Staff Advisory Council - University of Arizona

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Classified Staff
Advisory Council

SAC Responds to Staff Questions on the
SAC Bulletin Board

These items were anonymously submitted
on the SAC homepage:

I see that legislation has been introduced (H2283) to change the definition of a "state employee" to someone whose "salary is paid for by the state". Would this have any impact on University employees who work for departments that generate their own revenue (such as ICA, etc.) rather than using state funds? I'm specifically wondering if this legislation could impact those employees' retirement benefits.

HB 2283 was drafted to clarify that members of the judiciary are considered state employees only if their salaries are paid by the Arizona Department of Administration. It will have no affect on current or future university employees. - Allison M. Vaillancourt, Vice President, Human Resources

Listserv emails with no subject and flyers attached go to junk email or get marked as spam or potential virus. Could mass emailings from this organization please contain a subject line. Thank you.

Thanks for bringing your concerns to us about recent postings on the CLASSIFIED STAFF SAC Listserv. We are always looking for ways to improve our communications with staff and your comments will help us to make future postings more reader friendly. In the future we will include a text version of the item in the attachment which will make deciding to print and post easier. A descriptive subject line will of course be included as well. - Your Staff Advisory Council

Please provide specific examples of how the recommendations on page 20 of The Arizona Higher Education Enterprise report will affect classified staff. There is plan on paper given that the recommended implementation targets are April and June of 2011. When will the details of the plan including dollar amounts be made public?

http://www.president.arizona.edu/arizona-higher-education-enterprise

Specific Recommendations:

1)Revise all HR policies (under ABOR employer authority) to enterprise mode. (June 2011)

2)Establish "cafeteria" benefits and other university benefits so as to contain costs. (April 2011)

Subcommittees are being formed to address the recommendations, so it is too early to tell how classified staff will be affected. I can tell you that there is interest in developing a tri-U health insurance program in order to maintain greater cost control, and I believe that will be positive for classified staff.

I view the potential changes as being important to our long-term viability, so I don't think that classified staff should be worried about negative consequences. - Allison M. Vaillancourt, Vice President, Human Resources

I don't think it is clear to most people how the transformation can be described in terms of positions lost and dollars saved and benefits to the University.

What budget information is available to the staff? For example, is there a summary of the number of classified staff, appointed and faculty positions and their average salaries for 2007-2010 available? Is there a document of some kind that shows how the budget cuts have been distributed and how this relates to the merging of departments and colleges and how this has improved the university?

Has there been any analysis as to the adverse consequences of the transformation to this point? For example, how many years of staff experience have been lost and in what job categories have these loses occurred?

I'm afraid we don't have available reports that provide the kind of detailed

information this writer is requesting, but I can tell you that the state has

reduced our budget by 100 million dollars and we have eliminated about 600 positions in the last few years. Administrative staff, who tend to be women, have been heavily impacted.

Allison M. Vaillancourt
Vice President, Human Resources

Who can employees turn to when they are being treated unfairly when Human Resources informs them their departments can do whatever they want? In this case, letting the employee know they will be terminated on a specific day and calling it voluntary resignation. Is there an advocate for employees whose departments are taking advantage of them and their situations?

We would never advise an employee that a department can claim a termination is a voluntary resignation. If the writer would like to contact us with specific information, we will look into this issue.

Allison M. Vaillancourt
Vice President, Human Resources

Who can we contact regarding the recent changes to employee benefits, especially those that will be discontinued according to House Bill 2013. I believe these changes are unfair and we should have been given a fair warning, not two weeks notice. The fact that nothing was sent to employees or put in the open enrollment booklets and while on-line registration still offered these options to employees almost seems that the state intended to hide these decisions from us so we would not be able to do anything. I would really like to know who to contact about this unfair and unjust decision.

Please urge your colleague to contact Governor Brewer who signed HB 2013 two hours before open enrollment ended on September 4th. Earlier in the summer she vetoed a bill that would have taken away benefits for domestic partners and older children, so we were stunned when she reversed her position.

Just as the open enrollment books come from the Arizona Department of Administration, we were told that notification about these coverage changes would be sent by ADOA. When that did not happen, we felt it was our obligation to notify the UA community. In hindsight we should have communicated sooner (I take responsibility for that), but the early word was that this bill would not be effective this plan year and we didn't want to cause unnecessary alarm.

We are still waiting for the Attorney General to provide a written opinion about the bill. There is a slight possibility that he will state that people enrolled in good faith and that denying benefits in the middle of a plan year would be a breach of contract. While we await his opinion, we have been given unofficial word that HB 2013 cannot go into effect until 90 days after it was signed (November 24th).

I appreciate the anger and frustration many people are feeling. Please know that the University does not support HB 2013.

Regards, Allison Vaillancourt

Has there been any talk about the huge increase in two years for Delta Dental coverage? In 2008, we enrolled at $54.00 per month. In 2009 $63.00 Now it goes up to $117 for the family plan. With the university cost at $13.00 and reimburses at 20% or at the most 50%.

For people in the lower salary ranges, this is virtually unaffordable. We have to give up the good dental care with dentists we have been at for over 15 years. My dentist said that they are losing many patients.

It does not effect people in the higher salary ranges. They may not even feel it, but I feel voiceless.

The significant increases in dental premiums have been a shock to everyone. Let me explain why the rates increased so much. The state of Arizona has a certain budget to which it can contribute to benefit premiums. Rather than keeping dental premiums steady and increasing health insurance rates even more, it moved dollars previously devoted to dental coverage to minimize medical premiums. This does not offer much comfort, but I hope it explains what happened.

Allison M. Vaillancourt
Vice President, Human Resources

I do not agree with the outrageous amount that we have to pay as employees to park to come to work. I have been in the work force for over 30 years and have never had to pay to park when I go to work. This fee should be waived for employees.

As an auxiliary enterprise, Parking and Transportation Services (PTS) does not receive any state funding. They must charge users in order to pay for parking garages and lots, shuttle service and Federal and State mandated alternative transportation activities. It costs $14.9 million to provide these services to the campus community. The rates are in compliance with University policy to cover only the cost of operating the department, including infrastructure improvements such as new lots and garages. Part of the alternative transportation Parking and Transportation subsides the cost of a Sun Tran bus pass for any student/staff/faculty member by approximately 50%, they provide free disabled cart service, free shuttle service around campus and over 1000 bicycle parking spaces though out campus for those that ride their bicycles. Please visit the PTS website for more information about parking, http://parking.arizona.edu/

I am writing to comment on the upcoming furloughs for FY 09-10. My understanding is that the implementation process for this is still being planned. I frequently hear that the best approach is to take the time incrementally and consistently over the course of the entire FY. This is a subject of great debate because, while it might be the most �painless� approach for the organization that needs to track the time and schedule staff, it may not be the most �painless� for some individuals that would benefit more from having flexibility when they take the time. Some employees (particularly those at the lower end of the pay scale) may have opportunities to perform other work on days off to offset the loss of regular pay due to furlough. I believe being able to recover 2% of their lost wages is critical to many employees. This opportunity would be denied if they were to take a short amount of furlough time every week or every other week. The point I�m trying to make is that it should not be assumed that a 1 year series of 1 or 2 hour increments is the most �painless� approach for all, or even most staff. If the UA wants to make a mandatory furlough as �painless� as possible for the staff, then staff should have the maximum flexibility possible. Having said that, I realize the difficulty in balancing coverage and flex time. I�m hopeful that the right balance will be defined prior to July 1.

Just as a reminder not everyone will have to take the same number of days per the HR website, http://www.hr.arizona.edu/furlough_faq; there are four furlough levels (only one will apply to each individual):
Employees with an annualized salary of $40,000 or less - 3 days (or 24 hours)
9 month employees - 4 days (or 32 hours)
12 month employees - 5 days (or 40 hours)
Administrators* - 7 days (or 56 hours)

It has been left up to each department to determine how to administer the furlough's and not impact the operations of the department. There is not a one size fits all approach and hopefully employees will talk with their supervisors ahead of time to decide what is best for both the employee and the department. If the department/supervisor is not forthcoming with information it is up to you the employee to ask and make recommendations. Don't be afraid to tell your supervisor what would work best for you.

* * *

Our goal in implementing furloughs is to be as flexible as possible. I was not aware that folks were being asked to take an hour or two a week as you suggested and do not see any reason to require that. I know President Shelton and I are in agreement that we must offer as much flexibility as possible and practical.

Allison M. Vaillancourt
Vice President, Human Resources

UA dedicated, devoted, and 'good' staff employees are being laid off left and right. Is there anything we can do as a campus community to help (take up a collection, offer to help with food, etc.) This is terrible.

The Staff Advisory Council is very aware of and concerned about the changes occurring on campus, particularly those that affect the staff. This year we have strongly focused our activities and actions to soften the blows that these changes make. The Staff Advisory Council is aware of these issues and as such cosponsored the 'Stuff the Cat Tran' Food Drive in conjunction with Community Relations. The drive brought in over 4,500 pounds of food and $235 in cash donations to the Community Food Bank. We also sponsored community forums with President Shelton last fall and continue to work with Human Resources as much as possible to assist those being laid off . HR is holding open forums on resume writing and interviewing the 3rd Thursday of the month after work hours. HR has many benefits available for those in lay off status and we attempt to inform staff of changes as we become aware of them.

As we face budget challenges, it is normal to question all expenditures and presidential salaries have been under scrutiny nationally. This writer asks if we should significantly reduce President Shelton's salary during this economic downturn. Let's review that question in the appropriate context and ask ourselves a few questions.

Is President Shelton's compensation excessive?

A review of national presidential salaries as reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education (accessible on-line) will reveal that President Shelton's compensation is quite modest compared to his peers. In fact, many of his peers earn 50-100% more each year than he does. Recognizing this, the Arizona Board of Regents recently voted to offer him a pay increase. President Shelton's response? He directed the dollars to a new scholarship fund rather than put this money in pocket.

Does President Shelton deserve a $400,000+ salary and a car and housing allowance?

While this compensation is much higher than most people on campus, it is fairly modest according to national standards for presidential compensation. It is important to appreciate that serving as president is a 24/7 responsibility. During this difficult time, especially, the amount of research, analysis and relationship building required to keep the university afloat is daunting.

What is the downside to reducing President Shelton's compensation?

It is important to appreciate that President Shelton is a man with options and he is regularly mentioned as an attractive prospect for other universities. Were we to significantly reduce his compensation, I believe that would signal a loss of confidence in his abilities and prompt him to accept an offer elsewhere. Were that to happen, the possibility of us finding a new president at President Shelton's current compensation level would be next to impossible. In the end, we would have to actually pay MORE for our president.

There are, indeed, challenging times and it is reasonable to expect people to question the compensation levels of those who earn more than the average UA employee. But we must to be careful about what we demand. We need strong and steady leadership during this period and moves that would prompt President Shelton to consider employment elsewhere would not be in the University of Arizona's long-term interest.

Allison M. Vaillancourt, Ph.D.
Vice President, Human Resources

Has anyone addressed the impact of reduced salary on retirement income for employees who are in their last year or two of employment? A salary reduction of $1500-$2000 could have a $40 a month reduction in retirement income. Which is the cost of a prescription or two weeks worth of gas (if the price doesn't continue to increase).

Would it be possible for employees in these circumstances to make the contributions to retirement to prevent a retirement income reduction?

The five day furlough envisioned translates to a 2% pay reduction for fiscal year employees. You are right that those within 3 years of retirement would be especially impacted. I regret that there are not other mechanisms to make up this retirement shortfall. -

Allison Vaillancourt
Vice President - Human Resources

If you take 1 hour a week for 40 weeks without pay does that fill the required 5 days off without pay?

We are still working out the details and will definitely consider this option. The goal, I know, is to make the cuts as painless as possible and spreading the unpaid time over the year is certainly one way to do that.

Allison Vaillancourt
Vice President - Human Resources

We have been told that the University is trying to avoid involuntary furloughs, if possible. However, since the option is still on the table, I would like to know what impact a furlough has on our health insurance benefits (i.e., are we covered while on furlough, and does our portion of the premium remain the same), and what impact it has on the calculation of our ASRS pension (i.e., do we still get "years of service" credit for the days we are on furlough, and does the gross pay reduction impact the "highest consecutive 36 months of compensation over the last 120 months of employment"). Thanks.

Health insurance coverage would NOT be affected.

ASRS years of service would not be affected, but highest average

compensation would indeed be reduced.

Allison Vaillancourt

Vice President - Human Resources

Did you see the latest article in the Daily Star ("Education takes a bit hit in GOP plan to balance state budget")? I think we could put out the email address for Soon-to-be Governor Brewer so that we can have our opinions heard.

Governor: http://azgovernor.gov/Contact.asp
Secretary of State Brewer: http://www.azsos.gov/info/contact_us.htm

Per your request I have posted the information, but remember to do so from your own phone and not during work hours as a private citizen

Does anyone from HR or Central Administration ever read SAC comments?

SAC does bring your concerns to the president and other key members such as HR. Dr Shelton has asked Allison Vaillancourt, Vice President, HR to answer the next few questions and she has provided the following definitions as well:

I�ve had several questions lately about the definitions of certain budget reduction strategies, so I thought I�d share with you how we in HR think about the following terms:

FURLOUGH: In short, sending people home without pay for hours or days (e.g., 4 hours a week or 2 days a month). If the average work year is 2080 hours, 24 days off a year = 24 X 8 hours = 192 hours of unpaid time (close to a 10% reduction in pay) This option is typically considered preferable to a pay cut because it suggests a trade of sorts (less pay for less work). It is also considered a temporary and emergency measure.

PAYCUT: Today you make $40,000; tomorrow you make $36,000. That�s 10% pay cut. Same work; less pay.

FTE REDUCTION: Today you work 40 hours a week for $40,000 and tomorrow you work 36 hours a week for $36,000. That�s a move to a 90% FTE. Pay is reduced and theoretically work is reduced. FTE reductions for people exempt from overtime are often quite meaningless because the expectation is that a body of work will be accomplished no matter how long it takes.

LAYOFF/REDUCTION IN FORCE: We apply this term to classified staff when referring to eliminating a position. Should the work be needed/funds become available for the same position within one year, staff may be recalled.

CONTRACT NON-RENEWAL: An appointed professional�s contract is not extended for another year.

PARTIAL YEAR CONTRACT: Instead of offering a traditional annual contract, something less (e.g., 3 months or six months) is offered and may be subject to extension.

If many staff positions are cut due to the transformation, it will be the administrators and faculty who will need to handle their own phone calls, appointments, photocopying, errands, etc., etc. I feel very sad for the many of us who are devoted, dedicated, and sincere people.

This writer raises an important point. Staff serve a vital role in the University�s success and we must consider the impact of potential reductions.

* * *

Many of us staff our very concerned about losing our positions; however, fearful of emailing Central Administration and/or HR administrators for fear of this being a marked against our personnel records. Has anyone ever considered composing a UofA on-line questionnaire (anonymous of course) poll for all employees with such questions as: would you be willing to cut hours back in the summer? are you in a position to work part-time, if so, would you be willing to split position with another part-time employee; work shift hours (7:00-3:00, 8:00 -5:00), incentive for carpooling, etc. etc. There are employees (whether administrators, faculty, or staff) who don't need a second income but like the 'spending money.' And then there are people who absolutely must work to support themselves and/or family. The transformation will happen no matter what; however, while the media indicates that 'faculty and students' will not be affected..... we all know who will (the little people: staff). We are all adults (even though sometimes treated like puppets and non-educated people), have valuable/worthy ideas, etc. if Administrators would just listen and take us seriously. Just a thought.... Thank you.

My heart aches when I read questions like this. President Shelton, Provost Hay and I and my colleagues in Human Resources WANT to hear from you and I feel terrible that you are worried about speaking up. We don�t believe for one minute that you are puppets or uneducated and would certainly never punish people for sharing creative ideas.

Here�s what I can tell you. The number of people who have come forward to say, �I�m willing to take a temporary pay cut;� �Let me tell you about a way we saved money at my last employer;� and �I�d be willing to work part-time if my manager supported it� has been absolutely astounding. Faculty have written to me saying they would be willing to cut their pay in order to preserve staff and staff have written to say they would be interested in working a reduced schedule in order to save the UA money and to help establish a better sense of work-life balance.

I see this as a pivotal time in the UA�s history. People are coming together with the common goal of preserving and growing an amazing university. Is this hard? Yes. Can we get through it? I feel confident that we can.

* * *

Due to today's 1-15-09 Wildcat article "UA: Merger won't impact students" but it is implying that it will affect Classified Staff. Why is the University being very secretive in not informing Classified Staff what is going to happen to them? Classified Staff should be informed NOW if they will be laid off so they will have an opportunity to seek work elsewhere outside the university. More than likely they will give us a 30-day notice especially the way they treated Classified Staff at the first meeting with the President. Staff was sent away because room was too full. Classified Staff was very disappointed. My opinion.

Let me first address the fall meeting with President Shelton during which dozens of people were turned away. That was, without question, one of the darkest days for many of us at the University. That event was planned by the Staff Advisory Council months in advance � way before the word �transformation� had ever been uttered. When SAC�s leadership scheduled the meeting, its members had no idea that so many people would have a need for information. You may recall that a second meeting was scheduled soon after.

The more important issue here relates to staffing implications of the creation of the College of Arts and Science. I�m going to be completely honest with you and say that we don�t fully know how staffing needs will change and it will likely be several months before it is all sorted out. The hiring freeze has changed the dynamics of campus staffing dramatically and there are hundreds of vacant positions. It would be irresponsible for me to speculate on impact, but I don�t think it is accurate to say UA leaders are being secretive. It would be fairer to say they are unsure.

If possible, please include the following link in the SAC newsletter as there are many staff on campus (and even students) who go without eating, etc. and suffer in silence (I know firsthand). www.arizonaselfhelp.org Thank you kindly.

In times of natural disasters (fire, hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, etc.), people set aside their differences, job titles, salaries, etc. to come together to help each other so wondering why our top administrators cannot do the same. It reminds us of politics in D.C. wherein the 'people at the top,' do what they think is best for everyone without even asking the 'everyone,' what their needs/wants are. A UofA questionnaire/poll I believe would be very beneficial. Thank you. And God help us all.

Great idea! We will be sure to include the Arizona Self Help information and link in a future SAC Announcements

Was there a letter sent to Pres. Shelton re: budget cuts from a special SAC committee? If so, when was it sent and is there a copy on the SAC web site somewhere?

SAC letter sent to Pres. Shelton re: budget cuts

The gaslight theatre is only $16.95 for adults. Why are the SAC tickets more expensive?

Funds raised by Staff Advisory Council sponsoring a Night at the Gaslight Theater on Tuesday/May 6, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. will go to the Emily Krauz Staff Endowment Scholarship

When you nominate someone for the Staff Awards for Excellence letters of support are required for the nominee, does the person nominating also write a letter or do the letters just come from other people?

That is entirely up to the nominator. Anyone may write a letter of support.

I'm trying to find a way to do a compassionate transfer of leave for an employee who is off intermittently due to chemotherapy. HR says the person has to be off for a minimum of 45 days in a row. I'm hoping someone has an idea for another way to help out a good employee.

I've never heard of the 45 day rule you mentioned HR informed you about, you may want to review HR policy # 201.1 @ http://www.hr.arizona.edu/09_rel/policies/pp201-1.php. But here is a quick statement on CTL eligibility:

Employees who are eligible to receive compassionate transfer of leave contributions are those who are eligible to earn and use vacation hours, have exhausted all forms of paid leave (e.g. vacation, paid sick time and compensatory time) prior to the transfer of leave hours, and are not receiving either long term disability benefits or Workers' Compensation benefits.

The other thing is that the person has to have certification of a catastrophic illness (refer to policy). The policy also provides instructions on the CTL process. The forms that need to be filled out can be found at: http://www.hr.arizona.edu/forms.php You will want to search for:

Compassionate Transfer of Leave Request Form - to be filled out by the employee needing the CTL hours

Compassionate Transfer of Leave Contribution Form - to be filled out by individuals donating CTL hours

Compassionate Transfer of Leave Processing Information Form - to report the CTL

Also, the CTL hours donated are valued at the donor's hourly rate. For example a person making $20/hr donates to a person who makes $10/hr, the person receives the equivalent of 2 hours' CTL.

I hope this is helpful but please do not hesitate to contact SAC if you need further assistance.

Last year, a benefit was apparently added for State of Arizona employees: a Computer Purchase Program available through payroll deduction. However, it seems this is not available to State University employees at this time. My questions are: why is this program not available to university employees? Will this be added as a benefit at a future time, and if so, when?

The State does indeed offer a program for employees to finance the purchase of computers. The program establishes a 'middleman' who connects the employee with one or more of several pre-approved computer hardware/software providers. This program does not offer discounts on purchases. Once the employee selects the item(s) for purchase, the middleman finances the purchase without a credit check and at 0% interest. The employee pays the debt through recurring Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) payroll deductions. If the employee is in an unpaid status or leaves State employment, the middleman pursues one of the alternative payment arrangements that were identified in the initial financing agreement.

The University of Arizona carefully considered whether to offer an employee computer purchase program similar to the one offered by State of Arizona. The UA declined to participate in the program for two main reasons: 1) we do not use the ADOA payroll system, and 2) UA Procurement and Contracting Services has an existing relationship with Gateway through which employees may purchase personal computers.

I am somewhat confused by the discussion of student minimum wages , since:
a. the state of Arizona minimum wage is $6.75.
b. the UA is an entity of the state of Arizona.
c. President Likins set a minimum wage to be paid at the UA of $7 per hour a couple of years ago.

Can you clarify why this is even discussed?

You are correct that the state of Arizona minimum wage is $6.75 per hour. As a state employer, the University is exempt from the Arizona Minimum wage. Please refer to the following link for more information. http://www.hr.arizona.edu/04_cb/comp/newMinWageMemo12-06.php.

Since the University is not exempt from changes to the federal minimum wage, it is necessary to make the changes we recently announced.

The University of Arizona Minimum Hiring Standard established by former President Likins several years ago has increased to the current rate of $8.50 per hour. This is the minimum pay standard for classified staff job titles used for benefits eligible, long term employment. In contrast, ancillary (temporary and/or intermittent assignments) classified staff titles and student titles are paid no less than the federal minimum wage.

Christy Drake, CCP, SPHR
Senior Compensation Analyst

I just received my "Staff Tracks." Is there any way it can be delivered BEFORE the events it advertises have taken place? (posted on 3/7/07)

We appreciate your interest in the SAC newsletter and apologize that it did not reach you in a timely manner. The Staff Tracks newsletter is put together by volunteers with material submitted by volunteer writers on their own time that is then mailed out via snail mail to all classified staff which can unfortunately mean there may be a delay. Every effort is made to get this publication to staff on time, but another alternative would be to subscribe to the USC listserve and you will receive timely alerts to electronic versions as soon as they are available along with other notices or interest to staff.

I work in a college that has a high percentage of classified staff taking positions of management and supervisory responsibility. I am wondering if this is unique across campus.

All of our classified staff ultimately report to academic professionals (heads of our area divisions). This results in direct supervision of classified staff by APs who have no accountability for their supervisory roles. They are not evaluated based upon these skills or supervisory performance. This has revealed several weakness of the human resources policies.

First, since the supervisors are not accountable for this aspect of their performance in their annual peer reviews, they have applied or acknowledged University policies regarding staff evaluations unevenly - and sometimes unfairly. Under the current system, there is little that can be done about this programatically.

Second, if a AP supervisor of classified staff takes their role very seriously, the time they spend doing so contributes to them not having time to accomplish more acceptable and traditional academic goals. By way of example, the past head of our collections division did a great job overseeing the many public components of her position but did not, as a consequence accomplish any major publication work. Although she was hired to oversee over 20 classified staff positions, she was released from contract and failed to achieve tenure based on this performance.

This raises a number of questions of equity. As long as APs are required to supervise classified staff, I would like to see SAC advocate for their supervision of staff being a recognized component of AP reviews.

This, I believe, is the only equitable way to establish accountability for uniform application of human resource policy and the acknowledgment that professional supervision requires training, skills and accountability. (posted on 2/28/06)

Rather than being a SAC or APAC issue, this has more to do with how a department or organization values supervision and its function as a standalone activity. If a department or supervisor is not giving "supervising skills" any value or weight in the full performance of duties, then it stands to reason that the department's leadership prefers to focus on other performance measures. On the other hand, it could be that people simply not very skilled in developing performance management systems.

Human Resources professionals would agree that "managing others" should be on a supervisor's or manager's reviews as a performance point if they have that responsibility. However, there is no "one size fits all" performance tool that meets the need of all positions or departments, so I don't think it would be effective for SAC to "advocate" the use of a standardized form that includes this performance point. We have several types of performance evaluation templates available on the HR website (including one for those with supervisory responsibilities) and our consulting team has worked with several departments to customize performance evaluations to meet the needs of their unit. Managers and supervisors can be coached and advised about the use of good performance tools, but a "mandate" to use a standardized form does not make good business sense.

That being said, this is a good opportunity to stress the need for employees to take ownership of their own careers and work issues. If someone is unhappy with their supervisor's workstyle or if supervisors are not being held accountable for the effective management of others, I don't know if focusing on the structure of a performance review is going to resolve the situation.

As you are aware, Human Resources has several resources available to help employees take better control of their work life including "managing your own performance" and career management workshops and one-on-one employee and career advising services.

HR hopes SAC will continue to encourage employees to take advantage of these and other services

I was put on lay-off status on 3/31/06 as we transitioned our research unit to ASU, and then I had to resign from there because the office relocated, physically to Phoenix. I am now employed, on a temporary basis, at PCC. I'm writing to you because I want to apply for a position, but it is only open to UA Internal Only. Is there not anyway that I can apply for these kinds of positions? I really think it is unfair, given my experience at UA, that I am now prohibited from do so. Please advise me on what kind of steps I can take. (posted on 10/27/06)

While the specific language is absent from the lay-off policy itself, people in UA lay-off staff are indeed eligible to apply for UA internal positions only. This is something we discussed awhile ago in HR and determined that it made sense to make these positions available to people who have been placed in lay-off status.

I didn't realize until I saw your message, that this information was not included in the lay-off policy. This is very timely, because the lay-off policy is under revision (Linda H. shared the changes with SAC a few months ago) and I can make sure this benefit gets included.

In the meantime, please know that you are welcome to submit an application for (the) job.

You will be asked a question that reads "What is your current employment status with the University of Arizona? You should check the box that reads "Classified Staff (have completed the probation period OR have received a waiver). I have already inserted a note into the requisition for that position to remind the hiring department that individuals in lay-off status are eligible to apply.

For future reference, we'll make the following changes so that this practice is more clear.

1. We will add a bullet to Classified Staff policy 405 http://www.hr.arizona.edu/09_rel/policies/pp405.php under "Other Privileges" to read "Eligible to apply for UA Internal Positions"

2. We will change the 4th response listed to the question "What is your current status with the University of Arizona" so that it will read: Classified Staff (completed probation, received waiver, OR placed in lay-off status)

I apologize for the confusion and thank you for alerting to us to the opportunity to provide better procedural and policy clarification.

Good luck with your job search!

Your help and guidance is needed. I've been wondering who could help and quite possibly you may be that person. I hope so anyway. An issue has been created by Parking and Transportation that is unfair and will cause great inconvenience to staff and some students, maybe a few faculty. P&T has posted signs that all the Zone 1 parking lots around the west side of the stadium are reserved Aug. 16-19 for dorm move in. Agreed, some spaces should be used for unloading but the whole area? I'm talking about Lots 6090, 6091 & 6092. That is, at least, a couple hundred spaces. If you look at a parking map you will notice there are no Zone 1 parking lots anywhere near this area of campus. When questioned, Parking & Transportation personnel gave us a map of the parking lots and a shuttle schedule. Big help! We were told that Zone 1 permits are only hunting licenses. We know that but, that still doesn't help us for the next three days. All the other Zone 1 parking lots will have their usual parkers and for the next three days those spaces will now have 200 extra hunters for every space. Things are going to get nasty I'm afraid. We are concerned here at the West Stadium (the east side of the stadium is unaffected, their parking spaces are not confiscated). There doesn't seem to be any resolution except either park a mile away from where we work or don't come to work at all. The reason we purchase permits is so we can park a reasonable distance from our jobs. For the next three days we can't park anywhere close. We can't even get a reduced rate for what we do have to pay for the permits or even a reduced rate for garages that we could use. Could this concern be one that SAC addresses? It seems grossly unfair that we come to work to support the university and it's students and yet we get no support, in fact are basically told to "take a hike". Thanks for hearing my concerns. (posted 8/16/06)

We spoke w/ Dave (Assoc. Director of Operations) @ P & T. Permit holders for lots 6090, 6091 & 6092 have been asked to use the lots just south of Sixth Street which isn't too far -- and those lots should not be too full as classes have not begun as yet. He did mention that they don't "plan" to ticket anyone this week. Next week, they will begin ticketing but by then this move-in situation will be over (hopefully). Hope that helps.

I have an employee in my department who is retiring and will have hours remaining which will be lost. I was wondering if you could give me information on transferring this time over to Compassionate Transfer Leave? (posted 6/9/06)

To matching a vacation donor with folks who need CTL one can post the message to various listserves like USC or a listserv for payroll representatives. Check with your department, or the donor can check their payroll rep, or the payroll section of the Financial Services Office to get the info posted to a listserv. [We would be happy to post these requests on the USC listserve... you can contact us at garanda@u.arizona.edu

I still have not received my 1500 dollar a year raise. I am paid by grant funding. We are a well funded lab. Our PI says there is no additional personnel money until a new grant is funded. What is the University policy on these. I could not get a clear answer from human resources. Should I get my raise when the new grant cycle comes around or only when a new grant is funded? (posted 5/18/06)

I'm not sure why and from who this person would get conflicting information from HR. The guidelines for grant-funded positions were clearly outlined in both the President's and the Provost/VP For Campus Life's Feb 27th memos. This information is available on the HR webpage at www.hr.arizona.edu. Your best bet is to provide a link to the HR webpage and direct employees to the link entitled "Salary Programs effective March 13".

In a nutshell, the memo states that "principal investigators administering grants/contracts and managers of auxiliary funded units who cannot support the increase will have a twelve-month window for implementation". Later the memo states "eligible employees funded by grants/contracts or auxiliary/sales and service funds may have the adjustment deferred for up to a twelve month period."

If an individual believes that his or her department currently has the funds available to give everyone the $1650, that is a discussion they need to have with the department. If the department believes they need to wait until the grant is renewed in order to obtain the necessary funding, they have up to 12 months to do so.

I am a UA employee interested in your distance learning program. Does the Tuition reduction apply to the distance learning program? (posted 3/20/06)

Yes, the employee tuition waiver is applicable for the distance learning program. You will need to submit the form from UA to the NAU Bursar's Office once you have registered for classes. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact our office. - Regina Swanson, Office of Student Financial Aid, NAU - (928) 523-4951

Rumor has it, UA is the only Arizona University who is taking the 2.5% salary increase and distributing it on their own, rather than across the board. I can guarantee many of the University's employees are most likely going to be extremely upset over this because the people in my department are outraged over this injustice. I just wanted to put it out there and see what SAC is or has been doing about this. (posted 2/9/06)

At this point there has been no indication to us that UA employees would be an exception to an "across the board" increase. The Staff Advisory Council stands firmly on "across the board" increases rather than to give credence to a flawed "merit" system.

UA SAC members: I was curious if you as a representative group of all classified staff had planned to address the issue of primarily staff positions being eliminated to offset budget cuts? Also, we are interested in speaking to the Provost's office about the upcoming state raises. Staff members realize that the proposed increase will barely cover the increase in retirement benefits that all staff have to pay. Certain pay levels will actually receive no raise at all if the additional 2.5% is not given across the board to all Staff employees. Shall we represent a unified front????? (posted 2/8/06)

Your UA Staff Advisory Council has taken a firm stand that the increase be given "across the board." The Council has advocated the "across the board" stance rather than to give any credence to a flawed "merit" system. Of course, you are free to let the Provost know how you feel; we are definitely of the same mind.

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