TABLED
Concerning the SPA Administrative Standards Task Force
PROPOSED RESOLUTION OF THE EMPLOYEE FORUM
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
December 3, 2003; 2nd Reading January 9, 2003
WHEREAS, state employees working within the University of North Carolina System including teaching and research positions, administrative support, clerical support, technical support, and field and facilities support would like to improve working conditions for University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill SPA employees; and
WHEREAS, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Employee Forum Personnel Issues Committee duly reviewed and analyzed top SPA staff concerns and suggestions during previous years and this year of 2003 developing a single over-arching recommendation designed to have the most positive result in the areas of highest impact for SPA employees; and
WHEREAS, the Personnel Issues Committee observed that mechanisms of policy and procedure are in place on most issues of SPA management but that policies and procedures can never ensure that best management practices are consistently and equitably applied; and
WHEREAS, such inconsistencies of application of state and university policies and best practices can be identified across and between some divisions and units of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and
WHEREAS, many of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill administrators espouse consistency of best practices across divisions and units within the university; and
WHEREAS, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2003 Chancellor’s Task Force for a Better Workplace will advise the Chancellor on action steps to improve the workplace at Carolina, and, having heard the Personnel Issues Committee recommendation, their own sub-committee having presented a similar suggestion, expressed strong support for such recommendation in a full meeting; and
WHEREAS, best management practices are not only our moral obligation but increasingly becoming our fiscal responsibility as well, impacting the well-being of SPA employees and also limiting and draining some divisions and units of their greatest resource, their best SPA employees and their highest productivity;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that an SPA Administrative Standards Task Force be drawn immediately from high levels across the university and assume the oversight of SPA position management and compensation administration;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the purpose of this Standards Task Force be to research trends and locate divisions, units, or individual employees that fall short of standards, and to find ways to bring these in line with best practices;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Standards Task Force would avoid policing areas that consistently maintain high standards;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Standards Task Force report to the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost and to the Employee Forum;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Standards Task Force review SPA position management and compensation administration across the university for compliance with best management practices; and be it
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Standards Task Force issue recommendations for compliance to appropriate areas;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Standards Task Force remain disassociated from both Finance and Administration and the Office of Human Resources—increasing its credibility and freeing it from any real or perceived conflict of interest;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Standards Task Force stay separate from the Career Banding project—not to be seen as an arm of that or limited to those issues;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Standards Task Force be chartered for three years and that it may, at the recommendation of the Standards Task Force itself or at the request of the Provost or Chancellor, become a university standing committee charged with upholding SPA best management practices across the university;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Chancellor’s Task Force for a Better Workplace strongly supports this resolution and sends it with the Task Force’s recommendation to the Chancellor by the end of January, 2004.
To be signed on behalf of the Employee Forum,
Tommy Griffin, Chair