July 10, 2003

By Matt Kelly

Is mass e-mail the best way to communicate benefit news with the general faculty?

This was one of the questions Yoke San Reynolds, vice president for finance, explored with the General Faculty Council on Tuesday.

"We want feedback on communication," she said.

Reynolds, who had been invited to the council meeting to discuss several questions related to benefits, said that with state budget cuts and new systems such as Oracle, there are new ways of doing business and communicating.

Mass e-mails can quickly reach many people at the University, Reynolds said, "but people get too much e-mail now. How do we get people to pay attention?"

Several council members agreed about the volume of mail, but suggested that information be posted on the human relations Web site and then a short mass e-mail be distributed to alert people to the posting. Others complained that some of the issues are too complicated to understand as written and said someone should be available to answer questions.

Thomas Gausvik, chief human resource officer, said his department used to spend $100,000 a year on postage and related supplies to mail information to employees at home. Mass e-mails are now getting the same information out with 98 percent success. But with 12,000 employees eligible for benefits, that 2 percent missed represented a lot of people, he said. The department’s Web site, http://www.hrs.virginia.edu/, is due for its first overhaul in about three years.

"We don’t mind communicating 10 different ways, but we want them to be effective," he said. "It’s hard to simplify some things, but you don’t want to insult people by writing it for a sixth-grader."

Some council members suggested setting up a chat room at the Web site where questions on benefits and polices could be answered. Reynolds said an interactive site with links to various University policies is planned. Council member William C. Keene Jr., a research professor in environmental sciences, complained that changes had been made to posted policies without alerting employees. Another representative, Chris Milner, an assistant professor in the School of Engineering, was concerned about the widespread use of Social Security numbers in employee records and the security of these records. Gausvik assured him they are phasing out using Social Security numbers as identifiers.

At the same time, with interactive systems such as Oracle, people can make base amendments to their records, such as address changes and beneficiary additions, directly without having to fill out additional paperwork, Reynolds said.

There were also extensive discussions about the University’s health plan not covering over-the-counter medications, particularly non-sedating antihistamines used by allergy sufferers, and how disabilities claims are allocated with privately funded research projects.

There was also a discussion of health insurance for employees working half time, which the General Faculty Council has advocated.