March 8, 2005

University of Houston President Jay Gogue will soon receive five resolutions from Staff Council requesting the establishment of a flexible compensation system and other new policies.

“We’re very excited about these recommendations,” said Joe Papick, Staff Council president.
“We view them as a positive way of beginning to address some of the concerns raised in the Staff Assessment Survey.”

In 2003, Staff Council conducted the survey. Results indicated that respondents overwhelmingly believe that UH is a good place to work; however, they noted their concerns in such areas as merit raises and promotions. For more information on the survey, visit Staff Council’s Web site at http://www.uh.edu/sc/.

After the survey, Staff Council created two task forces — career and compensation and campus communication and managerial skills — to address the issues raised in the survey. Subsequently, the task forces developed various proposals, one of which focuses on the Texas College Program. The program allows employees to take three hours of leave per week to enroll in a university class with managerial approval. Staff Council is asking UH to create a policy mandating that denials be justified and documented.

Two resolutions call for flexible monetary and non-monetary compensation and administrative leave with pay to recognize employees for outstanding performance and/or special effort.

Another resolution urges UH to develop a performance-based salary increase for staff and an employee-suggestion reward system that would provide monetary compensation to staff who make recommendations that are adopted by departments, save money and streamline operations.

Papick said he anticipates submitting the resolutions to Gogue this week, and hopes to present additional proposals this spring and summer.

Francine Parker
fparker@central.uh.edu