UofL Staff Senate, May 2016 meeting

The Staff Senate met May 9, 2016, in Chao Auditorium, with Chair Angela Lewis-Klein presiding.

April’s minutes were approved by the body. Acting Parliamentarian Alex Williams announced officer nominations for three open positions, including secretary/treasurer, vice chair and chair. There are two nominees for the secretary/treasurer position: Wendy Metcalf and Sabrina Haug. Both nominees provided a 3-minute introduction to senators.

The other two positions are unopposed and include Vickie Tencer for vice chair and Will Armstrong for chair. Elections will be held at the next meeting, June 13.

Report:

Lee Smith, AVP for Performance Improvement & Business Analytics, provided the following updates:

1. A location for the proposed Business Operations Center will be announced soon, as will more town hall dates to discuss the Shared Services system currently being rolled out across the university. There are work groups testing the system and more are being formed. The current work group is focused on the onboarding process, including of students and staff. There are 63 people across campus participating as part of the work groups, and 27 others who have been recommended to be part of a work group or a focus group. The goal, Smith said, is to develop an “Amazon-esque” (intuitive) experience for people when they onboard.

Two student co-ops from the Speed School have been hired to help with the rollout this summer. The students are knowledgeable in process design.

“It is meaningful for us to engage students,” Smith said. “Anyone who has an interest in participating in this process, we will find a way to engage them.”

2. System updates are being implemented, including direct deposit through PeopleSoft, with a June 1 launch goal. Smith said the updates help with fraud prevention and simplicity.
3. Three pilot groups have gone live to work on payment request updates, including paperless RFDs. A July 1 launch is the goal for these updates.

Report:

Harlan Sands, CFO, provided an update on the new dining options coming to campus, courtesy of a new contract with Aramark. These options include Starbucks, Legends 1911 (sports café) and Mark’s Feed Store. On-campus restaurants will feature more open seating, including in the SAC, which will also have a “more active” storefront on Floyd Street than it does now. A concern was brought up about local vendors and Sands said the committee is sensitive to local vendors and is working hard to get them placed.

Report:

Jeanell Hughes, AVP for Administration and Operations, provided an update on leave policy revision proposals aimed to be clearer, protect income, encourage healthy and happy employees, encourage a work/life balance, and support recruitment and retention.

Revisions are recommended for educational leave: As it stands now, if you’re here for 10 years or more, you can get an approved six-month leave. It is recommended that the employee must also have satisfactory work performance.

Parental leave and temporary medical disability leave recommendations have also been made surrounding language clarification and health care provider certification, respectively.

Hughes also provided a brief overview of a Staff Market Compensation Study, which HR conducted in partnership with Aon Hewitt. A competitive market matrix was developed for the study, which yielded a 94-percent match in staff jobs. The study showed that 69 percent of UofL staff is below the 50^th percentile for salary based on job description and geography. Thirty-one percent is above the 50^th percentile benchmark.

Some recommendations include updating our classification system to be aligned with the external market. Recommended next steps include forming a staff salary compensation committee with a goal of defining UofL’s compensation philosophy and also of developing a strategy to address this philosophy.

Report:

Dr. Robert Staat submitted a written report for the Faculty Senate meeting, which included the election of Enid Trucios-Haynes’ election as chair. Her position starts in September.

A BA in Sustainability as part of Urban and Public Affairs was approved by the Faculty Senate. A poll of the Faculty Senate yielded 55 percent support for President James Ramsey’s leadership. The Executive Committee is working on budget priorities.

Report:

Lauren Greenwell, an English/Pre-Law major from Bagdad, Ky., introduced herself. She is the incoming representative for the SGA. 

Committee Reports:

Credentials & Nominations: Elections are coming up

Staff Morale & Community Outreach: The year-end report is due in June

Policy, Economics and Development: Working on the web policy

Staff Grievance Committee: Just finished up a second grievance

Services & Facilities: Met recently to remedy the HSC garage issue. A change in stoplight sequence seems to be helping thus far.

SHARE: Working on revisions for applications and procedures; asked for consensus to accept changes by June 1. Also, revisions to the application, with a goal of including easier, refined language, were approved. Carol Norton, from the SHARE committee, thanked everyone, as it was her last Staff Senate meeting.

Secretary/Treasurer report: There is $5,497 in the general fund and a total of $10,897.

Chair’s report: The AVP-HR search is ongoing and will hopefully be done by the fall.

The next meeting is June 13 in the Chao Auditorium and will include elections.