Speak up Be heard: Human Resources

This was the response provided to multiple question closures during the holiday. “Thank you for your feedback. Although closing the University is not in alignment with the various needs and components of the University, employees have the option of requesting time off during the holidays.”

I think it would be beneficial to hear from University Leadership on why this is harmful to the University when other universities are successful (including UofA and NAU) in closing the week between Christmas and New Year.

Like Simon Sinek says, start with why.

 The notion of saying that people can request time off is elitist and problematic.

 This is problematic because of the following reasons:

 ASU operates on an accrual system, so a person (assuming Category 1 or 2) who may have started in the summer means they will have only accrued approximately a week (40.56 hours) of vacation time by the winter holiday (12 pay periods). This would suggest that a person will not be able to take time off for vacation throughout the year because they must save their vacation time for the holiday break.

 It is also inequitable employees that are staff because faculty are automatically afforded the time to be off during this time without penalty.

It is understandable that faculty do not accrue vacation time so it is expected that they don’t have be here during the break but due to the natures of their role, they are also afforded a lot more flexibility such as only coming in on the days that they teach.

 Finally, it puts the burden on the staff member to have to negotiate with their leadership and ensure that there is “coverage” for the office in case something comes up which always favors employees who have been around longer and also those who have kids at home.

 University leadership says that they care about staff however this is a small gesture that is constantly overlooked that could contribute to a better working environment. I would even suggest the alternatives to start: reducing hours of operations during the break or allowing people to be remote during the week. However, this should be across the board and not up to each individual service unit/academic college.

 Other things to explore- how many visits are taking place from an admissions standpoint? Can that schedule be consolidated?

I've recently found out through my care provider that Blue Cross Blue Shield is allowing their contract with Genesis OBGYN to terminate. According to emails I've received from the Genesis office, BCBSAZ has failed to respond to reasonable negotiations needed to establish a new contract going into the new year. By BCBSAZ letting this contract terminate, they are limiting over 16,000 women in finding a provider that can offer care. They are also limiting those women's ability to choose a provider that they can trust. Like many of my colleagues, I receive health insurance benefits from ASU and I can only assume that there is some formal contract in place with ASU and BCBSAZ. Up until now I've been happy with my insurance from BCBSAZ but I don't feel comfortable putting my hard-earned money into a company that clearly doesn't care about the women they insure any longer. BCBSAZ's response to the negative outcry from people on their community Facebook page has essentially been, it's not our fault and to find a new provider. This is unacceptable. Since BCBSAZ's actions no longer seem to align with ASU's morals, I would like to urge ASU to reconsider their contract with them if they fail to negotiate a new contract with Genesis OBGYN.

Do you care about the mental and physical health of all employees, especially those who are working as university staff? We are stressed and burnt out from working, especially during peak season when we grab more hours to work and get additional income. This is not a healthy work-life balance at all. We get messages that ASU accepted over 100K students. Yet, we do not see any changes in our paychecks, especially since everything is so expensive. Then the only thank you and appreciation we get are cups and sandwiches with mandatory attendance to attend the appreciation lunch. That is not appreciation at all. WE ARE BEING EXPLOITED. We are tired mentally and physically. Are higher-ups going to just move slowly and wait till more employees decide to seek another job for higher pay than working in ASU, where our charter states that ASU is supposed to take responsibility for the economic health of the communities it serves? Low pay is not living up to its own charter at all.

For the most part, I love working for ASU and am proud to say that they are my employer. However, as I see other local universities making progressive changes to improve their employee's well-being it is frustrating to see that ASU is not keeping up. I've only recently learned about UA and NAU offering paid time off between the Christmas holiday and the New Year holiday and it's left me wondering why ASU is giving so much push back on this? It's no secret that by working for ASU, you must be prepared to take a pay cut. And in the past this has been made up for by ancillary benefits. But as benefit expectations continue to evolve, what once seemed like generous benefits are now seeming outdated. ASU is going to start losing good employees at a much faster rate to their competitors if they don't start making up for their shortcomings in either wage increases or exceptional work-life balance perks.