MINUTES
Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
316 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

T. Grove called the meeting to order at 12:23 p.m.

Present�K. Coldren, T. Denesevich, P. Dongtoe, C. Ferguson, T. Grove, L. Croll Howell, B. Mc Kinney, L. Meyerhoff, L. Morris, C. Phillips, J. Seymour

Absent�D. Brooks, G. Osborne, G. Stewart

Also attending � S. An, K. Dessources, N. Doolittle, A. O’Donnell, M. Opperman

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

One item was added to the agenda under Business of the Day. A. Epstein has an update on the letter to supervisors about the Employee Assembly.

III. Business of the Day

a)Letter To Supervisors

T. Grove explained that A. Epstein has put together a letter to go to supervisors regarding employees serving on EA. A sheet was passed around so that EA members could write the contact information of their supervisor.

b)Vice President Mary Opperman

M. Opperman attended the EA meeting to speak to members about the issue of employee morale at Cornell. M. Opperman first asked the EA to clarify exactly what they mean by “morale”.

T. Grove explained that for her, years ago she used to feel energized about coming to Cornell and working, and over the years this has waned off a bit. The concern is that employees are not being heard as much as they use to be. K. Coldren said for her the cultural feel has changed over the years. There is a negative sentiment, hopefully not everyone is being affected.

C. Phillips announced her job has been eliminated. She said that on the bright side, she has gotten wonderful support from the Human Resources department at Cornell. On the other hand, the negative news is that the general employment picture at Cornell is not good. From what she has observed, open job positions are going to external, rather than internal, applicants. This makes employees feel vulnerable.

L. Meyerhoff explained that the lack of morale stems from not feeling valued, and not feeling the

same amount of pride in working at Cornell as employees used to.

B. Mc Kinney explained that people aren’t taking advantage of all that Cornell has to offer, such as educational opportunities. People are gloomy and are not thinking the same way about opportunities for flexibility in the workplace.

M. Opperman explained a lot of the negative energy is a result of groupthink, meaning even those who are not feeling this way won’t say that they are not. M. Opperman explained that HR cannot fix morale. They can put together policies and programs, but morale is the responsibility of an organization as a whole. She explained that part of the struggle is the environment in which Cornell sits in, not just Cornell itself. The university is struggling because it has issues they are trying hard to correctly address. The university hit financial circumstances very hard and very quickly, M. Opperman explained. Although it may seem that other universities are better off, this is not the case. M. Opperman explained that their placement in the process is simply premature. Some universities just started downsizing this year, while Cornell completed downsizing in 2009. Other institutions were hoping they would grow their way out of the economic crisis, but the economy did not bounce back enough.

M. Opperman shared with the EA some possible solutions are. One progressive action would be to take the temperature of the staff climate. This can serve as a baseline, and give HR a better understanding of how employees are feeling. M. Opperman explained to the EA that in her opinion, HR can do more concrete communication as to what they are accomplishing. Her general sense is there is no immediate way to help people feel a lot better. Rather, it is about inching our way back as a community.

T. Grove explained that one of the issues is that it is constantly a waiting process. Employees need a better idea of when and how. She explained there is a need for better transparency.

In response, M. Opperman explained there is a false notion that leaders know information and are just not sharing with employees. In clarification, she explained when there is no sharing of information, it is because answers are still emerging.

C. Phillips brought up the concern with decision making in the university. She feels decision makers have been making decisions with little transparency, no communication, and no accountability. Often decisions are made at the top, and the bottom of the hierarchy has little say. Furthermore, C. Phillips explained that with a climate survey, it would be helpful to have anecdotal stories of experiences that may be instructive to employees.

C. Ferguson asked what reasons would there be not to conduct a climate survey. M. Opperman explained it takes a long time to put one together, then to collect all the data and process it. Also, HR would not want to put out a survey that leadership does not plan to do something with.

C. Ferguson asked if a climate survey has ever been conducted before. M. Opperman explained they have been conducted in small pockets of the university, but not the university as a whole. HR had begun working on one, but did not finish the design. M. Opperman emphasized that it is

a very complex process. As one of her final points, she expressed the point that this lack of morale is not just at Cornell, it is across the country. Cornell is not the only one struggling. HR does keep attempting to put on events and programs. However, this does not take place of the real needs of employees. Employees at Cornell feel as if they are losing ground, leaders feel like they are doing everything they can to minimize impact. M. Opperman stressed the point that no one feels good about the situation.

B. Mc Kinney made a final comment on the lack of trust that employees feel towards leaders. M. Opperman explained that she thinks that people need more detail and information in order to be able to trust. People can accept bad news if they know why it is happening. Employees are so embattled they do not even ask questions anymore.

T. Grove thanked M. Opperman for her time. M. Opperman left the EA meeting. The EA reflected briefly on the conversation.

c)Committee appointments

T. Grove explained that she has heard from a couple of people who have offered to serve on committees, including one more person who is willing to serve on the transportation committee. Furthermore, T. Grove announced L. Meyerhoff had offered to serve as the EA representative to the Faculty Senate.

IV. Report from the Chair

T. Grove noted the leadership breakfast was held this morning. At the breakfast, the new web site that will replace UPortal was discussed. It will be a customized website; you can select your own features to add to it. L. Meyerhoff explained this new website will give the EA an opportunity to put information up that would be available for all staff to see. This will enable the EA to communicate with staff easier and more often.

V. Approval of Minutes-

a)December 1, 2010

The Employee Assembly reviews the December 1st minutes. A few grammatical changes were made to the minutes. A motion was made to approve the minutes with the changes. The motion was passed, and the December 1st minutes were passed.

VI. Committee Reports

a) Trustee Report — Beth McKinney

B. McKinney explained there was one small committee meeting, but she does not have much information to share. She will fill the Employee Assembly in after the big meeting in January.

VII. Old Business

A. Epstein put together a resolution for the EA to look at and vote on for EA expansion. A. Epstein also expressed a concern with proxy voting not being in bylaws.

VIII. New Business

B. McKinney shared an idea with the EA. She explained a lot of people are now using personal telephones for business. She thought maybe the EA can talk about coming up with a deal for people who don’t meet the need to have a Cornell-provided phone, but still use their phone for business purposes. T. Grove said she will find out who is in charge of that, and have them come in and explain the policies to the EA.

IX. Open Forum

L. Croll Howell asked the EA members to send their available Soup and Hope dates as soon as they can.

X. Adjournment

J. Seymour made a motion to adjourn the employee assembly meeting. C. Ferguson seconded the motion. The EA meeting was adjourned at 1:32 p.m.