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UVA HIGHER EDUCATION RESTRUCTURING SUMMARY

Posted: Monday October 1, 2007

University of Virginia Higher Education Restructuring

In April 2007, all staff and their staff and faculty supervisors were asked to participate in a survey on University Human Resources areas that would be affected by restructuring.

The Center for Survey Research, which designed and administered the survey, completed its review of the responses and compiled them into a comprehensive report.

This survey was an important step in developing the new HR system, and University Human Resources is grateful for the ongoing involvement of U.Va. staff and faculty.

University Human Resources (UHR) is committed to incorporating input from staff while developing the new system. You may have already participated in this effort through focus groups, answering a survey, or by attending town hall meetings. Please feel free to give us additional feedback here.

Town Hall Meetings were held Wednesday and Thursday, September 26th and 27th. The meetings overviewed the restructuring progress, looked at the results from the survey, and some next steps. They ended with a Q&A session.

If you weren’t able to come to a session, click here for a podcast of the 9/26 town hall meeting. (Flash Player Required) A transcript of this meeting is pending.

Human Resources Overview

The Commonwealth of Virginia passed the Restructured Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act in 2005. It gives Virginia’s public colleges and universities greater flexibility and internal control of each institution’s administrative operations, although the state can grant various levels of delegated authority. The net effect for U.Va. will be a more reliable funding model, greater effectiveness and efficiency in operations, higher quality educational opportunities, and the ability to react more quickly to needs of the marketplace. In addition, the University will benefit significantly from more operating flexibility in areas such as procurement, capital construction, finance, information technology and human resources.

As of July 1, 2006, all new salaried (non-faculty) staff hires are designated “University staff” instead of Classified staff and eventually will work under the new human resources system being developed through restructuring. Until those policies are implemented, University staff will work under essentially the same policies and procedures as current Classified staff.

Some important highlights of Restructuring include:

Our status as a state agency has not changed; faculty and staff are still state employees.

Higher Education Restructuring provides for two human resources systems for non-faculty employees – the current state system for Classified employees administered by the state’s Department of Human Resource Management and a new HR system to be developed and administered by the University for University staff.

Classified employees (hired prior to July 1, 2006) will remain in the state classified system (covered under the Virginia Personnel Act and policies established by the state Department of Human Resource Management) unless they elect to become “University staff” covered under University HR policies.

All salaried non-faculty employees hired on or after July 1, 2006 will become part of the University’s human resources system (University staff).

The University human resources system for University staff is based on the current human resources policies until components of the new system are developed and implemented. The new system may evolve in stages over a period of several years to provide time for programs to be studied and discussed with employees.

When the new system has been developed, current Classified employees will be given the option to transfer to the new University HR system. There will be a 90-day enrollment period for Classified staff to learn about the University’s HR system and to decide whether they wish to change to the new system as University staff or to remain in the state’s classified system. Once an employee has elected to transfer to the University HR system, s/he cannot elect at a later date to return to the state classified system unless they transfer to another state agency (excluding any universities covered under Higher Education Restructuring). Periodically, but no less than every two years, Classified employees would be given another opportunity to move to the University system. Classified employees may elect to retain their “Classified” status even if they transfer to other non-faculty positions at the University of Virginia.

All eligible salaried staff employees, both Classified and University staff, are covered in the Virginia Retirement System, the University’s health insurance plan, the state’s worker’s compensation program, and the state grievance policy. The new University HR system may, however, include new policies and programs in areas such as compensation and classification, performance evaluation, leave, employment and promotion, layoff, severance, and others.

The University will continue to engage employees regularly in appropriate discussions during the development of the University human resources system; employees will also have opportunities to participate on design teams. Focus groups have already been used which provided direction and questions pertaining to this survey. For more information about the focus groups, see http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=1247.
For more information about Restructuring, see http://www.virginia.edu/restructuring

As always, the General Assembly and the Department of Human Resource Management (DHRM) retain the ability to change state programs for Classified staff.

Below is a chart outlining the current similarities and differences for Classified staff and University staff under Restructuring.

HR Plans and Policies
1.Classified staff
2.University staff

Authority
1.Subject to Virginia Personnel Act and state Department of Human Resource Management policies

2. Subject to the University’s Board of Visitors, with the exception of the following: retirement, University health insurance, staff grievance procedure, and workers compensation. Until the new HR system is developed, University staff will be covered by the same HR policies as Classified staff.

Retirement System
1. No change
2. No change all salaried non-faculty employees remain in VRS

Health Insurance
1. No change
2. No change (All salaried employees remain covered under University of Virginia health insurance.)

Grievance Procedure
1. No change
2. No change (All salaried non-faculty employees are covered by state Grievance Policy.)

Workers Comp
1. No change
2. No change (All employees remain covered under state workers compensation.)

Classification System (role titles)
1. No change
2. University has the authority to consider changes in the job classification system

Compensation System (pay bands, salary adjustment policies)
1. No change
2.University has the authority to consider changes, such as a new pay structure and new compensation policies

Benefits (other than health, retirement, workers compensation)
1. No change
2. University has the authority to consider changes, such as alternative disability plans or cafeteria-style benefits plans

Employee Recognition
1. No change
2. University has the authority to consider changes, such as new or expanded policies for employee rewards and recognition

Performance Management Policies (performance plans and evaluations)
1. No change
2. University has the authority to consider a new employee performance evaluation policy and other changes, such as incentives for performance

Standards of Conduct
1. No change
2. University has the authority to consider changes in policies for employee conduct and corrective discipline

Layoff Policies
1. No change
2. University has the authority to consider changes in policies addressing the layoff process and the placement and recall provisions

Severance Policy
1. No change
2. University has the authority to consider different severance benefits policies; may negotiate with VRS to convert severance pay to VRS credit

Leave Policies
1. No change
2. University has the authority to consider different policies to provide paid leave for various purposes

Employment Policies
1. No change (Employees may still remain “Classified” if they move to other staff positions within the University.)
2. University has the authority to consider new policies for recruitment, selection, and hiring. May develop promotional policies, including effect of promotion on compensation

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UVA HIGHER EDUCATION RESTRUCTURING SUMMARY

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