Program Review Report for Fall 2015 Employee Relations. Review Questions

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1 Page 1 of 11 Program Review Report for Fall 2015 Employee Relations Review Year Review Type Admin Unit Review Admin Unit Employee Relations Review Status Active Review Questions UNIT DESCRIPTION: Provide a description of your unit's programs and services and their locations. (*ANSWER ONLY FOR 3-YEAR PROGRAM REVIEW*) In service to the Board of Trustees, Chancellor, Administrators, and Employees, the Employee Relations Office mission is to create a work environment in which employees can perform their best to serve our students. DATA TRENDS - SELECTED: Provide an analysis of your unit's data trends for selected college-wide data-informed conversations. (*ANSWER ONLY FOR 3-YEAR PROGRAM REVIEW*) The data relevant to the effectiveness of the Employee Relations Department relates to 1) negotiations, 2) greivances and discipline. 1) Data for negotiations: The most important data required for negotiations realates to a) salary and b) benefits. 1a) Faculty Salaries: The District has invested in researching the comparability data for faculty salaries. The key comparability data for faculty is the salaries for part and full-time faculty at the 10 community colleges in the Bay Area (Bay 10). Full-time faculty at CCSF are paid on average 11% less than their counterparts at the other Bay 10 colleges. Part-time faculty at CCSF are paid 36% more on an hourly basis than their counterparts at the other Bay 10 colleges. 1b) Classified Salaries: The District has invested in researching the comparability data for classified salaries. The key comparability data for classified salaries is the salaries for classified staff in the City and County of San Francisco. The classified salaries at CCSF are on average 13% lower than at the City and County of San Francisco. However, this comparison is clouded by the following issues: i) Not all of CCSF's positions compare to positions at the City and County of San Francisco. There are numerous positions at CCSF that are District only positions. We need to get comparable data on these positions by looking at similar positions at the Bay 10 Colleges. ii) At CCSF, classified staff work 37.5 hours per week, but get paid for In addition, classified staff at CCSF have 9 more additional paid days off than the classified staff at the City and County of San Francisco. The impact of these two differences reduces the 13% difference in salaries between the two agencies to 3%. 2) Grievances and Discipline Generally, Employee Relations is more involved in formal grievances and discipline according to the process and procedures outlined in the various collective bargaining agreements, as well as under other CCSF guidelines, the California Educaiton Code and other local, state and federal laws. Employee Relations handles approximately 2-5 formal grievances and approximately 2-5 discipline matters each quarter. These matters take one month - three months to resolve, depending on the complexity of the matters. Some more complicated matters take up to a year to resolve. There have only been two matters in three years moved to arbitration (final stage of the resolution process). Both were settled before an arbitrator actually was assigned to the matter. There have been two matters filed as violations under the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB). Both of these were resolved before PERB ruled on the charges. Employee Relations also advises administrators, managers and employees on matters at the informal level (1st stage of addressing the issue). The department handles about 5 matters of this nature each week. The department is not staffed sufficiently to address the concerns and training needs at CCSF in these areas.

2 Page 2 of 11 DATA TRENDS - OTHER: Provide an analysis of any additional data or internal or external factors affecting your department since the last program review. (*ANSWER ONLY FOR 3-YEAR PROGRAM REVIEW*) The following factors greatly affect the effectiveness of the College in addressing employee issues: salaries & benefits. 1) Accreditation Crisis 2) Organizational Stability 3) Systems Stability 1) Accreditation Crisis From an Employee Relations perspective, the Accreditation crisis has diverted an inordinate amount of administrative resources from addressing day-to-day management and supervisory issues in order to ensure that accreditation is restored. The benefit of this phenomenon is that many processses are being reset at the College. 2) Organization Stability Probably resulting from the Accreditation Crisis, there has been constant turnover at the senior level of administration. There are typically 5-7 new administrators (20-25% of our administrators) at any one time. The good news about this fact is that the new administrators bring a high level of energy to solving problems. However, the process of getting up to speed absorbs an inordinate amount of time leading to a slowing down of the resolution of issues. 3) Systems Stability The implementation of FLAC, in particular, is requiring a prolonged period before we achieve stabilization and reap the benefits of the system. In the many of cases, the issues are not due to FLAC not working, but FLAC handling things more accurately/correctly than in the past. On the other hand, the integration with payroll has gone poorly, leading to a higher volume of pay issues. Hopefully, over the next year the system will be stabilized. PROGRESS - RESOURCE LINKED: If your department received resources as a result of recent program reviews, summarize unit progress that resulted from these resources. (*ANSWER ONLY FOR 3-YEAR PROGRAM REVIEW*) In past program reviews, the department was approved for the following: 1) Move of office from Gough Street to the Ocean Campus. The department moved to Ocean in the Fall of The result expected was a higher level of efficiency and accomplishment of responsibilities due to less time dedicated to traveling (sometimes daily) between the Gough Street and Ocean locations. This has definitely been achieved. The best outcome being that face-to-face interaction with employees and managers has increased tremendously, encouraging more staff to interact with the department over their issues. Our location is much more "user friendly." 2) Replacement of computers and office software. The machines and office software were replaced with the move to the Ocean Campus. This has increased the quality and efficiency of documents and communication from the department, because the machines and software were 5-8 years old. 3) Addition of Personnel Analyst as an Employee Relations Analyst. Lilibeth Derivera joined the department in January of She has been an excellent addition to the department as an employee relations representative (her diplomatic skills are outstanding) and, as a first time personnel analyst, she has learned complicated compensation matters related to faculty compensation and chair stipends. She has also been instrumental in learning aspects of the banner system to help make improvements to the faculty seniority lists. As a result, we have corrected about 90% of the errors in the seniority list program. 4) Addition of an Sr. Employee Relations Specialist to handle the increasing volume of grievances and discipline issues resulting from the increasing stress of the working environment for most employees at City College, predominantly brought on by the accreditation and financial crisis of the last three years. Unfortunately, due a a long-term ill of the Dean of the department and a miscalculation of the salary that should be offered to attract qualified candidates, the position remains unfilled after one and 1/2 years. We are working with Human Resources to address the salary of the position and will repost. 5) Software for managing negotiations documentation, grievances and discipline. We were approved for searching and implementing softweare to better track and manage negotiations documentation, grievances and discipline. This software should also help to more accurately track and analyze better the trends of employee issues at the College. Unfortunately, with the long-term absence of the Dean for six months out of the last year and 1/2, as well as the prolonged negotiations with AFT, we have not had the opportunity to start, nevermind complete, this project.

3 Page 3 of 11 6) IT provided programming resources to support argos training, to develop information reports so that the department can fulfill information requests from the unions in a more timely fashion, and to develop key information reports that saved hundreds of hours of staff in other departments that were supporting such programs as the twice a year publication of the part-time faculty seniority lists. PROGRESS - OTHER: Summarize your department's progress to date on the major planning objectives identified in the last program review (excluding progress already cited in the resource-linked progress question). (*ANSWER ONLY FOR 3-YEAR PROGRAM REVIEW*) Following are the accomplishments of the department in the last period: 1) We made significant contributions towards the implementation of FLAC, related to ensuring compliance with the AFT contract. In fact, a good number of the issues resulting from the FLAC implementation are not errors in FLAC, but the fact that the implementation of FLAC uncovered errors in pay practices in the past. 2) We have made significant progress in improving the quality of the part-time faculty seniority lists. We have reduced errors by 90%, at least, as well as now publish the lists two to three months earlier than in the past. 3) We completed a 21 month negotiation with the Department Chairperson Council, which resulted in an entirely written contract, achieving the following (not an exclusive list): a) New position description for Chairs, which clarifies the role and responsibility of Chair vs. Dean, reflecting the higher authority and accountability of the Dean, while respecting the role, responsibilities and contributions of the Chairs. b) New evaluation process directly linked to the new position description for chairs, providing the necessary clarity and guidance for Deans to effectively evaluate Chair performance. c) A broader, more progressive anti-discrimination policy, in line with the more protective and inclusive policies reflected in our local community, the City and County of San Francisco. d) The elimination of the Liaison Chair concept, introduced in the prior contract in response to the FCMAT and Accreditation reports. We acknowledged that the proposed improvements expected from that concept were not worth the change. By returning to a more classical Chair structure without the Liaison Chairs, we were able to free up funds that were redistributed back to the Chairs in their stipends. e) We managed to come up with a viable new structure of Departments which could reduce the number of Chairs from 60-54, by aligning similar departments and eliminating small departments, while respecting the contribution of the multi-cultural and interdisciplinary departments, even though they are atypically too small to earn a department standing. 3) We recently managed to achieve the reimplementation of the Labor Management Council and Vacancy Review Group, both obligations under the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with SEIU. These two "committees" were suspended during the initial phase of the accreditation process. Employee Relations has been a promoter of the reimplementation of these committees not only because we are legally required to have them under the CBA with SEIU, but because the District should and does value the input of the exclusive representative of the majority of our classified employees. The committees provides the forum to better manage labor issues and and plan improvements in the labor practices at the College, especially those that benefit both employees and the College. It has only taken too long to reimplement the committees because there has been constant and significant turnover of senior administration at the College and because there was tremendous dissatisfaction on the part of past administration with the way in which the committee operated. Current administration is supportive of the important of having the committees and convinced that the participants are committed to a process that works for all. 4) Recently, we have retrained administrators on effective progressive discipline practices. We have a draft process to share with SEIU, based on the SEIU CBA, and for modification based on input from SEIU before we collaborate with SEIU on rolling it out to all managers and supervisors at the College. 5) We have recently consolidated the formal discipline process in Employee Relations. This means that all supervisors, managers and employees have a single point of contact for support and training. Human Resource and Employee Relations collaborate on follow-up as needed. This has already lead to an increase in involvement by Administration, through Employee Relations, in the discipline of employees. We hope to achieve a higher level of consistency and fairness in our processes by taking these steps. 6) The Employee Relations department takes pride that we have managed to bring a level of collaboration to the process of managing grievances. In the past three years, under the current Dean, we have had only three unfair practice charges made against the College under the Public Employee Realations Board (PERB). All three were resolved before PERB actually had to rule and hold hearings on the charges. We have a track record of fairly addressing the formal grievances of employees, while standing by the collective bargaining agreements. A few

4 Page 4 of 11 grievances have been moved, unresolved to an Arbitrator. However, none of these formal grievances have moved to a hearing with an Arbitrator. They were resolved to both parties satisfaction before that was necessary. 7) Labor Management. Employee Relations has redesigned and improved the internal processes through which the College manages labor issues and negotiations. We have revamped the process for weekly management meetings on labor, as well as contributed greatly to reimplementing the labor management process at the Board level. 8) Employee evaluations. The department has not been the best role model for the formal performance evaluation of its employees. We are excellent at the ongoing feedback employees require to know how they are performing. We need to address performance reviews more consistently on an annual basis. 9) We just finished a major project to overhaul the production of the part-time faculty seniority list each semesters. Hundreds of hours of staff time over a period of months in other departments used to be required to determine each faculties semester count for their seniority in assignment. We can now produce the same report two months earlier than in the past and without using resources in other departments and in a one month timeframe. 10) We are finalizing negotiations this quarter with the classified unions on a reopener related to salaries in PLANNING: After analyzing your data trends and evaluating the progress you've made over the last year and how well you are meeting your unit outcomes, indicate your department s major planning objectives for next year ( ). (*ANSWER ONLY FOR 3-YEAR PROGRAM REVIEW*) The current Dean just decided to retire in a couple of months. Before leaving, the current Dean plans the following: 1) AFT just declared impasse during negotiations. Should PERB concur, the medication process will start and likely complete before the Dean retires. The Dean is committed to ensuring the integrity and effectiveness of that process. 2) The Dean will leave the department with documentation for the following processes: a) Chair Stipends b) Part-time Faculty Seniority Lists c) Performance Evaluation for the Employee Relations Analyst d) Current status of negotiations, grievances and discipline at the time of the Dean's retirement. e) Completion of the reopener negotiations with the Classified Unions on the lookback of the finances for f) Initiate the sunshining of proposals for negotiations of new CBA's with the classified unions. g) Review of all negotation, grievance and discipline files for accuracy and currency. 3) Classified collective bargaining agreements reopen for full contract review and modification in this quarter. The schedule is to complete by June 30, However, the negotiations might flow into next year. 4) The structure of human resources should be reconsidered given the opportunity presented by the retirement of the Dean. Assessment Currency According to the CCSF Assessment Plan, outcomes are assessed for services and programs and courses at least once every 3 years. Please comment on how you are currently satisfying this 3-year benchmark. The department has three assessment outcomes from prior program reviews: two years ago: 1) Employees are satisfied by the work environment and really like coming to work. 2) Management is effective and fair. 3)Total compensation is as robust as possible given the resources available to the college. Regards to the first two, we suggest that the College embark on a comprehensive employee survey to assess how we are doing towards making CCSF a great place to work in the opinion of its employees.

5 Page 5 of 11 The College is focusing on the 3rd outcome. Despite the financial constraints under which the College will be operating with the end of stability funding in one and 1/2 years, it is committed to improving the salaries of its staff, which not risking the future viability of the College through fiscally irresponsible decisions. we have a comprehensive plan to steer the College into a better future which will ultimately pave the way for improved wages. Unfortunately, this cannot be at a pace to make up for the gap in classified, administrator and full-time faculty pay. But, we are committed to the task. Resource Requests Employee Relations Software Item Description Search for a reasonably priced and effective software to manager negotiations documentation, grievances and discipline matters. Type of request Technology Brief Description Software only. We probably have the hardware to support what is needed. Approximate Costs $ Type(s) of Funding District (U) This request is a high priority to ensure/meet Health and Safety requirements: No This request is necessary to meet local, state, federal mandates, or to meet requirements for program-specific accreditation: Yes Ensure timely and accurate response to all relevant labor codes and collective bargaining agreements. Primary Board Priority Fall 2015: 3. Create clear procedures and defined roles and responsibilities for all constituencies within college processes. Secondary Board Priority Primary link to Approved college plan Technology Plan Goal 3: Foster effective and transformative uses of technology. Secondary link to Approved college plan

6 Page 6 of 11 Educational Master Plan Goal 2: Transform and sustain College infrastructure. Link to Institutional accreditation requirements II.A.1-6, 11 and 12 Link to Your Unit Planning Objectives By implementing this software, we will be more efficient and effective in managing employee relations matters for the benefit of both the employees and the College. We are particular hopefull that such software will move the College forward in two of its three administrative unit outcomes: 1) Employee satisfaction and 2) Management effectiveness and fairness. we will be better able to analyze where we have issues with either employees and managers. Link to Learning, Service, and/or Program Outcomes (i.e. Outcome Statements) Employee Relations is a service department, whose primary focuses are employee satisfaction and management effectiveness in each manager's role and responsbilities to the College, it's students and employees. 3 - Strong The software will help better with the documentation and management in the primary areas of the departments responsibilities: negotiations, grievances and discipline. We even hope that there is software with a module that can collect relevant data directly from employees through even formal or ad hoc surveys. Supplementary links to Outcome Assessments None selected Clear Plan for Evaluation after Implementation We plan to evaluate the effectivsess of the implementation by: 1) Scheduling the implementation of the system at each stage: first grievances, second negotiations and third discipline documentation. 2) We will set goals for the use of the system and assessment that we can effectively gather the data for better and faster analysis of issues. Extent of Benefit Right now, the College's business processes in Employee Relations are heavily manual - with paper files going back in time about 20 years, without any effective use of computers. We have increased the electronic tracking of negotiations, but have a long way to go with grievances and discipline. Operational Necessity 4 - Critical W are too slow in managing and effectively documenting grievances and discipline to ensure responsiveness to employees and compliance with all collective bargaining agreements. We are only lucky that we have had in the prior

7 Page 7 of 11 Employee Relations Analyst and do have in the current Employee Relations Analyst that are highly organized and effective with paper file systems. The current Employee Relations analyst is highly motivated to be using more effective tools. This resource request depends on the following other requests Item/Project Name: Dean of Employee Relations Item Description: Replace the Dean of Employee Relations which will become vacant in two months due to the retirement of the current Dean. Resource Type: Classified staff Item/Project Name: Impact of new CBA's Item Description: As contract negotiations approach completion, there are various changes in terms that have wide impact to various departments at the College. Project teams have to be formed for each modification in the contracts that requires changes to policies, procedures and systems before the changes can be implements. Resource Type: Other Dean of Employee Relations Item Description Replace the Dean of Employee Relations which will become vacant in two months due to the retirement of the current Dean. Type of request Classified staff Brief Description Replace the Dean of Employee Relations position which will vacant in two months. This is an Administrative Level Position. Approximate Costs $ Type(s) of Funding District (U) This request is a high priority to ensure/meet Health and Safety requirements: No This request is necessary to meet local, state, federal mandates, or to meet requirements for program-specific accreditation: No Primary Board Priority Fall 2015: 10. Identify and stabilize key staffing needs and recruit broadly to ensure diversity within the hiring pool. Secondary Board Priority

8 Page 8 of 11 Primary link to Approved college plan Educational Master Plan Goal 2: Transform and sustain College infrastructure. Secondary link to Approved college plan Educational Master Plan Goal 2: Transform and sustain College infrastructure. Link to Institutional accreditation requirements A.III. 1,3, 9 and 10 Link to Your Unit Planning Objectives The department is not adequately staffed to ensure employee satisfaction and management effectiveness. Link to Learning, Service, and/or Program Outcomes (i.e. Outcome Statements) The Employee Relations Department is a service to employees and managers at the College. Without adequate staff during these critical and crisis periods for the College, we are severely restricted in our ability to move the College forward. Supplementary links to Outcome Assessments None selected Clear Plan for Evaluation after Implementation 4 - Strong We will plan to evaluate both the improvements in the department resulting from adding staff (related to our responsiveness and quality of work), as well as through the setting of performance goals and evalauting the performance of the individual that fills the position. Extent of Benefit We should see a better responsiveness in our handling of employee grievances. Operational Necessity 4 - Critical The complexity of the responsibilities, primarily related to the differences between the needs of classified, administrative and faculty employees demands that we specialize our support to the unique needs of the three types of employees. This resource request depends on the following other requests

9 Page 9 of 11 Item/Project Name: Employee Relations Software Item Description: Search for a reasonably priced and effective software to manager negotiations documentation, grievances and discipline matters. Resource Type: Technology Item/Project Name: Impact of new CBA's Item Description: As contract negotiations approach completion, there are various changes in terms that have wide impact to various departments at the College. Project teams have to be formed for each modification in the contracts that requires changes to policies, procedures and systems before the changes can be implements. Resource Type: Other Impact of new CBA's Item Description As contract negotiations approach completion, there are various changes in terms that have wide impact to various departments at the College. Project teams have to be formed for each modification in the contracts that requires changes to policies, procedures and systems before the changes can be implements. Type of request Other Brief Description The projects will require staff participation from all Divisions, particularly from Human Resources, Employee Relations and Finance and Administration. Approximate Costs $ Type(s) of Funding District (U) This request is a high priority to ensure/meet Health and Safety requirements: No This request is necessary to meet local, state, federal mandates, or to meet requirements for program-specific accreditation: Yes Compliance with collective bargaining agreements Primary Board Priority Fall 2015: 3. Create clear procedures and defined roles and responsibilities for all constituencies within college processes. Secondary Board Priority Fall 2015: 8. Improve communication and transparency at all levels of organization and develop City College s capacity to communicate externally. Primary link to Approved college plan

10 Page 10 of 11 Educational Master Plan Goal 2: Transform and sustain College infrastructure. Secondary link to Approved college plan Technology Plan Goal 3: Foster effective and transformative uses of technology. Link to Institutional accreditation requirements III.A.11 and 12 Link to Your Unit Planning Objectives There is no option other than to implement that which has been negotiated with the unions. Link to Learning, Service, and/or Program Outcomes (i.e. Outcome Statements) Supplementary links to Outcome Assessments None selected Clear Plan for Evaluation after Implementation We have to validate the timely and accurate implementation of every change negotiated in the collective bargaining agreements with the unions. The ultimate test will be the employees themselves - are they paid correctly, do they receive the benefits as negotiated, and are all other conditions of employment in compliance with the collective bargaining agreements. Prior to implementation we have to program changes and simulate that all of the changes are working. Extent of Benefit Compliance with negotiated collective bargaining agreements. Operational Necessity 4 - Critical We have to comply with negotiated collective bargaining agreements. This resource request depends on the following other requests Item/Project Name: Employee Relations Software Item Description: Search for a reasonably priced and effective software to manager negotiations documentation, grievances and discipline matters. Resource Type: Technology

11 Page 11 of 11 Item/Project Name: Dean of Employee Relations Item Description: Replace the Dean of Employee Relations which will become vacant in two months due to the retirement of the current Dean. Resource Type: Classified staff Attached Files None