are groups linked by a common cause or interest. On Chatter, staff can add posts, links, documents, tag other staff, and comment on and like other people’s posts. The best way to understand how to use Chatter is to scroll through old Chatter posts and see what’s there.

• In general, chatter is great for sharing non-urgent, interesting/relevant news/information with staff. Chatter is not great for sharing time-sensitive information or private communications.

Supply closet

• There is an office supply closet on the North America’s end of the office space, directly across from Mary the Corner Conference room(Room 203). Staff may use any items found in the closet or the adjacent wooden bookshelf to the left of the closet when facing the closet. Please take a very thorough look through the closet before asking anyone where it is or requesting an item.

• J-PAL stocks a plethora of office supplies like pens, paper clips, staplers, scissors and more, but also items like tampons, ibuprofen and band aids. This closet also houses items for events, like the J-PAL branded retractable banner and backdrop, or slideshow clickers. If something is running low or out, please put in a request for new items through the Supplies/Maintenance Requests form.

J-Café

• J-PAL provides numerous kitchen amenities for staff to use, including mugs, plates, silverware, hot drink like coffee and tea, condiments, and cleaning supplies. 

• Please treat the kitchen as you would your house. Suggested behavior includes:

  • Making more coffee when you finish a pot

  • Cleaning any spills you make

  • Not leaving dishes in the sink or drying rack for too long

  • Wiping down table if you leave crumbs 

• If you take the last of something (tea, paper plate, cup, etc.), request that more be ordered through the Supplies/Maintenance Requests form

• There are four places in the office to get hot and/or cold water: 

  • Electric kettle on the counter in J-CAFÉ

  • Cold/hot instant water dispenser on the counter in J-CAFÉ to the left of the fridges 

  • Cold/hot instant water dispenser next to the collaborative wall printer station

  • Cold/hot instant water dispenser on the table on the Global side by the back door

Food

• J-PAL Global has fruit delivered to our office each week. The fruit lives on the coffee table under the TV/next to the credenza on Global’s side of the office.

• On Wednesday mornings, J-PAL provides donuts and bagels for staff in J-CAFÉ.

• Communal food (often leftover from events and meetings) is usually labeled.

J-POL (practice out loud) brown bags

• These are usually 30-60 minute staff-led, relatively informal sessions to share information with each other. Topics have ranged from teaching Excel tips and tricks to leading a discussion on the generalizability of evidence across different contexts to sharing best practices in a stakeholder engagement or on a project. Any staff can schedule a J-POL by creating an event on the calendar, booking the Large Conference room, and sending the invite via the Global_staff@povertyactionlab.org listserv.

J-PAL Purchasing and Travel credit cards 

• J-PAL NA has two sets of credit cards that can be used by staff for J-PAL NA-related purchases both around the Boston/Cambridge area (purchasing card/ProCard, grey) and travel outside of Boston/Cambridge (travel credit card, black). Select F&O team members have these two cards. Staff should approve the expense with their direct manager before requesting to use the cards.

• MIT is tax-exempt, as are the ProCards, so sales tax should never be charged when using the card and staff must return an itemized receipt to the card owner when done with the card. Please refer to this page for more information on using the ProCard. 

Salesforce

• J-PAL uses Salesforce to officially store information such as: contacts, events, calls, meetings, publications, projects, funding, working papers, sub-awards, and other information. Staff should talk with their supervisor about how they are expected to use Salesforce in their role. 

• Refer to the Salesforce section for user guides and reference.

Mailing Physical Mail and Packages

• Please leave all outgoing mail in the mailbox at the Reception Desk

• To ship packages through MIT, email MIT Mail Services at mailsvc@mit.edu or call 617-253-6000 to schedule a pickup.

  • If you are sending a package from Global, please request the correct cost object to use from Anna Omura.

  • If you are sending a package from North America, please request the correct cost object to use from Sarah Orzalli.

• Please refer to this page for more information.

Faxing

• J-PAL uses HelloFax for sending and receiving faxes

• Ask Jonathan Rowe or any member of the Global Admin Team for the username and password.

• Once logged in, go to the box under "Send a fax" to insert the document you want to fax as an attached file, an upload from Drive, Dropbox, or other options, or drag and drop. 

  • Under "Enter a Fax Number", type in the recipient's fax number and press "send."