Saying "we must do what we can to maintain that excellence" of UC Davis’ staff, Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef and Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Grey are asking deans and vice chancellors to begin addressing campus staff workload and compensation problems.
Deans and vice chancellors will be developing administrative plans that will outline their staffing needs for the next three to five years.
They will share an additional $1 million in campus funds for staff salaries this fiscal year and are being encouraged to consider earmarking money in their own budgets to shore up their staffs as needed.
The actions are among a number of steps being taken in response to concerns raised earlier this spring by campus middle managers about staff workload and compensation.
In a letter to the UC Davis community this week, Vanderhoef and Grey said while the campus’s nearly completed academic plans address faculty and student growth, "it is absolutely essential that our planning effort address the staff workload and compensation challenges associated with the expected campus growth."
"We pledge our commitment to achieve a balance in the allocation of resources, recognizing the fundamental importance of a quality staff to the success of the academic mission."
Vanderhoef and Grey said they were hopeful that, with the state’s current budget surplus, additional money would be coming from the governor and Legislature in 2000-01 to make staff salaries more competitive. Gov. Gray Davis last week boosted a proposed 3.5 percent increase in UC staff compensation to 4.5 percent in his revised budget proposal to the Legislature.
Other developments include policy changes aimed at giving departments more flexibility upgrading job classifications for veteran staffers.
Grey said that he has received strong support to increase funding in 2000-01 for several central administration services, such as payroll and benefits, so they can add staff and better serve the campus. That advice will be considered during the final weeks of the biennial budget process, he said.
Jerry Hallee, assistant executive vice chancellor, said these proposed budget increases have backing from deans, vice chancellors, assistant deans, and a broad coalition of management services officers on the Adman board. "That is so gratifying," Hallee said. "They realize that if these service units can add staff, they will respond in a more timely manner, and better serve the faculty, staff and students."
Many of the recent changes had already been in the works, but were stepped up in response to a March 2 meeting between Vanderhoef, Grey, Vice Chancellor for Administration Janet Hamilton and about 70 members of the Administrative Management Group.
The campus middle-management group had requested the summit because members believed a staffing crunch that dates to the budget cuts of the early 1990s had reached a crisis point.
Adman chair Rick Markgraf said the group’s members are "absolutely amazed and excited about the response from the chancellor’s office."
"This was beyond what we expected, and we’re very happy to see it," said Markgraf, management services officer for the Environmental Science and Policy department.
Markgraf said UC Davis efforts to address staff workload is catching the attention of other UC campuses, as well as the UC Office of the President, all of which are also looking at how to better compete for employees. "It’s nice to be able to brag about how well our campus is responding," Markgraf said.
Adman’s concerns have been the topic of numerous meetings among senior management in recent weeks.
A tradition of ‘lean and mean’ staffing
Hallee said the campus has long had a "conservative culture" with respect to the size of the campus administration and the number of staff employees it hires.
While the "lean and mean" tradition was once a legitimate source of pride, he said, it ultimately hurt the campus in the budget cuts of the early 1990s. Campus administrators are recognizing that this conservative approach has also influenced staff compensation, likely putting the campus at a disadvantage in today’s keenly competitive job market, he said.
Plans addressing future staffing needs will be developed in the coming months. Schools, colleges and divisions will need to develop "administrative support plans" to complement their academic plans.
The new vice chancellor for resource management and planning, John Meyer, who starts his post July 17, will establish a framework and timetable for deans and vice chancellors to develop these administrative plans, Hallee said.
Improving service by central administative units
At the same time, vice chancellors will be reviewing customer service hours and use of automated telephone systems by service units.
Hallee said they also will create short-term "process improvement dialogue groups" aimed at improving service by central administrative units. Among the handful of members in each group would be an administrator with the authority to make policy changes within the service unit.
In addition, assistant deans and central administration representatives are working with Hallee to develop an action plan that will seek to bring further improvements to staff workload. The group will meet every two weeks through at least the next academic year to follow progress on the action plan and to identify new ideas
Policy changes on reclassification and staff turnover savings aim to give deans and vice chancellors more flexibility in the manangement of staff salaries.
Change in reclassifaction policy
Under the policy change for reclassifications, departments will fund the actual increase in an employee’s salary, rather than a full increment. Under the new policy, "If you’re going to give an employee a 5 percent salary increase, you just fund the 5 percent salary increase," said Kelly Ratliff, associate director of budget operations.
Staff turnover savings that occur when an employee leaves a job will no longer be returned to a central campus account. Instead, turnover savings will be collected and managed locally by deans or vice chancellors or department heads. Policy changes were made retroactive to last July so that campus units can take full financial advantage of the policy changes as soon as possible.
In their letter to the campus community, the chancellor and provost said staff employees helped develop UC Davis into one of the nation’s premier research universities.
They urged others on campus to show appreciation for staff service whenever possible. "Money is important, but there are other opportunities, as well, to recognize good work. We can achieve the brightest of futures for UC Davis, but only if we do it together, walking in partnership with the staff."