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By Sharron Hannon
shannon@uga.edu
More than 80 UGA staff--representing units across campus and all employee  classifications--gathered April 13 to offer candid views on ways the university can improve over the next decade.
The meeting, convened by Vice President for Strategic Planning Don Eastman and Associate Vice President for Human Resources Loretta Harper, was the latest in a series of similar sessions held throughout this academic year to solicit input from various constituencies into the strategic-planning process.
“This is an extraordinary opportunity to be part of strategic planning--to look more globally at the university and have input in the future of UGA,” said Harper in opening the meeting.
The group--half drawn from Staff Council ranks, the rest chosen by Harper and Staff Council president Sarah Fraker--identified a growing acceptance of diversity, an openness to new ideas, more opportunities for training and an overall increase in quality among the positive trends affecting the university.
On the negative side, participants expressed strong concerns about tighter budgets, more costly health insurance, smaller pay raises and lack of meaningful staff input into decision making. They also worried about growing gaps between those with technological skills and those without, and between those at the top of the pay scale and those at the bottom. Increased workloads (“UGA is growing, but the workforce isn’t”) are causing a decline in staff morale, some said.
The group compiled a lengthy list of recommendations for administrators and faculty on ways to help staff become more effective. Sharing information, following institutional policies and listening to staff concerns were chief among these. Others included:
• Using the performance-evaluation process for real communication between supervisors and employees.
• Offering rewards and incentives for employees who perform “above and beyond.”
• Making training for supervisors mandatory.
• Including all employees at least periodically in department meetings.
• Providing more opportunities for faculty-staff interactions.
The group also came up with a list of actions staff could take. These included:
• Keeping up to date on institutional issues.
• Seeking needed training.
• Finding ways to give positive input.
• Calling on other units for solutions to common problems.
• Supporting and promoting Staff Council.
“We can all make our jobs better--it starts at your own desk,” said Labau Bryan, a research development coordinator in anthropology, who recommended the “Personal Accountability” course offered through Training and Development.
The ideas from the session will be posted on the strategic-planning Web site, said Eastman as the meeting concluded. “The Staff Council leadership will have an opportunity to look at the draft institutional strategic plan,” he told the group. “You’re in this loop.”
Harper said she and her staff will examine the issues raised to determine what Human Resources can do to help address them. “We will ask some of you to serve on teams to put ideas into practice,” she said. “Those that we can address right away, we will. But many of these are not that easy.”
Clyde Anglin, former chair of Staff Council and a member of the Institutional Strategic Planning Advisory Committee, said he thought the session had been valuable. “This was a really good opportunity for staff,” he said, “and they took advantage of it.”
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