Town Meeting Unasked or Common Questions
The questions to the right are questions that were not asked at recent Town Meetings or are commonly asked questions.
Feb. 20 Questions & AnswersFeb. 20, 2008 Town Meeting Questions & Answers
QUESTION: Has OSU considered pooling
all our leave hours into one pot?
RESPONSE: Yes, we are very interested
in redesigning our leave program with such a design. We are scheduled
to undertake this project in 2009.
QUESTION: Instead of percentage increases,
why not use a dollar amount across the board for all employees?
RESPONSE: The Provost issues a compensation
guidance document every July which defines the compensation process for
the upcoming year. It promotes the idea of dollar increments as one method
to address salary compression; however that is not the only solution.
QUESTION: OSU internal auditors have
asked to see performance reviews as part of their audit. At this point,
performance reviews are not required by the University, so how can the
performance review be an audit issue?
RESPONSE: There are many areas of the
university who do require performance reviews. If the college or unit
has a policy requiring them, Internal Audit must enforce that policy.
QUESTION: Where does the accountability
lie when more than one person is involved in the completion of a task
and the necessary personnel practice a flexible work schedule?
RESPONSE: Flexible work schedules are
a very important part of an environment to engage the very best talent
through all life phases and outside interests. If there are issues with
unbalanced workload, it is the supervisor’s responsibility to look
into the performance issue or the job design issue.
QUESTION: The segregation of duties
has crippled human resources professionals and how they do their jobs.
Do you see any changes to the current segregation of duties upcoming?
RESPONSE: There is no choice as to segregation
of duties. However, we are examining ideas as to restructuring the way
HR duties are carried out. Business & Finance is experience with the
concept of moving work into a more centralized Service Center (at the
college or VP level) which gives the ability to address segregation of
duties in a reasonably way.
QUESTION: Why is it that employees
of the Research Foundation may not take classes during the daytime. Several
have put in for a class over lunchtime, but are told they may not take
classes during work hours?
RESPONSE: Employees can’t be paid
to take classes, unless those classes are required skills training. However,
we strongly encourage that supervisors allow a revised schedule to be
arranged to accommodate professional development, if possible within the
nature of the work. Please contact the Office of Human Resources Consulting
Services for advice on this issue. This is very important.
QUESTION: Could a review of the accident
report or reporting system to the workman’s comp make it more effective
for the person who is injured on the job, get quicker medical attention
and/or compensation?
RESPONSE: The reporting system is available
on-line for immediate reporting. An injured employee can also seek medical
attention immediately without waiting, by reporting to Employee Health
in the Medical Center. If possible the person should complete an accident
report when reporting for care. We do not intend to delay medical attention
in any way.
QUESTION: What benefit is there in
coming to work each day and being required to work as a team, when the
flexible work schedule is not conducive to team building?
Please explain how this can be made a beneficial arrangement for all personnel
involved. The only benefit I see is to the one who adjusts their hours
to accommodate their personal needs; this does not pertain to scheduled
leave time. AN adjustment on work arrangements can lead to low morale,
when one is expected to complete a task in a timely manner and does not
receive the appropriate support.
RESPONSE: Flexible work arrangements
are a very important tool for retaining talent and for reaching a maximized
contribution arrangement, if done well. If not done carefully, inequities
can occur. We are very committed to making such arrangements available,
and for doing them well. We recommend contacting the Office of Human Resources
Consulting Services for any questions and for assistance in working through
individual scenarios.
QUESTION: I have friends, external
candidates, who have tried to apply for jobs at OSU and have hit a proverbial
brick wall. They’ve put in application after application and have
never even been called back. This has happened non several occasions to
people applying for all sorts of positions, from Office Asst. to IT Specialist.
Can you speak to this problem? Why is there no way for them to talk to
a live person?
RESPONSE: There are two aspects to this.
First, the university departments cannot maintain sufficient staffing
to be able to field personal conversations with all applicants. Most employers
have moved away from that, due to the very significant cost. Second, however,
we do not want to be an unfriendly institution and will need to be sure
we can attract scarce talent in the future. We will place this on the
agenda for discussion of the senior HR leaders across the colleges and
units of the university.
QUESTION: Why doesn’t the University
provide subsidy for mass transit for Faculty and Staff, just like the
students? As a leading institution, we should be sensitive to not only
recruiting and maintaining Faculty and Staff but, to the environment as
well. COTA, Bike paths, pedestrian routes, ride share and work form home
should be explored.
RESPONSE: The University does not subsidize
the COTA passes for students – it is funded solely through a mandatory
fee that each student pays every quarter. COTA's current discounted rates
for OSU Faculty and Staff are $41/month for local and $58/month for express
(compared to COTA's regular price $45/ month for local and $62/ month
for express). Not unlike the student program, to garner a more substantial
discount, Faculty and Staff would need to agree to a mandatory fee, which
from COTA's perspective is necessary to make the economics work. We do
not sense a great deal of support for this from Faculty and Staff.
In the interim, Transportation and Parking Services is working with the Office of Human Resources to provide a pre-tax payroll deduction option for Faculty and Staff who elect to purchase monthly COTA passes at the current discounted rates.
QUESTION: What can we do to improve
the parking situation on campus for faculty & staff, especially those
with A parking passes? (If you leave campus or go elsewhere on campus
and return, its difficult to find a parking spot – this occurs daily)
RESPONSE: There are plans approved to
build additional parking ramps. These should be coming on line over the
next several years. Meanwhile, we are faced with doing the best we can
with limited space at a very large urban university. This includes more
short term parking and a program for faculty and staff to utilize a car
sharing program, Zipcar, for local transportation needs. Suggestions are
welcome.
QUESTION: What is the University doing
right now to make it safer on and around Campus for bicyclists? There
were no bike lanes installed at Gateway.
RESPONSE: The Gateway project was managed
by Campus Partners and involved roadway improvements to streets owned,
maintained and regulated by the City of Columbus. The provision of bike
lanes on campus roads will require widening in most cases. This will be
accomplished as we complete a number of road rebuilding projects scheduled
over the next 5 years.
QUESTION:What is the university doing
right now to separate various modalities of transportation to enable safety
between cars, bicycles, and pedestrians?
RESPONSE: In a dense, urban campus such
as OSU with a population that often has divergent opinions on best practices,
it is almost impossible to completely separate the modes of transportation.
To take cycling as an example, we simply do not have the land area to
provide separate cycling only paths, and even if we did, it would be extremely
difficult to enforce that these paths should be for bikes only. In addition,
we must respond to a variety of cycling skill levels from those who believe
that cyclists should always be on the road, to those who do not feel comfortable
on roads and prefer to use dedicated paths or the sidewalks. The campus
bikeways plan and the Campus Crosswalk study both available at http://www.fod.osu.edu/libraries/index.htm#master_plans
recommend a variety of improvements to campus streets that we hope will
improve safety and awareness of pedestrians and cyclists. As an example
the former plan recommends widening Woodruff between High Street and Tuttle
Park and providing a painted bike lane and signage. We have implemented
some test areas for pedestrians on Woodruff, and those seem to be working
well. The improvements recommended in the referenced plans will be implemented
as road projects are funded.
General comments about safety research
and initiatives:
Two special committees have been convened
to assess pedestrian and bicycle safety issues in the community on and
around campus. These will report through channels to President Gee in
the coming months.
Certainly University Police engage in traffic enforcement activities on campus. Programs and information is offered on the Department of Public Safety web site with particular focus on preventing bicycle thefts. It is also emphasized that cyclists are required to follow the same traffic laws as motor vehicle drivers when lawfully using the roadways.
http://www.ps.ohio-state.edu/police/bike_safety/
QUESTION: Your performance based merit
increase system promotes negative interaction between co-workers. Your
thoughts?
RESPONSE: The worst kind of negative
interaction is a pay system that treats everyone the same, regardless
of performance. We believe in, and will continue to promote, a performance-based
reward system.
QUESTION: Within the University what
is being done to standardize responses to employment applications by internal
candidates. Generally, when one applies for a position, he or she can
expect anything on the continuum from no response to an interview.
RESPONSE: The worst bureaucracy would
be for the university to micro-manage the hiring process for university
positions. The university’s employment activity is much too large
for individual discussion with every candidate. However, there should
absolutely be some communication with each candidate, in electronic or
written form, as to their status in the process. We will discuss this
with the senior HR leaders across the university.
QUESTION: In Dr. Holbrook’s
last staff forum, the idea was submitted to allow employees to payroll
deduct their portion of education expenses after application of the fee
waiver credit. Has this been investigated? What is the possibility of
offering this option?
RESPONSE: There are no tuition costs
for faculty and staff taking courses, but there may be some costs for
books and fees. Payroll deduction is best utilized for continuing known
expenses, and/or ones that would be eligible for pre-tax deduction. Occasional
costs for books and fees would be very irregular and not eligible for
any special tax treatment.
QUESTION: Why does each departmental
unit of the University have to “reinvent” the administrative
wheel? There should be standardized processes and tools for processes
that occur across campuses. Not only would this provide a more consistent
operation, it would also help in auditing and streamlining the work.
RESPONSE: We couldn’t agree more.
We have been very decentralized, but the time has come to return to more
standardized processes and tools for many things we do. It would absolutely
reduce the effort required to “invent” and “reinvent”.
We definitely plan to work on this. Suggestions are welcome as to where
we should start.