Staff calls for training at forum

Training was the theme of the day when about 235 staff members gathered in Kane Hall for the second of three forums sponsored by the President's Staff Forum. The official subject of the meeting was "job enhancement," but speaker after speaker stressed the need for more and better funded training opportunities.

Like its predecessor on July 12, the forum included a free lunch and consisted mostly of staff coming to microphones and speaking up about their concerns. Meeting facilitator was Kim Johnson-Bogart, assistant dean of undergraduate education, and Jessie Garcia of Training and Development served as a resource person.

The very first speaker began the emphasis on training when she told her own story. To do her job well, she said, she needed more extensive computer classes than those available through Computing and Communication. She completed the prerequisites and became a graduate student so that she could enroll in quarter-long computer classes in an academic department. "We need to have classes like these available to staff," she said.

Echoing her comments, another staffer said she would like to take computer classes that are offered off campus. But those classes are expensive, she said, and departmental budgets are unequal. Some departments can finance their employees who enroll and others can't. Following up on this thought, a third speaker suggested a pool of money to support training throughout campus, rather than money from individual budgets.

Another speaker talked about campus Web sites, pointing out that many are created by people who don't have sufficient skills. Given the importance of Web sites to the University's outreach efforts, she suggested a complete training program in the area and follow-up user groups or a chat room so that people could help each other.

Staff were also concerned about training in the context of general career development. One staffer explained that she was interested in acquiring new skills in order to qualify for job advancement. But, she said, any advancement for her would have to come outside her department, and there was no encouragement for her to do this and no easy way for her to get information. The department, she said, seemed invested in keeping her where she is.

Another speaker, building on the previous comments, said she thought there was a stratified system at the University and that classified staff were not encouraged to move into the professional staff ranks.

Garcia told forum attendees that Human Resources is beginning to address some of the concerns raised. She mentioned, for example, that the new Strategic Leadership Program is centrally funded. She also said that the new team approach to service that HR is now introducing should increase information flow to departments. Karen Kavanaugh, Assistant VP for Human Resources, who also attended the forum, added that Employment Services has begun offering individual career counseling as well.

In a related issue, several staffers spoke of the lack of reward for employees who stay on at the University. They explained how each new employee coming into a job in their area would get a higher starting salary than the one before. Meanwhile, the employees who stayed were stuck on the same salary track as when they began. Other speakers said they felt their job description no longer reflected what they actually did and that this affected their salary.

One speaker suggested that there was an undercurrent of job dissatisfaction running through the comments and that it would be a good idea for the University to conduct a survey of job satisfaction with some "carrot" offered to encourage employee participation.

Other miscellaneous concerns and ideas expressed at the forum included the following: