Tuesday, October 2, 2012

HR Design Meeting: The Community Speaks

My sources tell me that Varsity Hall in Union South was completely packed for today's meeting on HR Design.  At this "informational session" the HR team spoke for 60 minutes, leaving just 30 minutes for Q & A.

During that time, 18 people were able to ask questions.  Here's the list-- some people repeated a question when the first iteration did not get a satisfactory answer  I'm told the most frequent responses  from the team were "There is no easy answer" and "There is no one answer."
  1. If there is a perception of hierarchy [between the academic and classified staff], why has the faculty not been included in this process?
  2. In which category (academic or the new university staff) do the trades fit?  Will pay increases (living wage?) be honored?
  3. How was data used in these plans?  
  4. What are the current plans for staff diversity?
  5. What does governance mean for university (classified) staff? 
  6. How are salaries affected by the compensation plans (flexibility and living wages)? 
  7. What is university staff governance?  It is compared to the academic staff version, but many of us don't know what that means.
  8. What are the advantages of moving or staying in the current classified staff system?
  9. Which changes apply to student hourlies?  Does the living wage apply?
  10. What is the difference between a student living wage and the living wage mentioned for other staff?
  11. The faculty are managers, but have no training.  How will they be held accountable?
  12. How will employees and managers be held accountable?
  13. The HR committee needs to realize faculty are not interested in HR and the hierarchy will not disappear.  They are overwhelmed and have no time for administrative tasks.  They need more support.  You can't expect that type of cultural change from a training.
  14. What is the minimum living wage?
  15. What if these changes doesn't get approved in time, and implementation is held up?
  16. How are retiring staff affected?
  17. How is collective bargaining affected?
  18. What assurance do we have that merit pay is not another form of favoritism?  We need a system that is fair to everyone.

These are good questions. I wonder how many people on campus even know this process is occurring...