Employee Forum Minutes
October 9, 2003
Public Works Break Room
Members Present: Than Austin, Felix Bloch, Ann Brown, Norman Clark, Amy Edwards, Lisa Edwards, Amy Harvey, Chelsea Laws, Bernard Leach, George Long, Leanne Mikels, Mona Nazir, Iris Schwintzer, Deborah Squires, Traval Watkins, Susie Whaley, Mary Jean Williams
Members Absent: Maggie Burnette, Jeff Clark, Lois Jean Houpe, David Sasser, Kelly Stokes
Ex-officio Members Present: Pam Eastwood, Cal Horton, Meegan Rosen (sub for Lois Jean Houpe)
Brief discussion of the EF election process ensued. It was suggested that the name labels be removed from the ballot for anonymity. Iris Schwintzer volunteered to serve the 2nd year of a 2 year term for the Transportation Dept. It was suggested that it would be helpful to have a list (by department) of people eligible sent out with the EF nomination ballots and to know which members’ terms would expire.
Valerie Senator got nominee ballots out to town departments for the coming election. They are due back on the 10th.
Work Group Discussion
Benefits:
Ø Reviewed previous issues under consideration; updated status of ongoing projects.
Ø Discussed idea of doing a bike give-away program to encourage employees to use alternative forms of transportation to get to work. A similar program was done a few years ago.
Ø Discussed Town’s weather policy. “Town Hall does not close”. The group is concerned about employee safety. Will work with the Policy WG to develop possible policy alternatives.
Hiring/Promotion:
Ø Still gathering information on staffing levels throughout the Town.
Ø Working on proposal for career opportunities for all employees.
Policy:
Ø Charged the Education/Training WG with looking at similar municipalities Tuition Reimbursement Program. Possibility of using a tier reimbursement system based on the level of education being obtained (i.e. associates degree, bachelors’ degree, masters’ degree, etc.)
Employee Relations/Communications:
Ø Discussed proposals for Town Manager regarding Employee Appreciation such as: -certificates for 5 or more years of service (Pam Eastwood said that she would implement this immediately) -gift certificates or coupons given to employees who have done an outstanding job on recommendation by their supervisor. It was suggested that money be budgeted to cover these costs $150.-$200. per department. –safety awards should be done by the departments safety committee –recognize employees who carry over vacation time that is converted to sick leave; it was suggested that employees should be encouraged to take vacation leave they earn; also establishment of a Town-wide pool of vacation time converted to sick leave that employees could donate time to have available for employees who need it. Employees need to be informed that unused sick leave goes toward years of service at retirement.
Education/Training
Ø Revised the Lunch and Learn proposal per the Town Manager’s request. It was made more general in nature as to the specifics that we had requested for this one proposal. It was proposed on a year’s basis.
Ø Received a request to look at other town governments and the amount of money that is given to an employee for Tuition assistance. It was also requested to possibly tier the amount for the assistance according to the type of degree the employee is working toward.
· Minutes from the 9/10/03 meeting with the Town manager were approved with a minor change to first bulleted item under Results of Hiring Process Survey to read as follows: ‘Sent questionnaire-Transit, Police Dept, maybe Fire’.
Minutes approved from the 9/11/03 meeting.
· Items for discussion for today
Amy referred to email from earlier in the week asking members to be prepared to discuss items regarding Employee Appreciation Day and ways to boost morale; Felix to submit report to Pam regarding the hiring process survey; and members need to identify major areas of interest in supplemental insurance.
Other items included:
-Pam Eastwood has someone that is willing to come to the EF to talk with us about supplemental insurance. Pam will provide a letter outlining what types of supplemental plans are available. The Benefits WG will work with Pam to get input from Town employees.
-Members hosting the monthly meeting need to turn in their receipts for refreshments to HR for reimbursement.
-Clarification of which EF members positions are up for re-election this year. –EF Web page use, there have been over 500 hits to date. –Work Group discussion on diversity; possibly use entire meeting time in a couple of months to discuss this issue. Felix proposed inviting a speaker who manages diversity for Southern Bell which may be arranged for the December meeting. It was decided to defer this until 2004. –Current EF minutes should be posted to the web page with ‘Draft’ in the heading until they are approved by the group.
· Cal Horton and Pam Eastwood reported on items introduced in the 9/10/03 meeting.
o Spanish instruction: goal is to improve communication with Spanish speaking citizens. Pam stated that she is in the process of gathering information from other municipalities and department heads to figure out various needs. This should progress to be included in the next fiscal year.
o Diversity training: goals need to be defined before establishing a program; Pam to work with EF
o Supplemental insurance was previously covered
o Lunch and Learn; as discussed by the Education/Training WG
o Health Fair: no specific date; Possibility of Cigna presenting programs, or a quarterly Health Day including screenings; EF members need to find out what people are interested in. Possibly hold in different locations and customize for different departments.
o Cal would like to get any comments on service provided by CIGNA. Comments should go to HR.
o Wellness Coordinator position: focus is on applying OSHA rules and regulations and Worker’s Compensation issues for now.
o Departments scheduling staff meetings: Cal continues to emphasize the value of having regular staff meetings in all departments
o Hiring Process: Pam would like to see the survey done by the Promotion/Hiring WG. Currently advertising for 2 full-time HR positions. Changes to hiring process are progressing; HR is partnering with departments to make the process easier and faster. One component is training supervisors in proper procedure. HR is tracking time between hiring department receiving applications and actual hire date of an employee. HR is working toward cross-training staff so that when employees come in with questions someone should be able to help them. Felix will see that Pam gets information from the survey. HR is also working toward getting all forms employees need on the Towns shared directory for easier access.
o Shifting benefits costs to employees: the Town is not interested in doing this as some large corporations have. Flexible spending accounts are changing to include over-the-counter medications effective 9/1/03, Pam will send information regarding this through the email.
o Staff support for EF: Pam is making space in HR for use by the EF
o EF Attendance: made progress in that area
o Employee Appreciation: continue to need our feedback, and working together with HR.
o Employee advocate in HR: Annisa is back on a part-time basis; full-time after 11/1. 2 new HR staff will also give support and answer questions.
Cal thanked the group for suggestions and asked for any questions and said he would be glad to come back anytime. He was asked how he felt about having the Employee Appreciation Day on a Saturday, and he stated that he had no preference and would go along with what ever best served the Town employees. He is also open to more than one option to see what may work better or not.
Pam was asked if the EF Secretary/Treasurer should be responsible for handling receipts for refreshments and she said that she would continue to do this since she has to sign-off on them.
· Employee Appreciation Day feedback: departments that had been polled were split about evenly on having a weekend event.