Personnel and Payroll Services

    19 Montana Hall

    P.O Box 172520

    Bozeman, MT  59717-2520

               

    Phone:                   (406) 994-3651

    Fax:        (406) 994-5974

 

 

April 13, 2004

 

To:        CEPAC Members

 

Fr:        Susan Alt, Director

            Personnel & Payroll Services

 

Re:        CEPAC MAP Survey Outcomes

 

First of all I would like to congratulate you on all the good work you have done recently, surveying and soliciting feedback from classified employees regarding the “various components of MAP” and “two jobs salary issues”.  Your enthusiasm for President Gamble’s model of “shared leadership” has been inspirational and generated renewed optimism on our campus.  You are also serving as a wonderful role model for your peer groups on the other MUS campuses. 

 

Below is my response to the list of items forwarded to me in your memo dated March 10, 2004:

 

Ensuring that the maximum percentage of critical elements of the job description are covered by goals; and improve the quality of and meaningfulness of the goal setting in general.

 

·          PPS training sessions, website, and communications and all MAP written materials for the last year have emphasized a focus on overall performance development and continuous feedback in order to foster meaningful dialogues between the supervisor and the employee, rather than focusing on just goals and an end of the year evaluation.

·          The level of quality and meaningfulness of the Performance Plan and goal setting process is highly dependent on the level of engagement in the process, motivation, and discussion of both the supervisor and the employee.

·          A good question to solicit helpful feedback from our various committees (CEPAC, Professional Council, MAP Advisory, etc.) would be - What information do employees and supervisors need, and how could this information best be presented?

·          Refer to MAP Advisory Committee.

 

Further consolidation of paperwork for all aspects of MAP, but especially in the area of performance evaluation.

 

·          FYI, for those who weren’t aware, the new web-based “overall performance evaluation“ form, which significantly streamlines the paperwork, was introduced last July. Is it being used by those who are frustrated with too much paperwork?

·          If the desire is for further consolidation beyond this significantly improved form, specific examples for consideration would be welcome and appreciated.

·          Refer to MAP Advisory Committee.

 

 

 “From Hiring to Retiring – Your Human Resources Partner”

 

 

 

Research claims of slow application processing.

 

·          Early in the MAP implementation there were time delays in Lump Sum Bonus processing, this problem has been taken care of.

·          If there are delays with Lump Sum Bonus processing, it may likely be due to inadequate justification provided with the initial request, and the department is taking additional time to strengthen its request.  There have been a few occasions when the request didn’t even reach PPS, it was withdrawn, or held up due to an inappropriate funding source, or lack of the required signature approvals.

·          If there are delays with Strategic Pay processing, it is most likely due to the time needed to research and complete a comprehensive salary analysis by PPS before we make a recommendation to the appropriate Vice President and the President.

·          PPS will commit to a 5-7 working day turnaround on Lump Sum Bonus requests, to forward these requests to the next level of approval (assumes that the request is received in our office, on the correct form, with complete information). 

·          Currently, critical recruitment and retention Strategic Pay requests receive top priority; turnaround can be as short as a 1-2 working days. PPS will commit to a 10-12 working day turnaround on less urgent Strategic Pay requests, to forward these requests to the next level of approval (also assumes that the request is received in our office, on the correct form, with complete information).

 

Educate campus as to why PPS makes the final decisions on flexible pay options.

 

·          PPS doesn’t make final decisions on each of the flexible pay options.

·          PPS analyzes Lump Sum and Strategic Pay requests and makes a recommendation to the appropriate Vice President and to the President.  

·          PPS reviews all Lump Sum Bonus requests; Vice President approval is required for $350 and $500 requests; in addition the President’s approval is required for $750 and $1,000 requests.

·          PPS reviews all Strategic Pay requests and makes a recommendation to the appropriate Vice President and the President; they make the final decisions.

·          PPS makes final determinations on progression plans for the Bozeman, Billings, Havre and Great Falls campuses; UM Human Resources makes final determinations for each of its campuses; the salary increase associated with a progression plan is determined in accordance with the MAP Pay Rules.

·          The above information will be posted to the PPS website.

 

Procure a note (even a mass produced one) from President Gamble to be sent to staff on the occasion of a bonus award.

 

·          President Gamble would like to do this and it can begin almost immediately.  Timing of this letter will ensure that the recipient has received official notification from their Department Head, Director, or supervisor.

 

Increase understanding of MAP title conversion methods, outcomes and relationship to salary.

 

·          PPS will post this information to our website upon completion of this project; early summer.   

 

Investigate discrepancy in reported flexible pay applications (via survey) and those actually made via PPS.

 

·          The PPS statistics for all Flexible Pay Options are on our website and will be updated quarterly. http://www.montana.edu/wwwpn/documents/FlexPayStatistics.doc

·          Supervisors who are unsure about the status of their request, or individuals who have specific statistics that contradict the PPS statistics should feel free to contact me at X3651.

·          Please keep in mind that there are times requests don’t make it to PPS.  As mentioned previously, a request may get held up in another office, and never have been received by PPS.

 

 

 

Pursue supervisory training as related to their responsibilities within MAP. 

 

·          As a campus, we need to determine what kind of specific information supervisors need or want, and how to best present it to them. Below are some options for consideration-

·          Present a panel of “super” supervisors who could offer their perspectives and suggestions.

·          Provide performance evaluation sessions to supervisors only.  (Example – Are there faculty members, or other human resource professionals from the community who might like to do this?; timing, end of the academic year, very busy)

·          Provide annual report to President and VPs summarizing statistics for each department regarding utilization of MAP processes at the end of each MAP Performance Cycle

·          Refer to MAP Advisory Committee.

 

Pursue supervisor training as related to their general supervisory responsibility.

 

·          The topic of professional development programs is being pursued on many levels within the University.  In recognition of its importance to achieving the University’s mission, professional development is also a component of the MSU 5-year vision and outlook document. Tactical committees and sub-committees are currently being put together for each tactical goal. (There are six of them.) These committees are charged with soliciting and encouraging broad communication with their related constituent groups, clearly identifying each element of each objective, developing specific projected timelines and cost projections, as well as assessment and reporting process. PPS will have members on these committees and is committed to seeking input from CEPAC and keeping its membership informed as work progresses.

·          In addition, CEPAC  has previously received a message from Craig Roloff, Interim Vice President for Administration and Finance regarding his financial commitment to PPS next fall, if the funding is available, to enhance our current program offerings.

 

Revitalize campus interest in training and instruction.

 

·          Same as above. 

·          Refer to MAP Advisory Committee.

 

Research viability of survey respondent reports of being “over supervised,” based on the ideas that a sure way to achieve progression pay is to supervise.  Thus, staff are working under multiple supervisors in order to satisfy the supervisory requirement for their progression.  Resolve if necessary.

 

·          For an employee to “progress” from one level to the next level requires more than taking on supervision of others.  The new MAP classification process no longer uses the seven factors from the old Benchmark Factoring Methodology, one of which was supervision of others.  The new methodology considers significant “functions” of the job and only considers supervision when it is a significant function (i.e.- performance feedback, hiring firing, disciplining, etc.)  In order to avoid the problem of multiple employees getting credit for supervision, a departmental organizational chart is a part of the paperwork required to be submitted with a progression plan request.

 

C:         President Gamble

            Vice President Craig Roloff

            MAP Advisory Committee Chair – Jim Rimpau