17 December 2014
SAC Agenda Wednesday, December 17th
Attendees – Rose Maio, Danie Martin, Jessica Brangiel, Julie DiPietro, Trish Tancredi, Donnie Franklin, Luis Alverez, Deb Doherty, Michael Kappeler, Vincent Vagnozzi, Dorothy Kunzig, Zenobia Hargust, Sharmaine LaMar, Pamela Prescod-Caesar, Sue Wigo, Kathy Agostinelli, George Darbes, Pattie Kim-Keefer, Lynn Grady, Christie Pappert
Meeting Guest: Jillian Theorgood
Agenda:
Susan Wigo – follow up on distribution of Phoenix Newspaper
Next steps include finding out how many copies each academic department needs. Rose will contact academic departments. Sue will continue discussions with the Phoenix in order to see if less copies can be left in public areas.
Christi Pappert- follow up on the list of college wide committees
a.Christie distributed a list of committees she’s compiled based on email responses and information on the College website. This list continues to grow. SAC is concerned only with committees that include staff members. There was discussion on where this list should be kept and how to make it accessible. Google Docs was mentioned as a place to keep the list with a link from the SAC website.
Tri-College SAC luncheon – need to set a date. Rose contacted Byrn Mawr and Haverford need to pick a date during the week of January 12th.
Haverford College Staff Association - http://www.haverford.edu/staffassociation/
Bryn Mawr College Staff Association - http://www.brynmawr.edu/staffassoc/
Rose has been in touch with the other two schools. They like the idea of getting together. January 14th is the proposed date. The lunch will be held at Swarthmore.
Pamela Prescod-Caesar will give an update on the Compensation Study.
To date an RFP (request for proposal) was sent out to compensation consulting firms and we have selected to partner with Mercer Consulting, a Human Resources firm specializing in higher education. This review will help to identify opportunities to improve policies and procedures, including the Add Pay process, career progression, overtime practices and shift differential. As a part of the process we will also ensure that all positions comply with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
Once the work has begun, HR plans to keep an update of the progress available on the HR website. Various aspects of the project are still in discussion with senior staff. As a reminder, this is a compensation study examining the policies and procedures and ensuring that our current system is up-to-date. On annual basis as a part of the salary review process, the College collects market data and benchmarks positions to ensure that salaries are competitive in comparison to peer institutions. HR reminds staff if they have not updated their job descriptions they should work closely with their supervisor in preparation for their annual review conversations.
During this conversation the issue of the Benefit Bank phase out was brought up again. Phasing out of the benefit bank was a community wide effort that was decided and implemented over a 5-year period.
The good news is that health rates for this year remained flat and the current rates will be locked in until January 2016 when the College is moves to a calendar year for renewal of benefits. As a result of some of the changes due to the implementation of the Affordable Healthcare Act, the Faculty and Staff Benefits Committee will review our plan optionss this year.
Introduce Jillian Theorgood, Human Resource Manager, Talent Acquisition and Retention
Jillian described her functions in the areas of recruiting and talent management. She has been working on consistency across job postings to make sure all ads are consistent and transparent. Some of the places ads are posted include the Chronicle of Higher Education, Diverse Issues Online, Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, Career Link and Inside Higher Ed. Hiring ranges are often not included in external job postings so as not to discourage or confuse applicants in the process. Jillian is also working to improve the employment website to ensure accuracy and transparency of job postings.
Pamela Prescod-Caesar will share on the new employee orientation.
New Employee Orientation has been expanded to include more speakers and to cover topics such as Title IX, Cleary Act, ITS, EEO and harassment prevention, professional development and more. The sessions are designed to be more interactive . Recognizing new staff at the all staff meeting was a good idea and was well received. This will continue. In addition in the fall and the spring, HR hosts a new employee reception to help foster community connections and give an opportunity for new employees to informally meet members of the senior staff.
Questions received:
1). Information on Employment Website is no longer transparent.
Positions listed no longer include grade designation.
Chart with "Pay Grades by Position" has been under construction for months if not an entire year. No explanation for why its taking so long to merely add positions to the current table or create a new one.
Literally dozens of positions have been added. Positions vacated have been filled but no one knows whether on not the pay grade has changed.
A: The employment website is being updated . The pay grades are also being reviewed. Some of the new jobs created over the past year were inconsistent within the ranges listed for the position so modifications are in process. It was decided to remove the pay grade from job postings to external candidates and when possible list a hiring range instead. After further discussion it was decided to include the pay grade on internal postings, which will be found on the Faculty/Staff Digest emails that get sent to all internal candidates. The pay grade however will not be listed on the employment website which is posted for the public. HR wants to remind internal candidates to make sure they note on their application that they are internal employees when applying for another position.
2). I feel the College is in a bit of a food desert. Has the idea of food trucks on campus (to supplant Dining Services) been explored"?
No exploration of food trucks at this time.
3). I've been meaning to bring this to you for awhile, but could the issue of lack of transparency regarding promotions and job descriptions be brought up? Staff should be able to know what specifically is required to be considered/given a promotion. "
Discussions around promotions should be happening during the annual review process. Managers should be making their employees aware of skills/requirements necessary to fill an open position. Hiring managers specifically should look at promotion opportunities within their department when they are filling a position. Having long tenure in a position does not qualify anyone for automatic promotion from one position to the next. When a position is vacated it is often changed and modified before being filled. The College (per Zenobia) has implemented a very robust professional development program over the last 2 years. Staff should take advantage of these programs as well as the many other opportunities including tuition reimbursement for personal development and growth. In addition annual review discussions should include a discussion of job descriptions between employee and manager. If the scope of a position is not reflected in the job description, relevant changes should be addressed during these annual review conversations.
4). Please bring up the Memorial Day/Labor Day holiday (but especially Memorial Day)...I know they won't give it to us, but what is the reasoning behind us not having it as a holiday when ALL of our peer schools do?"
Memorial Day is close to honors weekend, alumni weekend and commencement. Having both of these holidays off will impact the academic calendar as it’s currently implemented. Reminder from HR that the College does provide a floating holiday for Martin Luther King day as well as the winter break and additional vacation time.
Future Meetings - Spring semester – Thursday, January 22nd at 10:00 in Sharples Dining Room 4
