Joint Policy Board/ Steering Committee Meeting Output
October 21 , 2004

Next Steps

At the October 21 meeting, attendees agreed on the following action items:

Role of the Information Coordinators/Training and Education Committee

• The committee endorsed the mission statement developed by the information coordinators and encouraged the group to tighten up its time frames in the proposed action plan. Committee members commented that they are getting more and more requests for information and help with Best Practices work groups. They believe the information coordinators can play an important role in providing support to areas that want to begin this process.
• It was agreed that the Training and Education Committee will be launched as training needs are identified by the information coordinators and others, and members will be chosen who can best meet the identified needs.

Interim Employment Pool

• Tony Lopes identified an issue that appears to be an obstacle in obtaining full commitment to the best practices process. The interim employment pool is larger than ever, while many areas continue to hire from the outside. The medical school was cited as an area where very little hiring is done from the pool. The committee agreed that there is a need to:
  • Understand what the issues are at the medical school that are creating obstacles
  • Create awareness of the interim employment pool and benefits of using it as a source of new talent
• It was decided that a task force would work with the Job Search Committee to gather data and develop a report for this group at the next meeting in November. The task force members will be:
  • Marianne Dess-Santoro
  • Rob Schwartz
  • Tony Lopes
  • Lloyd Suttle
  • Yolanda Giordano
  • John Pepper
  • Duane Mellor
  • Kathy Vellucci

Dining Service Best Practices Work Group

• Blanche Temple reported on the progress of this group, which currently consists of six members. They have met four times so far and are planning to meet weekly for 1½ hours until Christmas break. Rosalie Blunden has agreed to facilitate the work of this group, and she was chosen by mutual agreement of the group.
• The group is finalizing a mission statement and plans to begin a project at Stiles/Morse to improve scheduling, develop better menus, and improve efficiencies.
• The Committee suggested adding two masters (e.g., Cathy Jones, Curtis Green) as well as the Stiles/Morse dining services manager.
• The Policy Board will attend one of this group’s meetings in the coming weeks to offer the support of the Policy Board and Steering Committee.

Yale University Health Services Best Practices Work Group

• It was reported that this group has resolved its issues around membership and is ready to hold a kick-off meeting. The Policy Board members will attend the beginning of this meeting to offer support. Ideally, this meeting will be held before the next Steering Committee meeting in November.

University Climate Survey

• The survey pilot went live on October 18, and 800 of the 3,000 online surveys had been completed so far. An additional 200 paper and pencil packets were distributed.
• There was a discussion of how the results could be rolled out to the participants in a time-efficient yet personal manner. A number of ideas were suggested to Laura Frieburn-Smith, and she will follow up to ensure labor and management facilitators are involved. It was suggested that individuals who participate in facilitating this process may be potential best practices facilitators as well.

Communication Initiatives

• Website: Marianne Dess-Santoro and Janet Lindner reported that the website is going live since the changes suggested by the committee have been implemented.
• Yale Golf Course: Marianne Dess-Santoro handed out copies of two articles that have been written about the best practices project at the Yale Golf Course.
• Yale University Health Services: Dr. Genecin has written an article for Working at Yale, based on the presentation he gave at the last Steering Committee meeting. He has also made his PowerPoint presentation available for others to use.
• New Employee Orientation: HR has already begun the process of collaborating with Locals 34 and 35 to improve new employee orientation.
• Locals 34 and 35 will nominate representatives to work with Rob Schwartz and his team on incorporating Best Practices information regularly in Working at Yale.

Drafting the Communication Message

• It was agreed that we will ask for volunteers to draft the meeting summary at the beginning of the meeting so that these individuals can take notes during the meeting.
• We will no longer take time at the end of the meeting to develop the communication points with the entire group. Instead, the two volunteers will draft the message and ask for input from others before finalizing the content.