UNIVERSITY GAZETTE | February 4, 2004 | The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Workplace panel issues report

The panel looking for ways to make Carolina a better place to work has finished its report, which will be presented to the campus community at a Feb. 5 meeting.

The report developed by the Chancellor's Task Force for a Better Workplace includes recommendations covering awards and recognition, advancement opportunities, work-life support, work environment, learning and benefits.

Co-chaired by Chancellor James Moeser and Employee Forum Chair Tommy Griffin, the task force was made up of a range of faculty, staff and students and had been meeting since August 2003. Its work included evaluating a survey meant to gather SPA and EPA non-faculty employees' ideas on how to improve working conditions here.

"We came with different perspectives and with open minds, all dedicated to identifying the policies and programs that would do the most to improve the work environment and, through that, the morale of the staff across the campus," Moeser and Griffin wrote in a preface to the report. "The task force members worked hard, but with great camaraderie and high spirits. We came to understand one another better, and we were encouraged by the interest and participation of others throughout the University community.

"Everyone had a chance to have his or her say, and we were pleased that so many of you took advantage of the opportunity. The process united the campus, and the strength of our work results from that unity."

Short-term steps are those that can be done with relative ease. They include establishing an ombudsman's office to help make sure that employees are treated fairly in job-related disputes and offering wellness programs.

Medium-term recommendations will take time or resources to implement. Measures include boosting financial assistance available for employees to attend community college or college classes and creating more steps in the existing sliding fee scale for parking permits.

For long-term recommendations, changes will require more time because the University might need legislation or other administrative relief from the state. Here, the task force proposed measures such as expanding the employee tuition-waiver program and increasing child-care subsidy funds.

For all of the recommendations, the task force's report identifies campus personnel who will be responsible for carrying them out as well as timelines for doing so.

The task force undertook its work against the backdrop of sparse pay raises and higher health-care costs for employees in recent years. While the panel's charge did not include recommendations for ways to increase compensation, members acknowledged the issue's importance in a statement that is part of the report.

"Although this report does not propose specific solutions, we would be remiss if we did not convey the deep dissatisfaction and concerns felt across this campus with the current situation, which is detrimental not only to the well being of employees but also to the effectiveness of public higher education in North Carolina and the prospects for economic recovery in our state," the statement says.

The statement calls for Carolina trustees and UNC President Molly Corbett Broad "to advocate for improved salaries and benefits for University and other state employees." It also proposes that Moeser, as a task force member, petition Broad to include Carolina employees in lobbying efforts with the state legislature to put a "human face" on the issue.

The task force's report has been posted online under the "Informational Documents" heading at hr.unc.edu/hottopics/betterworkplace. It will be discussed at an Employee Forum Community Meeting on Feb. 5 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Gerrard Hall. The meeting was first scheduled for Jan. 28 but was cancelled because of inclement weather. While attendance counts as work time, employees must get approval from their supervisors to attend.

Chancellor's Task Force for a Better Workplace Priorities
Short term
1. Establish an ombudsperson's office.
2. Provide health (wellness) related benefits.
Provide greater access to health screening.
Reinstate wellness classes.
Work with campus dining facilities to offer healthy alternatives for lunch.
3. Restore the basic clerical skills program and internship program.
4. Launch a supervisor training initiative.
Develop a database on supervisory training, including who supervisors are and what training they've had and need.
Develop and offer systematic, comprehensive supervisory training curriculum.
5. Provide training and assistance for employees to take advantage of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, N.C. Flex, and N.C. Health Choice.
6. Provide computer literacy assistance for employees.
7. Develop a computer loan program for staff employees.
8. Enhance opportunities for use of flexible scheduling for employees.
9. Provide training in English as a Second Language and Spanish as a Second Language.
10. Make computers readily available for employee access and training.
11. Develop a career counseling outreach program.
12. Take additional steps to ensure fair and consistent treatment of employees.
Expedite the grievance process.
Increase the visibility of core personnel policies.
Periodically assess campus climate.
Assess the equity of allocation of in-range salary adjustments across campus.
13. Provide opportunities for summer work for children of faculty and staff.
14. Develop an awards registry as a central repository for information about all official award and recognition programs.
15. Provide web-based information to assist employees in conducting job searches.
16. Institute workplace safety improvements, including more intensive communication efforts and continuation of efforts to identify high-risk situations.
Medium term
1. Increase financial assistance available for employees to attend community college or college classes. Publicize the availability of resources to assist employees.
2. Develop a pilot program to allow employees to get a degree from Carolina as part-time students and explore the possibility of a generalist "certificate" program of University academic courses that may be used by employees for professional advancement and reclassification.
3. Develop a learning and development initiative to promote "learning" as a priority and to serve as a coherent source of information and encouragement for staff employees. Include a web site on staff learning resources that improves links to staff educational opportunities.
4. Establish an emergency loan program.
5. Create certificate programs through community colleges and/or Training and Development programs that can assist employees in professional advancement.
6. Fund regularly scheduled van or bus service during working and early evening hours to the nearest community college campus for employees to attend classes.
7. Review transportation and parking policies and fees. In particular:
Review parking costs and availability including consideration of more increments in the sliding fee scale, the possibility of holding parking fees steady in years with no salary increases and free parking for night employees.
Consider fine-tuning bus routes and schedules to increase service to satellite lots at peak times, ensure that bus schedules support increased use of flex time and make other accommodations for the special burdens associated with park-and-ride lots.
Explore the possibility of free passes on Triangle Transit Authority buses for University employees.
8. Restore Employee Appreciation Fair with a goal of publicizing education and advancement opportunities.
9. Create a Student Government Award for outstanding staff members.
10. Provide an Employee of the Year award with significant monetary attachment.
Long term
1. Expand tuition waiver program to include more courses per year, coverage of dependents, and inclusion of non-credit courses.
2. Increase childcare subsidy monies available for children of staff at licensed centers or registered day care homes.
3. Provide paid educational leave for employees, independent of work-related training. Allow educational leave to accumulate like other types of leave.
4. Provide an improved health insurance benefit that reduces out-of-pocket costs to employees. Investigate model health benefit arrangement options, including health reimbursement accounts.
5. Co-locate a North Carolina community college program on campus to make community college classes more accessible to staff.
6. Expand University-operated day care facilities.
7. Plan for providing child care for school-age children during days when area schools are closed because of adverse weather.
8. Develop low-cost housing options for University employees.