New Ways to Work Together Take Shape

Yale's commitment to Best Practices—the three-year-old University initiative which promotes positive labor-management relations with actions that increase the productivity, efficiency, and satisfaction of employees and managers or improves the quality of services—is taking shape in new ways. "We learned from our first three years," says Maureen Jones, Local 34 leader and Initiative Steering Committee member.

In recent months, Best Practices leaders have focused on addressing the conditions for success. They agreed that the most important thing to accomplish in 2008-2009 is to improve the "foundation" for partnership. "We recognized that the greatest benefits are found in culture change and are harder to measure" says Janet Lindner, Initiative Steering Committee member and associate vice president for Administration.

As a result, several campus-wide initiatives to help departmental Best Practices collaborations to flourish have been launched. For example, Best Practices has assembled a project team to design a goal-setting and performance feedback process that will enable clerical & technical workers and their supervisors to engage in regular dialogue in a safe and helpful manner. Closely tied to that is an effort to address advancement and training opportunities for clerical & technical workers, with the initial focus on the Administrative Assistant job family. The initial data-gathering and framing of this project is underway.

By working together, many departments have resolved long-standing labor relations issues or have implemented basic changes desired by both parties. Dining Services is an example of this. Union and Management leaders have improved the scheduling of staff during holidays, overcome challenges in the alternative work program for recess periods, increased staffing allocations in specific dining units, and even revitalized a Cook's Apprentice scholarship program.

Mike Schoen, first cook at Berkeley College Dining Hall and advisor to Best Practices, commented, "We said, let's start out with some victories. We knew it wasn't going to happen overnight. We've been active about three and a half years. Best Practices is about how we work together. We're making it a more enjoyable place to work—we're opening up the lines of communication." Ernie Huff, new member of the Initiative Steering Committee and associate vice president, Student Financial and Administrative Services, agrees: "Our payoff has been incredible—more than what we hoped for at the beginning. There have been ancillary benefits in terms of establishing relationships with our employees and getting a greater appreciation for the issues they face day to day."

"Best Practices, while evolving, continues to work toward reinforcing the values necessary to achieve a true partnership," says Yolanda Giordano, Local 34 Leader and Initiative Steering Committee member.

If you have a question about Best Practices or ideas for improving the way things work, contact Jane Savage, director of Best Practices at 203-436-8524. Look for a new Best Practices website in the fall.