Northern Illinois University
Supportive Professional Staff Council Meeting
MINUTES
Thursday, January 10, 2008
University Suite, 10:00 A.M.
Present
Nancy Apperson, Frankie Benson, Cliff Bottigliero, Steve Builta, Bobbie Cesarek, Kay
Chapman, Andre Crittenden, Dana Gautcher, Norden Gilbert, Missy Gillis, Sabrina Hammond,
Leslie Hecht, Jack King, Steve Lux, Mark McGowan, Jonathan Ostenburg, Scott Peska, Donna
Prain, Lynn Richards, Judy Santacatarina, Derrick Smith, Donna Smith, Michael Spires, Michael
Stang, Rachel Turner, Connie Uhlken
Absent
Susan Armbrust, Monique Bernoudy, Dan House
Guests
Steve Cunningham,Tim Griffin, Celeste Latham
I. Call to Order. SPS Council President Cesarek called the meeting to order at 10:05 AM.
A. The agenda was approved with Old Business b) Constitution being moved to right
after Announcements.
B. A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the December 13, 2007
meeting. Motion carried.
Attendance was taken and a quorum was confirmed.
II. Announcements
A. Smoking Ban Violation Reporting. Cesarek shared a notice she received regarding
who could be contacted regarding a violation to the new smoking ban.
B. Employee Conduct and Accountability—Policy Compendium—HRS Website—Steve
Cunningham and Celeste Latham, guests. Cesarek reported that this policy was
launched at the HRS website on January 11, 2008 and she passed around a sample
to Council members. Cunningham reported that policy issues before the Legislative,
Audit, and External Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees prompted a
discussion among the Board of Trustees about other policies and the Board
endorsed the project. As part of the project, Cunningham and Latham evaluated
related policies at other institutions. Cunningham added that there are hundreds of
policies that document state laws and regulations that pertain to employment and the
various source documents are an unwieldy collection to reference; there are a
number of sources were the policies are located. Cunningham and Latham’s efforts
went into selecting the primary policies and compiling them into a single source. The
end product is a reference guide with links that are easy to update. It will also be
easy to add new policies. Cunningham added that the compendium has gone out to
the Council of Deans and the other university-wide governing bodies. In the coming
week it will be distributed to all employees. He is asking departments with
employees who do not have computer access to provide that access to the
compendium or allow their employees to go to HRS for the access.
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Cunningham spoke to the increment process. He stated that the processing
schedule was more compressed this year due to fiscal year budget delays in
Springfield. What was processed was a 4.5% average total. The mid-year
increments were allocated in inverse order of salary, a .75% average increase spent
on each employee until 1/2% of the SPS/administrative salary pool was spent. The
mid-year increments also addressed some cost of living and market related issues.
About 83.5% of SPS employees were covered with this increment. He added that
NIU compares well statewide in terms of increments. Gilbert asked how increments
that are larger than state increases get funded. Cunningham responded that it’s
essentially done through reallocation of three major sources: 1) a stable and/or
growing enrollment has helped, 2) the leanness of the NIU work force compared to
other universities, which is especially significant in consideration of NIU’s scope of
academic programming and operations, and regional status and complexity
compared to other universities, and 3) the growth of non-general revenue sources
such as bond revenue and other fund accounts. Hammond asked how the operating
staff positions that got the increases were chosen. Cunningham responded that the
operating staff model has been more complicated, going back to 1999 when a
clerical (for about 20 clerical classifications) increment was implemented.
Cunningham listed several reasons for this initial round of increments, which was
endorsed by the Operating Staff Council. After a second round of clerical
increments, HRS starting hearing concerns raised by the Council about employees in
other classifications and the model for increments was expanded, taking into
consideration the statewide database for each classification and how NIU salaries
compare to salaries at other institutions for similar classifications.
Cunningham spoke about evaluations. He noted in 2007, the evaluation process
took place over March and April and supervisors were sent individual certification
forms, which is supposed to make the process easier for supervisors. Also,
evaluations of temporary SPS were included for the first time. Follow-up reminder
notices were also mailed. New this year will be reminder notices to the respective
vice president or provost when an evaluation has not been completed. Out of about
917 SPS, about 76% of the evaluations were returned. Cunningham added that
HRS has purchased software that will put the evaluation online and will provide
simpler mechanisms for sending out reminders. The target for implementing this
software is 2009. Cesarek asked what the Council can do and Cunningham
responded that what is being done is working, including employees asking their
supervisors for an evaluation.
Cunningham addressed the issue of job descriptions. Latham, as director of
operations in HRS, is involved with job descriptions. He acknowledged that there is
an issue with SPS job descriptions being out dated. HRS is in the process of
implementing a cycle of updating job descriptions of all SPS and that eventually all
job descriptions will be no more than two years old. Cesarek noted that employees
need to be more involved, especially in light of many employees being given
additional duties as other employees leave NIU. She added that job descriptions tie
in to evaluations. Employees need to have up-to-date job descriptions so they can
be evaluated on the duties they actually perform. She said that employees should
start looking at and revising their job descriptions now and Cunningham agreed that
that is a good suggestion. Hammond added that employees could also use their
evaluations as opportunities for reviewing job descriptions.
The salary survey was discussed. Cunningham reported that they are working on
developing a database that will better organize SPS information. Human Resource
Services is cooperating with other universities to gather data with the goal of
incorporating the information into the Northern run process. Reallocations in HRS
have enabled them to add a position and part of that person’s responsibilities will be
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to complete the SPS salary survey. Cunningham added that a number of
universities have added pay grade systems once they have completed their salary
surveys. Cesarek asked Cunningham about his thoughts on a pay grade system.
He responded that NIU has to get a lot more background information first; there is a
lot of variance of duties between employees with similar titles. But, he added that a
pay grade should never limit salary growth. He said that it’s an inaccurate
assumption on the part of some that the top of the salary range for operating staff is
the limit. Cunningham stated that a pay grade could be used as more of an
organizing tool for the compensation system.
Regarding mandatory supervisory training, Cunningham noted that there has been
interest in this issue for as long as he’s been at NIU and is something the university
recently has dedicated resources to. He said that both President Peters and Provost
Alden are supportive of mandatory supervisory training. He asked for the input from
Council members on what should be included in the training.
Cunningham addressed the “Holiday Break” verbiage and the fact that some people
are opposed to the break being associated with Christmas. Human Resource
Services looked at what other universities are doing, but Christmas is considered a
federal holiday, so that wording would probably stay on the holiday list. It was noted
that the title of the communication could be “Winter Break,” but in the body of the
text, the word “holiday” needs to be used due to BOT regulations. However, it could
be clarified that in this context, “holiday” means a break from work and not a day
associated with any particular religious observance. Cunningham stated that the
holiday memo still needs to be run by the cabinet and deans, but he didn’t see any
problem with changing the title to “Winter Break.”
Cunningham spoke about morale issues and noted that so many things relate to it
such as the quality of leadership at the university level and for example, how
compensation and benefits are made a central university priority. He added that
morale is also tied into socioeconomics and national issues such as the election. For
SPS who have exempt status, the fact that they must take as much time as needed
to get the job done without direct time-related compensation also affects morale.
Cunningham spoke of how well communication is done and that, while it’s done well
at NIU, it could always be better. He felt that morale’s not at the top or bottom of the
scale at NIU, but is in the third quartile; above the median. Apperson noted that
communication is key especially when decisions are made from the top down without
employee feedback, such as the dress code at the NIU Monsanto facility. She
added that better preemptive support could be given to supervisors regarding
discipline. Griffin suggested that supervisors be held accountable for their
supervision and that employees should be allowed to evaluate their supervisors.
Cesarek asked Spires about the survey results. Spires responded that when the
complete analysis is finished, it will go to the Council, then to Cunningham and
Peters. However, Spires shared that many of the comments and initial results point
to the issues that have already been discussed by Cunningham.
Cesarek brought up the issue of work load and that SPS seem to be the ones who
have additional duties added and that employee burnout is a concern. Apperson
noted that exempt civil service employees are in the same situation. Cunningham
said that he would like to follow-up on this topic and that it will be an increasing
concern since he doesn’t see a big increase in resources. Apperson suggested that
there could be policy implications and that to expect employees to stay late for
events or to complete work and then be at work at 8:00 a.m. the next morning is
unhealthy. Ostenburg said that he sees when two jobs are collapsed into one when
employees leave, that person gets burned out and leaves. Then the university
spends more resources in the long run trying to replace personnel. Peska suggested
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that working from home occasionally could be an option and could help with morale.
Prain noted that as more duties are added to job descriptions, it becomes more
difficult to fill those positions when an employee leaves. She asked if too much is in
a job description, should it not be a red flag to investigate why. Latham noted that
the new online application system at HRS will generate online job descriptions. She
added that HRS is working on all the other issues discussed.
Cunningham brought up the issues of work time reporting as part of the state
employees and officials ethics act and that this is something all of higher education in
the state is contending with. The Department of Labor ruled that the argument that
requiring SPS and civil service exempt to report their time is inconsistent with FLSA
exempt laws, was not a valid argument. What other universities, such as SIU and
WIU, are doing is requiring a daily log of work time. The issue needs to be
addressed by NIU, and HRS will work with the Council and will make the reporting as
unobtrusive as possible. They are piloting a program in HRS that will add a line to
the Benefits Usage Form that complies with the ethics act. Employees would enter
the total number of hours spent in state service for a particular month.
Cunningham reported on several other issues. The first deals with organized labor
and signature card checks and petition drives. Once an organization receives 50%
of the confirmed signatures, that group of employees will automatically be organized.
A memo will go out providing employees with this information. Second, starting with
FY09, HRS will implement a campus service center that will have key services on the
main campus. Third, Cunningham acknowledged the comprehensive no smoking
ban that went into effect January 1, 2008. He reported that a decision was made to
not physically mark the 15 foot distance from buildings; that it would take away from
the look of campus. But, if violations build up, that may have to be reconsidered. He
added that Jesse Perez is the contact person in HRS regarding issues with the
smoking ban.
Stang asked about the summer schedule. Cunningham reported that Peters, Alden,
and Eddie Williams have been discussing it. The decision needs to be linked to the
budget and efficiency measures. Gilbert noted that currently NIU is scheduled to
reopen after the next winter break on Friday, January 2, 2009. He asked if the
university might be considering not reopening that day and requiring employees to
take a mandatory vacation day. Cunningham agreed that there are issues related to
energy usage, but will seek input to be sure employees could make plans for that
day.
III. Committees of the Council
A. Awards: Hammond made the report. The committee selected four recipients from
the 11 nominations for the SPS Presidential Award. The Council voted unanimously
in favor of the four recipients. Gillis added that it was a matter of deciding between
great, better, and best and all of the nominees are doing amazing work. Hammond
reminded the Council that the committee is still accepting names for the SPS
certificate of recognition. February 5 is the deadline for those nominations. They are
also looking for nominees for the SPSC service award and Hammond will e-mail
Council members with a formal solicitation. It was noted that April 15 is the date for
the awards ceremony.
B. Communications: No report due to time constraints.
C. Constitution and Elections: Report in Old Business.
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D. Finance: No report due to time constraints.
E. Legislative: No report due to time constraints.
F. Technology Resources: No report due to time constraints.
G. Workplace Issues: No report due to time constraints.
H. Vice President: No report due to time constraints.
IV. Old Business
A. AADR Advisory Committee appointee for Spring 2008. Cesarek announced that she
appointed Jason Jiandani, a project manager for the Public Opinion Lab, to this
committee.
B. Constitutional Changes. Spires pointed out the three amendments that were
distributed to Council members. Cesarek reported that at the Executive Committee
meeting, members discussed that since her term ends in an even year, that the
reapportionment be moved to odd numbered years so the presidential election could
be held in the even numbered years. She added that by changing the term to two
years the hope is that more people will get involved in running for SPSC president.
Gilbert noted that according to the current constitution, reapportionment should take
place this year, but it could be moved to next year. But that would mean that the
Council would go three years without reapportionment. Hammond suggested that if
there was need based on the make-up of SPS that the Council reapportion both this
year and next year. Cesarek added that reapportionment should be done the year
prior to an election, so the reapportionment would be next year, and the presidential
election would be in 2010. Ostenburg offered to look at the numbers for SPS in the
different divisions. After a brief discussion, it was decided to do the next
reapportionment in 2009. Spires made a motion, seconded by Prain, to approve
Amendment Proposal I: To change the reapportionment of Council seats from evennumbered years to odd-numbered years. This change avoids the necessity of cutting
short or extending by a year the current term of the current Council President.
Motion passed unanimously.
Spires made a motion, seconded by Lux, to approve Amendment Proposal II: To
change the term of the Council President from three years to two, to establish
elections for president in even-numbered years; and to require any individual seeking
election as Council President to have served on the Council in some official capacity
not more than three years prior to being nominated. Motion passed unanimously.
Spires made a motion, seconded by Hammond, to approve Amendment Proposal III:
To establish an Events Committee as a regular standing committee of the Council.
Motion passed unanimously.
Spires will update the constitution and provide Smith with a copy to be posted to the
Council web page.
C. Spring “After Hours” – ad hoc committee -- (tentative dates 4/3, 4/10, 4/17, or 4/24).
Cesarek is looking for members for an ad hoc committee. The tentative dates should
be compared to NIU’s calendar for potential conflicts.
D. Wellness Fair – ad hoc committee – date – March 26, 2008. Cesarek is also looking
for members for an ad hoc committee for an SPSC table at the Wellness Fair. She
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asked Council members to let her know if they are interested in either the Spring
“After Hours” ad hoc committee and/or Wellness Fair ad hoc committee.
V. New Business
None.
VI. University Committee Reports
None.
VII. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Donna Smith, SPSC Secretary.
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