Civil Service Committee

Civil Service Committee
November 20, 1997
300 Morrill

Minutes Approved

A motion was made, seconded and unanimously passed approving the minutes from the Civil Service Committee Retreat held on October 23, 1997 at French Regional Park.

Yudof Meeting

Don Cavalier reported on the meeting held with President Yudof as it related to secretarial support for taking minutes at the Civil Service Committee meetings. It will be considered and they are looking for available options. The President's Office will get back to the committee. Don reported that the request of the President was either for a person or funds to support this activity of the committee.

Sub-Committee Reports

Advocacy Committee

Peggy Hamlin reported that a meeting had been held with Nancy Arneson and Leslie Bowman about the transfer of University civil service employees to Aramark. It was stressed in this meeting that the contract has not yet been signed and there are many issues yet to be negotiated. During that meeting it was stated that since Aramark is providing jobs for the civil service employees to transfer in to, it is not considered a layoff. Civil service employees currently doing work would have that work continued with Aramark, at the same pay. Aramark is still investigating options for health care coverage. Human Resources has expressed their interest in working with us to make sure the process and outcome are equitable.

After considerable discussion, a motion was made, seconded and passed that the Chair of the Civil Service Committee send a letter to President Yudof expressing the committee's concern about the impact outsourcing food services has on civil service employees, and requesting that the Civil Service Committee become involved at an early stage in future discussions occurring at the University which will have an impact on the civil service employee group.

Rules Committee

Mary Jane reported that two public hearings on the pending rule changes were held on November 11 and November 18. She stated that the turnout for these hearings was very low and disappointing. The rule changes will hopefully be finalized by the committee by January, and will then be sent forward to the President for review. It is expected that if all goes well at that level, the rules may be submitted for review on the agenda for the February Board of Regents meeting.

Communications Committee

Wendy reported that the Fall edition of In-Touch had been distributed this week. There is now a supply of stationery for use by Civil Service Committee members when writing on behalf of the committee. Wendy reported that civil service was represented at two new employee orientation sessions, and new employees were given some information about the committee and how to access our website. Mike Nelson will be taking over the responsibility for committee representation at these sessions.

Wendy reported that Human Resources has asked to put their memorandum on vacation payout on our web page. It was suggested that we wait a week after the memo has been distributed to everyone to make sure all the issues have been addressed before putting it on our web page. The communications committee is currently working on revising the home page to make it more user-friendly. Wendy asked that committee members take a look at the home page over the next week or so and provide her with any suggestions or input.

Compensation Committee

Mary Berg and Linda Smith reported that the compensation committee held a meeting on November 20, and another meeting is scheduled for December 9. At the Nov. 20th meeting, the committee reviewed the current compensation plan, noting that the vacation payout/loan information still needed to be clarified with payroll. Linda asked Dick Haney to address an issue which has arisen out of the use of an improper use of JEQs at the Duluth Campus. Dick reported that the Human Resources division on campus is still continuing to require that a JEQ be filled out when they receive a request for an in-range increase. Peggy Hamlin informed the committee that she had talked with Judith Karon on the Duluth campus several months ago about this issue, and was assured that this was NOT the practice.

The committee asked Carol Carrier to get clarification from Judith Karon on this issue, and will report back to the committee.

Linda reported that a draft plan has been developed for the 1998-99 compensation package, but further work is still needed. She is hoping to have a first draft to the Civil Service Committee at it's December meeting.

Linda further reported that discussions continue on the market study and the JEQ/Classification System, and further information will be presented to the committee at future meetings.

Professional Development Committee

Barb Nesheim presented a request for use of the professional development fund by a civil service employee. A motion was made, seconded and passed approving this request.

Public Relations Committee

Mike Nelson announced that 8 civil service employees have joined this committee as members. He presented an overview of how the committee will work over the next year to publicize and improve the image of the Civil Service Committee. He asked that every member of the committee submit a color photo of themselves by the next meeting so it can be used in a brochure about the committee. Mike informed the committee that if they did not have a picture, he would make arrangements for a group and individual photos to be taken before the December meeting.

Senate and Assembly Vacancies

The Kiosk and In Touch articles have generated interest in participation on these committees. Still needed are volunteers for the Social Concerns and Student Affairs committees. A motion was made, seconded and passed appointing Duane Nelson, Medical School, to the Intercollegiate Athletics committee; Rich Straumann to the Student Union Board of Governors committee, Catherine Forseide to the Dislocated Workers committee, and Jim Gregory to the Campus Safety and Security committee. Dick Haney will investigate whether or not the Senate provides travel funds if civil service employees from outstate campuses would like to participate on a committee.

Strategic Planning

Mary Jane announced that a Strategic Planning committee meeting will be scheduled within the next few weeks.

Past Chairperson's Update

Sue Weinberg reported that the purpose of this committee was to bring together past chairs to discuss issues on civil service employment, and asked the committee to pass along to her any suggestions for topics to be discussed with this group.

Human Resources Update

Carol Carrier presented an overview of the accomplishments to date that Human Resources has made in fulfilling some of the recommendations in the Denny Report. New programs such as an orientation for new chairs and department heads, a supervision training program, and the Administrative Excellence Program have been developed to improve managerial capacity.

Several recruiting tracks have been devised to streamline the hiring and recruiting process, such as the internal recruiting track, media recruiting track, virtual recruiting track, which will use automation to help with recruiting, search firm recruiting track, which would use outside search firms for recruiting purposes, college, business school and high school recruiting track, diversity recruiting track, and a student employment recruiting track, where we need to do a better job of creating the types of positions that will be a benefit to the student's career. Standards and measures need to be set through a planning, benchmarking and evaluating process.

Automation has help reduce paperflow, and as President Yudof has indicated, there will be more decentralization to the deans, but with accountability, which will help simplify policies and procedures.

The need to establish a compensation philosophy, define explicit principles, and build the capacity to administer it is being addressed with the establishment of the Compensation Office. The staff of this office will begin to address these issues through market studies on jobs.

Carol reported that a new employee orientation session has been established, which is mandatory for new employees, and cuts across all employee groups. Every employee needs the opportunity for professional development, and the Employee Career Enrichment Center has been established to help with this issue. These new developments should help enhance training, development and promotional opportunities at the University for existing staff.

The new, proposed HRMS (Human Resources Management System) will substantially change us and force us to look at how we do business all throughout the organization. It will help provide management with the information that supports decentralized management, decision-making, and accountability.

Carol reported that several themes developed while the Denny Commission was studying human resources at the University of Minnesota. The University needs to be better at defining roles and responsibilities for everybody, provide the necessary tools, upgrades, and training to employees, and properly "size" the employee base. There is also a strong sense that the University hasn't been successful in community building.

Carol stated that there may be too much "self-criticism" at the University; after all, we are successful at many things!

Legislative Update

Donna Peterson joined the committee to make a presentation on the process for presenting the University's legislative request to the Legislature. The next session begins on January 20 through mid-March, and will be dealing with the capital bonding bill. Donna reviewed the University of Minnesota's capital plan for the support of academic programs in the 21st Century. At the conclusion of her presentation, she said it was important to stay informed about what is developing at the Legislature about the University's capital request, indicating that access to this information is available on the following website: http://www.umn.edu/urelate/request. Also, she said it is important to contact your legislative representative about University issues. This can be done through the website established at http://www.leg.state.mn.us.

Civil Service Retreat

Don Cavalier passed out a list of the goals that were established at the Civil Service Committee Retreat held in October, together with an "aspirations list" of those items which committees may want to work on over the year outside of our stated goals.

Don asked that committee chairs take a look at the list to identify those items which they would like to add to their committee's discussions.

New Business

Don also announced that he would like to form a Legislative Committee, and has two committee members who have volunteered to be co-chair. He asked for volunteers from the Civil Service Committee to serve on this committee, and Barb Nesheim and Mary Yamashita indicated their interest. A motion was made, seconded and passed establishing this as a separate standing committee.

The issues of a parliamentarian for the committee was addressed, and it was decided that the secretary would perform this duty.

Don announced that a group picture of the Civil Service Committee members and alternates would be taken before the December meeting.

Visit with President Yudof

President Yudof visited with the committee, and presented a brief overview of the compact process which is currently underway. This process will include profiles on diversity issues for students and faculty, a look at ways to better the search process at the University, and will seek to establish more accountability with less regulation. President Yudof also addressed issues centering around the Aramark contract, his plans for reducing central administration, the development of new software systems, and centralization vs. decentralization.

At the conclusion of President Yudof's remarks, a certificate was presented to Susan Carlson Weinberg for her service as outgoing Chair of the Civil Service Committee. Rich Straumann was also recognized for his service to the committee, and for his planning of the Civil Service Committee Retreat this year held at French Regional Park.

Adjournment

A motion was made, seconded and passed adjourning the meeting at 4:35 p.m.