EXEMPT EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATI0N
Minutes
April 25, 2005
3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
SUB 204-205
Present: Staci Sleigh-Laymen, Lisa Garcia-Hanson, Karla Shugart, Bruce Porter, Lynne
Imamshah, Kathy Gaer-Carlton, Jen Gray, Rebecca Gubser, Pam Zupan, Zippy
Nickerson, Margaret Smith, Julie Guggino, Megan Schmidt, Toni Menig, Mateo Arteago,
Robert Campbell, Dennis Defa, Jackie Johnson, Shirley Sadler, and Nancy Howard
Call to order
Approval of March 16, 2005 minutes – Pam Zupan moved to accept the minutes as
presented and Mateo Arteaga seconded. Motion carried.
Correspondence:
Request for additional exempt representative to Retirement and Benefits
Committee – Nancy reported that she had sent Vice President Corona a letter
requesting an additional exempt representative on the committee. Mr. Corona
responded that there are actually two exempt appointments on the committee,
indicating that Wendy Rittereiser (Director of Benefits and HR Information
Systems) sits on the committee by virtue of her position and that currently Kevin
Kimball is the appointed exempt representative. Nancy informed the committee
that she believes this is acceptable representation on the committee. There were
no additional comments from those in attendance.
Resignation letter from Kevin Kimball, EEA chair-elect – dated 4/6/05. Due to
personal and professional commitments, Kevin Kimball has resigned as chair-
elect for the Exempt Employees Association. If you know of others interested in
being considered for this position, please submit their names to the nominating
committee.
Review of Draft Discriminatory Harassment Policy – Nancy distributed a copy of the
draft “Central Washington University Policy on Discriminatory Harassment.” The
current policy targets administration responsibility/behavior rather than including
employee-to-employee relations. This new draft is an umbrella policy that more broadly
covers discriminatory harassment. Copies are available at the Office of Equal
Opportunity. If you have comments regarding this proposed policy, please submit them
to Nancy Howard. An electronic copy will also be available online. This new policy
would take the place of the current policy on Sexual Harassment Policy.
Committee Reports:
Nominations Committee (Lynne Imamshah) – It was noted that elections will take
place at the May meeting. There are candidates for all positions: Nancy Howard
for Chair, Lisa Garcia-Hanson and Robert Campbell for chair elect, and Margaret
Smith for secretary/treasurer. If you have other nominations, please let Lynne
Imamshah know as soon as possible. There will be a ballot vote taken at the May
meeting (by-laws indicate that elections are held at the May meeting). This
process will be reviewed at a later date to consider electronic voting.
Code Committee (Ona Youmans) – no report
Professional Development Committee (Jackie Johnson) – no report
Ad Hoc Review Committee (Jen Gray) – The Ad Hoc Review Committee was
presented with the charge to “review the current structure of the EEA and
compare it to other institutional models. Determine whether our current structure
provides the greatest opportunity for exempt employee voices to be heard.
Review the current EEA website to determine whether it provides adequate
information to exempt employees.” Jen distributed a report Findings and
Recommendations. The committee’s research indicated that approximately 75
percent of our peer institutions do not have a representative organization. Of
those, many are governed by state systems. The colleges and universities with
represented groups have various structures and committees – from exempt groups
to a combination of administrative and staff employee organizations. The
committees were varied, with some organizations with few committees to others
with many committees. Based on this research, the committee is making the
following recommendations:
o Representation by division
Academic Affairs (3)
Business and Financial Affairs (2)
Student Affairs/Enrollment Management (3)
President (1)
University Relations (1)
o Expectations
Attend Association and Governing Board Meetings
Open Communication with Division Constituents
Liaison Role to a Standing Committee
o Election Process
Nominations Committee (Outreach and Elections)
Call for Nominations (2-year Terms)
Present Slate
Vote by Members
Officers Elected by Governing Board (1-year Term)
o Committees with Division Representation
Code and Benefits
Salary
Professional Development
Outreach and Elections (Including Website)
Mentoring and Networking
Community Involvement
Work/Life
Events
Meetings would be held approximately every other month (6 per year). The
website would be modified by adding a welcome statement to the mission
statement and announcements posted. A site-specific search engine would enable
employees to access information quicker. Other links may include officers and
committee members, exempt salary schedule, “contact us,” etc.
The committee believes the advantages to moving to this structure include
equitable representation, improved communication, strengthens the organization,
provides greater opportunities to meet other members, provides mentorship for
new administrators/professionals, operational consistency with 2-year terms and
generates more ideas and feedback.
Two forums will be held (Tuesday, May 10, at 9:00 a.m. in Michaelson 126 and
on Wednesday, May 11, at 2:00 p.m. in SUB 204). A membership vote will be
conducted electronically.
The handouts will be posted on the EEA website for exempt employees to review.
Salary Committee (Staci Sleigh-Layman) – The Salary Committee made a
PowerPoint presentation regarding a proposed EEA Salary Plan. The presentation
is available on the EEA website. The current plan has been in place for 12-13
years. The committee believes this needs to be re-evaluated regularly. The
committee looked at how salary ranges are determined at other institutions. A
compensation system should attract the “right” people and retain the “right”
people. This equates to paying them commensurate with knowledge, skills,
abilities, and competitive market rates. It should recognize and reward the
knowledge and skills of people who make the institution successful. The
committee evaluated the current salary plan and identified areas of concern. The
committee surveyed 4-year Washington institutions, the Washington Management
System and Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges. The
committee found in our current system: complete job descriptions matched to
short CUPA descriptions, CUPA surveys never meant to be used as sole source of
salary data, as of 7/1/04 only about 50% of exempt positions have “direct
matches” to CUPA surveys, direct matches sometimes do not reflect entire range
of responsibilities, no process exists for increases based on
merit/performance/market analysis, and administrators have little flexibility in
making salary changes.
The preliminary recommendations include utilizing salary bands for groups of
positions. These bands are used to determine individual salary levels within pre-
defined ranges according to things such as experience, specialized skills, and
market competitiveness. Banding is really a modified salary-range pay structure
that incorporates a wide group of jobs within a given range. Movement in the
band is typically based on skill and performance. The first step would be to
define the criteria for inclusion in each band. Then, ensure initial placement in
salary band occurs with input from HR (paying attention to market value,
responsibilities, supervision, etc.). The process for placing positions in bands also
needs to be carefully defined.
The process for acceptable rationales for salary changes needs to be defined. This
could include movement from one band to another, movement within a band,
across the board increases, bonuses, or lateral moves. There also needs to be a
mechanism to reward performance and address equity issues.
The committee is recommending that we utilize something other than or in
addition to CUPA’s salary surveys. Something that also requires that we conduct
periodic surveys to ensure the plan keeps up with current market, something that
creates a more open, transparent process for assigning salary, provides incentive,
assures consistency/fairness, rewards performance, addresses equity issues,
defines rationales for salary changes, defines positions and enlists best practices.
In summary, the current plan doesn’t seem to adequately meet the needs of
administrators or employees and a system with more built-in flexibility, wider
salary bands, and fewer individual salary assignments would better meet the needs
of employees, administrators, and the entire university. (Please see the entire
presentation with charts at the EEA website.)
Staci and Nancy have made a presentation to the President and Cabinet. The
Cabinet and the President are both interested in recommendations from the entire
EEA. A vote of the exempt personnel will be taken and the results will be shared
with the President, Cabinet and the President’s Advisory Council.
The committee members are Staci Sleigh-Layman,Bob Campbell, Lisa Garcia-
Hanson, Jackie Johnson, Dawn Melton, and Karla Shugart.
Lynne Imamshah indicated that she likes the recommendations made by the committee
and commends them on their work. Pam believes this is a good idea, however, she
believes we need to do a better job of letting people know that there are options within
the current system that are not being used for making salary changes.
Announcement of upcoming votes:
Online:
Distribution of possible salary increases – ballot survey will be coming in the near
future for possible ways of distribution.
Recommendations of Salary Review Committee
Recommendations of Ad Hoc EEA Review Committee
Next EEA meeting (May 25, 2005, 3:00-5:00 p.m., SUB 204-05)
Election of officers for 2005-2006