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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-HRC-2000-12-18 • HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE Regular Meeting December 18, 2000 Committee Members Present: Paulette Manos, Ed Hershey, Pat Vaughan, Joan Spielholtz Committee Members Excused: Josh Glasstetter Ad-Hoc Members Present: Schelley Michell-Nunn (HR Director), Alan J. Cohen (Mayor) Common Council Members Present: Pat Pryor, Tracy Farrell, Diann Sams Staff Present: Tom Dorman (Deputy Fire Chief), Brian Wilbur(Fire Chief), Steve Thayer (Deputy Controller), Randall Sterling (Police Officer), JoAnn Bailey (Transit Service Supv), Marcia Fort (GIAC Director), Frank Eggleston (WW Trt Plt Operator), Denise Malone (Administrative Secretary) Others Present: Bob Rich (Cornell ILR School), Jane Maestro-Scherer Chairperson Manos called the meeting to order at 8:20 pm. A. Agenda review, Approval of Minutes & Announcements Chairperson Manos stated that Item F-2 (DPW—Water & Sewer) has been deleted from the agenda and will be considered next month. The Committee reviewed the minutes from the November meeting. Alderperson Vaughan made a motion to approve the minutes from the November 27, 2000 meeting. Seconded by Alderperson Spielholz. Motion carried 4-0. B. Employee Comments & Response Deputy Fire Chief Dorman stated that on August 30, 2000 he sent a memo to the Human Resources Committee requesting a salary review. Mr. Dorman stated that to date he has not had a response from this Committee. Mr. Dorman stated that he is here personally to ask for that review. Ms. Manos stated that his request was directed to her as the Human Resources Committee Chair and to Human Resources Director Schelley Michell-Nunn, with a copy to the Mayor. Human Resources Committee Meeting • December 18, 2001 Page 2 C. Work Environment Task Force— Report and Presentation Alderperson Hershey stated that in October 1998 the Work Environment Task Force was created. The Task Force included a wide variety of participation from the workforce, which was needed to have as broad and balance of a perspective on these issues as possible. Alderperson Hershey commended Task Force Members: employees (Frank Eggleston, JoAnn Bailey and Randy Sterling), management (Marcia Fort, Brian Wilbur and Phyllis Radke), Common Council Members (Paulette Manos, Tracy Farrell, Jana Taylor and Diann Sams), Human Resources Director (Schelley Michell- Nunn), Mayor Cohen and Cornell University (Bob Rich and Jane Maestro-Scherer) for all their hard work, commitment and dedication to the success of this program. Mr. Rich and Ms. Maestro-Scherer encouraged the City to include employees in every aspect of this process (from creation of the survey to participation in the Corrective Action Teams). Alderperson Hershey stated that his has been an extraordinary process that has demonstrated how we can integrate department heads with an outside consultant, with Common Council and with the broader employees. This process has shown what the City can do on a lot of issues by bringing all these resources together in a very positive and cooperative way. Alderperson Hershey stated that we are not where we need to be but he is confident that we are a step closer to the work environment that we all strive for. The Committee looked at slides presented by the Task Force. Human Resources Director Schelley Michell-Nunn stated that it is important to look at the different slides because they show the magnitude of participation in this process. The Survey Design Team, which involved twenty-seven (27) employees ranging across the workforce, spent many sessions designing the survey. Part of the process included pre-testing, where employees completed the survey and tested its validity and reliability. The Work Environment Task Force and the Survey Design Team were instrumental in getting the workforce out to take the survey. Ms. Michell-Nunn stated that thanks to them, there was an excellent response rate—68% or 282 employees completed the survey. Twenty-five (25) employees participated in the Interactive Data Analysis sessions and forty-three (43) employees participated in the Issue Action session. Ms. Michell-Nunn stated that some employees participated in several parts of the process but in each process we had employees who had not participated in others. Work Environment Task Force Member Marcia Fort stated that one of the pieces that would happen and help continue the work is the Corrective Action Teams. The Corrective Action teams, consisting of a wide variety of City employees, will take specific issues and work together to bring forth some recommendations and possible resolutions. Ms. Fort stated that a lot of information resulted from the survey and all of the sessions with the employees. The Work Environment Task Force focused on the three (3) predominate issue areas. So, the presentation tonight will focus on the findings related to these three areas and the implications of those findings. Work Environment Task Force Member Frank Eggleston explained the definition for the different ways that the Work Environment Task Force grouped the different findings. Communication & Organizational: rather than interpersonal communication, concerning accurate, consistent and timely information dissemination Human=Resources Committee Meeting December 18, 2001 Page 3 Policies/Procedures: formal, written operating guidelines that describe rules, regulations and requirements of the City workplace. Education/Traininq: specific job training as well as general skills and management/supervisory development. Performance Improvement: supervisory and management functions, as well as other conditions, required to encourage optimum employee performance. The topics addressed by the Task Force were "Oppression and Intimidation", "Health and Safety" and "Supervision and Discipline". Under each topic, Task Force Members Randy Sterling and JoAnn Bailey mentioned the Findings and the Implications. Ms. Fort stated that there was a great deal of information that came out during this process. The findings that are being presented are the ones that were a major cause for concern. Ms. Fort stated that the ones that cause the greatest concern indicate that there is a lot of work to be done. The Work Environment Task Force mentioned Short Term and Long Tenn Recommendations for each topic: 1. Oppression and Intimidation a. Short Term Recommendations: Sexual harassment training b. Long Term Recommendations: Diversity training; develop uniform standards that all managers understand and will enforce; mentoring-coaching programs; mandate supervisory/management training; further research into bullying (focus groups) 2. Health and Safety a. Short Term Recommendations: Analyze data from survey by department; offer a CPR and First Aid training to all employees by employer, establish a position of Safety Officer and City-wide Safety Committee b. Long Term Recommendations: Develop Wellness and Fitness programs; implement department-specific safety training as needed 3. Supervision and Discipline a. Short Term Recommendations: Develop and implement employee orientation— City-wide and departmental; expand the pilot performance evaluations systems City-wide; provide necessary funding for jobs-specific and supervisory training; create a system of inter-departmental coordination; develop a system to utilize the probationary system more effectively. Human Resources Committee Meeting December 18, 2001 Page 4 b. Lona Term Recommendations: Design performance management system; institute system of inter-departmental coordination; define and develop a system of corrective action for minor offenses; support leadership and supervisory development 4. General Recommendations (to Common Council and the Mayor) a. Short Term Recommendation: Increase awareness of Common Council and the Mayor of departments and how they are managed (i.e. take a job for a day [by July 1, 2001], visits to worksite); organizational charts for each department to be made available to all employees, division, etc. and present to Common Council; department heads take an active role in using survey results and other information sources to identify and address problems; department heads and HR Department report to Human Resources Committee of Common Council on "hot spots" and corrective actions; conduct a Senior Staff Action Planning Session- 1st Quarter of 2001 2. Lona Term Recommendations: Create and maintain state of the art website; develop a statement of city vision and values; update and disseminate the Human Resources Manual; yearly on-going funding for workforce development activities Human Resources Director Schelley Michell-Nunn stated that we have only scratched the surface. There were some obvious issues but now we have the information to back it. Ms. Michell-Nunn stated that now we must move to the next steps. The first is for Common Council to review the information and adopt the recommendations. Then the City needs to create an implementation plan to look at all of the areas and see what the City needs to do to get it done (i.e. There was a lot of information on communication. They City should have a communication plan. The City needs to see how it looks, what it involves, what resources are involved and who (what people) needs to be involved). The employees should be kept involved. The City needs to put together Corrective Action Teams to deal with specific issues. Ms. Michell-Nunn stated that the next steps are a continuation of what has taken place for the last 27 months. Ms. Michell-Nunn stated that many of the recommendations fall under the category of Quality Initiative and would like for us to see what it would mean to bring Quality Initiative into the City work environment. The Committee discussed the financial impact, possible issue areas not mentioned in the presentation and a feedback component (which would determine what has been accomplished and whether we could move ahead). Mayor Cohen stated that money has been allocated in the Human Resources Department's budget to address some of these concerns. Ms. Michell-Nunn stated that issue areas not covered in the presentation would be addressed in Corrective Action Groups and that a feedback component had been discussed. Ms. Michell-Nunn stated that information from the summary would be distributed to departments. The departments will work with that data and will have some degree of participation within their departments as it has been throughout the whole process. Ms. Fort stated that departments would Human Resources Committee Meeting December 18, 2001 Page 5 receive assistance from Bob Rich and Jane Maestro-Scherer. Employees who are interested would be trained to facilitate these sessions as well. Common Council members thanked the Work Environment Task Force and Cornell University for all their hard work. Human Resources Director Michell-Nunn stated that the report is just a summary and that there is much more information (i.e. frequency tables, qualitative data—where people wrote in —etc.) Alderperson Hershey made a motion to accept the report and pass the recommendations on to Common Council. Seconded by Alderperson Vaughan. Motion carried 4-0. Chairperson Manos stated that copies of the report are available in the Human Resources Department. Chairperson Manos thanked the Work Environment Task Force (Ed Hershey, Jana Taylor, Frank Eggleston, JoAnn Bailey, Marcia Fort, Brian Wilbur, Phyllis Radke, Tracy Farrell, Mayor Cohen, Diann Sams, Randy Sterling, and Schelley Michell-Nunn), Bob Rich, Jane Maestro-Scherer and Common Council for all their hard work. D. Chairperson's Report Chairperson Manos stated that she has no report but would like to apologize to Deputy Fire Chief Dorman for not responding to his request yet. Chairperson Manos stated that he will get a response. E. Sub-Committee Reports 1. City Administration Alderperson Hershey stated that the Committee would meet in January 2001. The two Sub-Committee chairs (Dominick Cafferillo and John Gutenberger)will be prepared to report to the Committee. Alderperson Hershey stated that the Committee will know too whether Cornell University would be able to assist the City Administration Committee with the survey of City supervisors and customers. 2. Residency Requirement. None. 3. E-mail. None. F. Personnel Items 1. Information Technology Department The Information Technology Department is requesting to amend the personnel roster by adding the positions of Senior Network Administrator (40 hrs), User Support Analyst (40 hrs) and Administrative Secretary (40 hrs). After discussion, Alderperson Vaughan made a motion to approve the request. Seconded by Alderperson Spielholz. Motion carried 4-0. Human Resources Committee Meeting December 18, 2001 Page 6 G. Directors' Reports. None. H. Mayor's Report. None. I. Old Business. None. J. New Business. None. K. Adjournment On a motion by Alderperson Hershey, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.