Attending: Dan Barmmer, Kathy Bryant, Tammy Cox, Carolyn Elfland, Karol Kain Gray, James Holman, Christina Lebonville, Brenda Malone, Chris Meinecke, Jackie Overton, Carol Tresolini
Brenda Malone called the meeting to order at 10 a.m. She noted the question about salary increase implementation. Karol Kain Gray said that 1.2% salary increases for SPA employees had been approved by the Legislature, along with 5 days of vacation leave. This leave must be taken before June 30, 2013. No nine-month faculty will be permitted this leave. The raise will be effective as of July 1, 2012. Malone said that Human Resources will publicize the need to take the 5 days vacation leave around the holidays and in the spring. She urged employees not to wait until June 30 to take the leave. Kathy Bryant said that additional requirements regarding salary approval from the Board of Governors expired July 1. Malone noted the need for sensitivity in submitting EPA salary adjustments. Bryant said that the previous rule required EPA salary adjustments in excess of 15% to go to the Board of Governors. For SPA employees, individual salary adjustments in excess of 20% had to be approved by the Office of State Personnel, as well as the Board of Governors. Malone said that Human Resources will refresh people’s memories about the previous rule. Bryant said that Human Resources Facilitators will be told to tell their employees to use FY 13 leave first, subject to supervisor approval. Gray emphasized that this leave is not retroactive.
Regarding personnel flexibility, Jackie Overton thanked Malone for her and Chancellor Thorp’s participation in the spring community meeting. She said that the video is ready to be posted. President Ross has made it clear that in spite of the initiative not finding approval this legislative session, General Administration will pursue the authority again in January. Malone said that she appreciated the Forum’s willingness to put together the community meeting on the topic.
James Holman asked why managers’ names are not attached to posted job descriptions. Malone asked why this identification is important. Holman said that other housekeepers do not want to work for certain managers. Malone noted that managers have the right to transfer employees at any time. Carolyn Elfland said that the way that housekeeping vacancies are filled has changed in recent months. There is now more uniformity and control about how applications are reviewed and compared. She said that Housekeeping has advertised 20-30 vacancies at once, with applicants putting in for only one position to all of them. The department puts all applicants and jobs onto a grid sheet that mixes and matches the two. Malone said that there is a problem in that the University cannot batch hire for positions. Elfland said that this requirement causes a great deal of work for administrators. Malone noted that Housekeeping has attempted to become more transparent in its operations in recent months. Elfland said that zone managers no longer make the decisions about whom to hire. Holman said that applicants have been told that they will work for one manager then end up working for another one. Gray said that the current system was established to eliminate favoritism. Gray said that Darius Dixon, the director of Housekeeping, must work to deal with ineffective zone managers. Malone noted that the University has worked hard to address issues in Housekeeping, particularly mentioning Carolyn Elfland and her staff and the Housekeeping Advisory committee for their work. Malone noted that complaints about the makeup of the Housekeeping Advisory committee were a bit off as some of that group’s members have received promotions over the last year. Elfland thought it best that the people who had won elections were willing to compete and win promotions. Malone said that she and Elfland would author a memo for the University community outlining the progress of change in Housekeeping, including language issues, the Orange County Literacy Council’s involvement, the use of Rosetta Stone, and one on one training. She praised Dixon as open with a vision. Overton agreed that Dixon was a good hire. She hoped to keep the rapport open with the Housekeeping office.
There was a question about managerial flexibility leading to a marginal reduction in the University’s budget. Gray said that there had been a $3.8 million cut to the University allocated among the different University campuses. UNC-Chapel Hill absorbed a larger amount of the cuts while other campuses experienced larger percentage cuts to their budget. These cuts were not the result of managerial flexibility but rather occurred because enrollment targets were not met. The cuts were due to a funding formula change, not personnel flexibility. Malone said that University administration hopes to not pass these cuts onto units but instead to absorb them centrally.
With regard to the TIM time management system, Malone said that TIM is here to stay but that ERP will need more work. Barmmer noted that employees are asked to use different TIM interfaces. Bryant said that the Thinstall component of Java has risen in price and so ITS has urged that the University turn to a web-based system of TIM. This is a temporary fix, however. Bryant said that the change will not affect swipe card users of TIM. Holman said that he had downloaded the software on his personal laptop. Elfland pointed out that this creates a public record on a private computer.
Overton noted that she will be on vacation and so Vice Chair Dan Barmmer will chair the Executive Committee next week and will make the Forum’s Board of Trustees presentation on July 25. Attendees discussed the scheduling of Board of Trustees subcommittee meetings. Overton recalled Bubba Cunningham’s cite of General Colin Powell’s saying that “being responsible sometimes pisses people off.” She asked Matt Banks to send out a copy of the leadership lesson from the Forum’s July meeting. She noted that Shirley Ort had discussed the Carolina Covenant at the Forum’s July meeting. Overton hoped that the Forum could do an outreach event for Carolina Covenant scholars in the fall. Malone noted that the SPA personnel handbook was very close to completion, with printing hopefully to occur before the end of the summer. Bryant said that the University will translate the handbook into different languages for English as Second Language employees. Overton noted that the Forum’s divisional listservs were complete and she thanked Human Resources for partnering on this task.
In the absence of further discussion, the meeting adjourned at 10:50 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Matt Banks, Recording Secretary