Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
12:15 — 1:30 pm
105 Stimson Hall
MINUTES

I. Call to Order

T. Grove called the meeting to order at 12:19 p.m.

Present: D. Brooks, B. Cristelli, T. Grove, M. Kitchen, L. Morris, L. Sayam, B. Schaffner, J. Seymour, G. Stewart

Absent: J. Boodley Buchanan, L. Croll Howell, B. Esty, K. Fahey, C. Ferguson, L. Meyerhoff, G. Osborne

Also Attending: A. Epstein, N. Doolittle, B. McKinney, A. O’Donnell

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

There were no late additions to the agenda.

III. Approval of the Minutes from the Last Meeting

The approval of the minutes from December 21, 2011 was tabled until the next meeting, since the EA did not have quorum.

IV. Business of the Day

a) EA Survey

L. Morris sent the revised EA survey to all of the members of the assembly. She said she believes question #4 should be changed since one of the purposes of the survey is to gauge the effectiveness of the EA. She suggested changing the question to ask “in what ways” employees hear about the EA. Along with question #4, L. Morris also suggested a revision to question #7. She then opened the floor for comments. T. Grove stated she liked question #4 but believes more should be added regarding communication. She also asked for a revision on question #11. Finally, L. Morris stated the EA had discussed sending out paper surveys. She said sending out the survey would not be expensive but inputting the data would be about $3 per survey and would cost an estimated $900. L. Morris reported the total cost for the survey will be around $1,500, which would include the printing and mailing of the paper surveys. T. Grove asked for the members’ opinions. G. Stewart said it is the Employee Assemblies’ job to stand up for disenfranchised employees and therefore the survey and resulting expense is necessary. The EA agreed a paper survey is necessary if there are sufficient funds.

b) EA Elections

T. Grove said the option of a mailed ballot was discussed at the EA’s recent retreat. She explained the executive committee has since met with A. Epstein and P. Beach and came to the conclusion that it was not the right decision to send out paper ballots. She asked A. Epstein to explain to the EA this decision. A. Epstein explained to the members there is a renewed effort to try and set people up with accessing the online systems and paper ballots will not aid in this effort. He also noted there are a number of twenty-four hour computer labs employees could use, or they can use the their computers at home to log in and vote. T. Grove suggested postcards could be sent out to remind people to activate their netids and vote. J. Seymour asked if it is the EA’s responsibility to remind people to activate their netid. T. Grove said that it is not but it may be helpful to encourage people and/or explain to them how to log into their netid. G. Stewart argued that the paper ballot should still be used because it would make it easy to vote. T. Grove also mentioned that there may be many people who do not want to walk to a computer lab after work to vote. She stated that this is a whole population of employees who the EA would like to hear from but are not making it easy for them to communicate with. L. Morris asked if there are individual mailboxes for the employees. T. Grove stated that there are community mailboxes so many of the employees may not even get the ballots if they are not expecting mail.

A. Epstein said that it might be a good thing to ask M. Opperman if there is a policy to set up the netid. He explained that it should be the supervisors’ responsibility to help their employees to use their netids. T. Grove mentioned that she would like to ask the supervisors to grant time off for the employees to go and vote. J. Seymour stated that it would be good to let the employees know where to go and what computer labs are open during specific hours. T. Grove brought up the idea of having a computer by the time clocks so employees who do not have computers at home will be able to log in. G. Stewart said some employees may not feel comfortable going into a computer lab that is full of students. He suggested possibly having a one-day voting event where polling places would be set up. A. Epstein stated this method was tried in the past with a lower voting rate compared to the electronic way. D. Brooks asked if there were specific jobs that have more people who are not actively using their netids. T. Grove stated there are specific jobs but more information is being gathered on this issue.

A. Epstein mentioned that L. Meyerhoff and T. Grove went around to different colleges and talked to the employees. He said that this tended to make people feel better and participate more. N. Doolittle stated that this issue was also struggled with while distributing PawPrint. She said that many copies would be sent out but that in some places, such as dining facilities, it is a hit and miss. She said that there may be a way to tap into the mailing system that certain facilities currently have which could inform employees about the voting system.

T. Grove suggested a hybrid version of G. Stewarts’s polling day. She suggested having computers available at different areas around campus, which would allow the employees to go and vote if they do not have access to a computer elsewhere. T. Grove explained that next week B. Schaffner and herself will be having a meeting with M. Opperman and will discuss the issue more with her. The members of the EA continued to discussed the issue and this item of the agenda concluded with T. Grove asking the members of the EA to email her with any further comments.

c) Retreat recap

T. Grove stated it was a great retreat. She said one important thing brought up at the retreat was the creation of an EA spokesperson. T. Grove mentioned that D. Brooks had also suggested being more open and available to the Cornell Daily Sun. He suggested possibly giving the Daily Sun an agenda for the year and inviting them to come to an EA meeting and them following up with them afterwards to ensure that they received adequate information.

There was a presentation about the Peer-to-Peer program which has reached many faculty and students across campus. The next thing the group is trying to do is a Staff-to-Staff program. T. Grove stated this is quite expensive but the group is beginning the foundation from some program and may need the EA’s help. T. Grove asked for any questions or further comments. She also asked if the EA should create some resolution in support of the peer-to-peer program creation for employees.

V. Report from the Chair

a) Meeting with Mary

T. Grove reported the executive committee met with M. Opperman the previous week. She said there were many questions the employees wrote on the surveys for President Skorton. Many were questions he would not be able to provide an adequate response for; therefore, those questions were forwarded to M. Opperman. T. Grove said she is hoping they will be answered soon and put into the EA E-news.

D. Brooks explained his idea regarding HR recognition. G. Stewart stated there are many things that HR does that people are not aware of. He said that it is very easy to take HR for granted. D. Brooks asked if the EA could advertise all the services that HR offers in the EA E-news.

T. Grove also stated at the meeting with Mary Opperman the idea of a career planning was discussed. M. Opperman encouraged them to meet with Anne Sneel regarding this idea.

b) RPOC

T. Grove stated she attended this meeting and reported it was in regards to Cornell having to be fiscally responsible for giving good retirement options to its employees. A new consulting firm is being brought in and the retirement plan will be changed a little bit.

VI. Old Business

There was no old business discussed at this meeting.

VII. New Business

a) Logo

L. Morris asked if the members could vote on the new EA logo. T. Grove said the missing EA members should be able to vote by email since many members were absent. L. Morris then asked for more input on the logo. The logos were placed on the wall and the members discussed which logo they preferred. The attending members voted on their favorite logo and L. Morris said she would electronically poll the other members. A. Epstein suggested a polling system that would allow the members to rank their choices. The members of the assembly ranked their top choices for the logo from one to three and gave their ballots to A. Epstein.

b) Geneva

This item was tabled until the next EA meeting.

c) Questions for Kyu Whang and Ted Dodds

This item was tabled until the next EA meeting.

VIII. Adjournment

B. Schaffner made a motion to adjourn the meeting. G. Stewart seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 1:29 p.m.