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1st appeared
18
January 2001
Supportive Work Initiative Gaining Momentum With a new interactive website, welcome fair for new employees and proposed staff leave time on the verge of becoming an official policy, the supportive work environment committee is putting more plans into action early this year. Here are the latest developments.
The fair is the product of months of planning by a SWE subcommittee, co-chaired by Paulette Gregg and Sandra Norberg, as part of Chancellor Mike Bishop’s initiative to support employees and strengthen the campus community. The fair is a pilot program that may be continued in future years depending on participation and feedback from attendees, says Alma Sisco-Smith, co-chair of the Chancellor's Ad Hoc Supportive Work Environment (SWE) Committee and director of the Work-Life Resource Center. The SWE committee recently unveiled its new website, which was created to help faculty, staff and students to discover ways to more fully enjoy their work experience, be more productive and learn about the SWE initiative’s history, achievements and future goals. Designed by University Publications’ Victoria Maier with SWE staff and a diverse group of SWE supporters, the website reflects a lively upbeat environment. One part of the website, referred to as the SWEet life section, gives the campus community an opportunity to share best practices by posting ideas on the site. Here employees also will find upcoming SWE-sponsored events, tips, quotes, and monthly articles. "We encourage you to share your experiences, ideas, questions and comments, and we will do our best to address them here in a general way, where everyone can benefit," says Christine Pepper-Wong, SWE communications liaison. In a related effort, UCSF will launch a work-life portal page this spring to provide an easy way especially for new employees to find out about specific campus programs and services. And following recommendations from SWE committees and other campus groups, the campus this month released for review a proposed policy to grant non-represented staff up to 40 hours a year to attend education and development programs with management approval. See Daybreak story. Members of the campus may comment on the proposed policy until Friday, February 16. Works in progress SWE committees are also working on a number of projects that are in various phases of planning. The next idea to become a reality will give business cards to anyone on campus who requests them. In fact, employees who want to see their names printed on official University business cards will be able to fill out request forms at the new employee fair. Forms also will be sent this spring to others wishing to get cards, according to Claudette ("CJ") Johnson, SWE projects coordinator. Plans to establish a pilot internship program for employees also are being finalized. The goal is to offer six employees an opportunity to intern at another department to build their skills and knowledge and to better their chances of career advancement at UCSF. To be modeled after the successful UC Berkeley Internship Program that has been in place for more than 10 years, the program should be up and running by this fall. A key aspect to the pilot internship program is that the department that hosts an intern and the department that temporarily loses an employee, both receive financial support, Johnson says. In another initiative, the SWE committee is considering preliminary plans to conduct a training program for people to help facilitate meetings on campus. "The development of a small group of employees to become facilitators for meetings is being discussed with growing interest," explains Sisco-Smith. To be led by Kathleen Brown, an organizational development specialist in Human Resources, the program would train people so that they can be more efficient at conducting meetings within their departments or serving on campuswide committees or task forces. Brown is expected to open up campus dialogue about next steps in planning for this new program in the coming months. Staff appreciation At the request of Chancellor Bishop, UCSF has formed a campus planning committee for staff appreciation to oversee events honoring staff and their daily contributions to UCSF. The committee comprises a diverse group of UCSF employees, support staff as well as management leadership, to reflect the diverse composition of individual departments. A committee is currently planning staff appreciation events for 2001 that will occur at each department throughout the campus during the weeks of April 16 and April 23. In preparation for that event, the committee is seeking input from campus staff and managers, about what you did or saw others do that was particularly noteworthy in expressing appreciation to staff. By sharing your experiences, colleagues can learn from UCSF’s own best practices. By highlighting the appreciation practices performed at various departments, the committee hopes that it can create a snowball effect so that these practices, as well as others, are held throughout the year. Please forward a description of your "best practices" to Randy Lopez, assistant vice chancellor of human resources, to share with the planning committee no later than Wednesday, Jan. 31. For more information on SWE in general, call Claudette Johnson at 476-4270 or e-mail her. Links: Source: Lisa Cisneros, Newsbreak Editor |
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