MINUTES
Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
316 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

T. Grove called the meeting to order at 12:19 p.m.

Present-D. Brooks, P. Dongtoe, C. Ferguson, T. Grove, L. Croll Howell, L. Meyerhoff, L. Morris, G. Osborne,

Absent- K. Coldren, T. Denesevich, L. Morris, C. Philips, J. Seymour, G. Stewart

Also Attending- J. Boodley Buchanan, M. Kitchen, L. Sayam, B. McKinney, N. Doolittle, A. Epstein, A. O’Donnell

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

There were no late additions to the meeting.

III. Business of the Day

a)President Skorton and VP Opperman Discussion

The discussion began with an introduction of all of the EA members and incoming EA members. T. Grove thanked M. Opperman for answering the questions posed, via e-mail, to her before the meeting. The first question members of the EA posed to President Skorton and M. Opperman was “how do they address employee exhaustion and what steps are being made to help lighten employees’ loads?” D. Skorton stated M. Opperman keeps him up to date with the view of the staff and he understands people are exhausted. He explained much of this uncertainty comes from economic hardship. D. Skorton explained the situation is looking better for the Cornell community. He re-capped that the Board of Trustees had agreed to a five-year plan to pay off the $150 million deficit and currently is in the third year and has approximately � of the deficit paid. D. Skorton said he is confident the university will reach equilibrium soon, which will help to ease the uncertainty.

D. Skorton then addressed the feeling of anxiety and “impeding doom” that many of the employees are feeling. He stated that currently it is impossible not to feel the stress since the college usually buffers the economic downfall but in this situation the university has contributed to it instead. He hopes people will soon feel optimistic and explained that the best barometer of the economy is the faculty retention. M. Opperman stated that currently the university is back up to the regular hiring rate and that fifty-eight new faculty members have accepted positions. Information about the hiring profile will be published in the EA news.

B. McKinney mentioned that one of the reasons people are stressed out at work is because people do not have control. She then asked whether there is anything that the EA can do to give people some feeling of control over their work. M. Opperman stated this was one of the most important issues currently being addressed by the EA. She said the university has an environment where people want things to stay the same. It is very difficult for the staff to step out of their comfort zone but that it is important for the staff to find their courage and find their voice. T. Grove asked how the EA might be able to help the staff find their voices? M. Opperman suggested the idea of training so the staff does not say no but rather finds an alternative solution.

C. Ferguson then asked about the staff engagement survey. He questioned whether there has been any discussion about how to communicate the results so that people know? D. Skorton stated the results are going back to the senior staff and they will make sure that the information is released. He also stated that he and M. Opperman could not be more excited for the results and promised results would be taken seriously. C. Ferguson asked if the deans were aware this survey was coming soon. D. Skorton stated the deans are aware and is his and M. Opperman’s job to ensure the results are summarized in a way people can understand the results.

Finally, D. Skorton discussed “disconnecting with the job.” He said everyone has the right to go “off the grid” for a couple of days. Even he did so himself recently. He also mentioned there need to be boundaries and the mechanism of periodically evaluating balance. M. Opperman said this is a complex discussion since some employees work well with boundaries while others work best if given a task to do. She mentioned the description of unplugging has to be carefully described. She also stated instead of being concerned with boundaries the concern should be on the definition of successful output, since this can be reached in many different ways.

T. Grove stated there is a change in how technical support lines are funded. Many of the “term” positions are at risk after many years due to funding cuts and many of the Geneva technicians have term appointments. This means they are terminated and do not receive benefits once they are laid off; therefore, the EA wants to encourage HR to find ways to adjust the policy so the positions can receive some assistance.

b)Follow up from Geneva meeting

i)Transportation Update

Pawprint had an article about the changes recently, and it was noted the motorcycle permit changes have been adjusted. D. Brooks stated that Transportation has made a lot of concessions to ease people’s minds. L. Croll Howell said these changes will also affect retirees. However, there are still a lot of questions concerning designated spots and specific lots.

ii)CARE Fund Auction Update

The committee will be having an auction on October 20, 2011 in G10 Biotech to raise money. There are six members on the committee and B. McKinney will be heading it up. The EA members we encouraged to donate items to the auction, and encourage others to do the same.

IV. Report from the Chair

a)Tanya to speak to Board of Trustees May 27 at 3 p.m.

Tanya will be speaking with the Board of Trustees on May 27, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. She said if any members of the EA have questions they believe should be discussed with the trustees they should e-mail her a.s.a.p.

b)New Members invited to orientation lunch on May 24

At the orientation lunch one of the subjects to be discussed will be elections and what it means to be involved in the EA. Tanya reported that Friday, 5/20 and Tuesday, 5/24 there will be George Peter Award ceremonies and members of the EA are encouraged to attend.

T. Grove then stated the staff engagement survey is moving along. Institutional research has taken the survey over and will be holding focus groups to gauge what types of questions should be asked on the survey. L. Croll Howell stated it should be confirmed the survey will be accessible to all of the staff members. It was also mentioned a memo will be going out to the supervisors informing them to encourage their staff to take the survey.

V. Approval of Minutes

a)April 6, 2011

L. Meyerhoff made a motion to approve the minutes. C. Ferguson seconded and the EA voted unanimously to approve the minutes.

b)April 20, 2011

L. Meyerhoff made a motion to approve the minutes. L. Morris seconded the motion. The minutes for April 20, 2011 were approved.

VI. Committee Reports

a)Elections Committee — Curtis Ferguson

There was no new information from the elections committee discussed at this meeting.

b)Finance Committee — Gemma Osborne

G. Osborne said she had sent the budget to the members of the EA via e-mail. She stated the EA has only spent half of their budget and they are also expecting to receive a $1000 refund. She asked the EA for ideas on what the EA should consider purchasing with the rest of the budget. L. Morris asked if it was possible to do the Kudos lunch that the members of the EA mentioned previously. C. Ferguson suggested that, if the lunch was done, the members of the EA could take the Kudos awardees to Banfi’s at Statler.

c)Communications Committee — Leslie Morris

The communications committee will be meeting next week.

d)Staff Recognition and Awards Committee — Tanya Grove

T. Grove reported there are two George Peter award events coming up in the next two weeks. She will e-mail the awardees names to the members of the EA.

VII. Old Business

There was no old business for this meeting.

VIII. New Business

There was no new business for this meeting.

IX. Open Forum

T. Grove gave out the certificates from the Assemblies reception.

VIII. Adjournment

C. Ferguson made a motion to adjourn the meeting. L. Meyerhoff seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.