EVPECC Council Minutes for December 20, 2007

Attendees:
Dawn Brennan, ITC
Loretta Cronk, President’s Office
Audrey Dodson, Human Resources
Jennie James, Audit
Sarah McComb, Student Housing
Dave Morgan, Facilities Management
Diddy Morris, Architect
Seana Pernice-Kowalczyk, Police Department
Barbara Prettyman, Development
Laura Sprung, ITC
Reggie Steppe, Facilities Management
Betsy Thompson, Parking Operations
Shannon Wampler, Procurement Services
Sheila Williams, Printing and Copy Services

Missy Brads, Budget, ex officio
Beth Reinhard, HR ex officio
Kathleen Jump, EVP-COO, ex officio

 

Council Business

Old Business:

Follow Up on Survey from Leadership Retreat – Laura will follow up as to whether a survey was ever sent out, and if not, if one will be sent out

Guest Speaker:

Jim Traub, Project Manager - HR Restructuring, spoke on the status of Restructuring:

    • Has spoken to other employee councils
    • In light of the loss of the print version of Inside UVA, HR is facing challenges with how to communicate with employees, particularly those without computer access
    • Restructuring:
      • Key effort:  putting together employee task forces to develop career paths and policies (compensation, performance, leave, employment policy; A&P faculty)
      • Career Path Task Forces:  15-16 task forces, targeting 200 people, with broad representation vertically and horizontally.  Have 190 nominations already, about 50 of which are self-nominated.  Nominations are still being accepted. 
        • Timeline:
          • Jan:  Send the preliminary committee lists to schools / units by the end of the week; committee orientation.
          • Jan – March:  committee work; internal review / comments;
          • June:  distribution of committee proposals for public comment
          • July:  committees reconvene to finalize proposals
          • September:  enrollment for University staff and classified staff who wish to opt-in.  Enrollment window will be 90 days.  Classified staff can opt in: there is no mandate to switch; at minimum, will have the ability to opt in every two years.
      • Policies Task Forces:  5 task forces with roughly 7 members per task force.  Membership has already been determined.   Smaller in size than the career path task forces.
        • Will address benefits, compensation, performance policies
        • Similar timeline as career path task forces.         
      • Separate task force / group  will study the infrastructure impacts of having a new class of employees as there are three groups affected:
        • Classified Staff
        • University Staff
        • A&P faculty who wish to become University staff

Updates:

  • HR (Beth Reinhard): none
  • Office of the EVP /COO (Kathleen Jump):
    • Public Affairs has two projects underway in which Kathleen is involved.  
      • Committee to ensure that all employees have access to computers now that InsideUVA will no longer be printed.
      • Process Simplification is taking an inventory of all print publications at the University
    • A reminder that the University has a policy directory for all policies http://www.virginia.edu/uvapolicies/
    • Audit has seen double reimbursements for travel, which is a big no-no; has arisen in cases where an outside agency covers the employee’s costs for attending an event and then the employee separately submits a travel reimbursement request to the University.  Questions as to how to handle general stipends awarded to faculty or staff for participating in an event should be directed to your Dean or Vice President’s office.  If unable to resolve there, call the Audit Department for guidance.   
  • ITC (Aron Teel): 
    • Re: the new exchange / calendaring / email transition
    • The project started as an opt-in system for departments that needed extra features.  It quickly grew into the alternative choice for Oracle Calendar.
    • CorporateTime/Oracle Calendar will be retired on January 15, 2008
    • ITC has informational website, trainings, demonstrations and other resources to help departments/individuals with transition.
    • ITC- training has made on-line training available to all new users.  They can also be contacted for additional training help.  You may direct inquiries to email exchange-consult@virginia.edu.

 

Guest Speaker:

  • Brad Holland, University Ombudsman, spoke on the role of the Ombudsman at the University
    • Outgrowth of a need to address issues and problems that cannot be handled through normal channels.
    • Provides resources (where to go for help)
    • Offers mediation / “shuttle diplomacy” services
    • Deals with issues / concerns of faculty, staff and students
    • Conversations are confidential. 
    • Sees about 400-500 cases / year; major issues are: employee(s) who feel they have been treated unfairly; breakdowns in communication; student issues; disability issues; calls from parents.  Approx. 40% of cases are staff; 30% are faculty; and 30% are students. 
    • Has a need to make services of the Office more known to the University community; would like ideas on how to best make this information available

 

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 17th, at 1:30 pm in Conf Room B (first floor) of 400 Ray C. Hunt Drive.