Suggestion: 987
Subject: Personnel Issue - No Public Posting
Suggestion: 988
Subject: Employee Salaries
Forwarded to: HR Director
There's no way to say this in a
positive way, so bear in mind I only bring it up for the betterment of our work
place, which is great in many ways.
Thank you, UHV Administration for everything you do right. I acknowledge these things and I appreciate
them. There is, however, one glaring
problem.
Lately everyone has been tip toeing
around the reason why so many people have been leaving. In more than one case, it's obviously because
our salaries are simply not competitive.
Take the Web Developer/Database
Administrator position that opened recently.
Why did it open in the first place?
What are the requirements?
1. Bachelor’s degree in computer
science
2. 1 year experience with Database AND
web management
3. Knowledge of Microsoft Office suite
and other technologies
4. Web browsers
5. Web technologies
6. Design tools
a. Photoshop
b. Macromedia Studio
7. Extensive knowledge in:
a. HTML code
b. Active Server Pages
c. Java Script
d. Relational database integration
e. Visual Basic
f.
Access
g. SQL Script
h. .Net
8. Experience in
a. Graphic Design
b. Web Security
c. Data Security
This is a very strong skill set to
say the least, but the offered pay for this job is significantly less than 30 K
a year. Yes, that is only the minimum,
but realistically, part of the problem is that the minimum is what is almost
always offered to new hires. We issue
four year degrees to our students, and then turn around and offer a slap-in-the
face salary for a job that requires a four year degree PLUS one year experience
in two different fields. Something is
wrong with this picture.
I wonder how many people got
interviewed for this position and if they met all of the qualifications.
Response: As a result of our recent market survey
this position has been reclassified to an Exempt Pay Grade 3 level with a
starting salary of $32,800. A very
qualified candidate who graduated from UHV has been hired for this position.
Suggestion: 989
Subject: Employee Morale
Forwarded to: HR Director
In reading through the archived
suggestions/responses for the last couple of months, it appears that employee
morale is extremely low. And instead of
recognizing that there might actually be a problem with HR practices, turnover,
and/or compensation, the University would rather turn a blind-eye and make
excuses to try to appease its constituents.
If employees are truly resigning
because they are "moving", why are they moving? Are they moving because of personal
reasons? Or are they moving because of
problems with their supervisors, workloads, or compensation? Maybe they are getting jobs in other cities,
but are they moving to those cities because they planned to all along, or
because that's where they could find a job that paid them halfway decently for
the amount of work that they do?
Until the University addresses these
issues and takes strides to improve the "psychological" work
environment and employee morale, it will continue to have high levels of
turnover, overall employee discontent, and complaints.
Response: Please refer to archived suggestion box
response #982 and #977. Also, please
note that our new university pay plan for FY08 has been increased 3%.
Suggestion: 990
Subject: Compensation Analysis
Forwarded to: Vice President for Administration and Finance
The next time you conduct any kind
of compensation analysis, please update managers/supervisors prior to talking
to staff in a Staff Council meeting.
It's difficult for us to support administration if we are not informed.
Response: I thought that Staff Council was both
exempt and non-exempt and therefore made up of both managers/supervisors and
other staff. If so then why did some
supervisors choose not to attend this general information meeting and thus not
be informed? To my knowledge we have
never conducted a managers/supervisors meeting separate from the general
meeting with staff. Why does it seem to
be needed now? If clarity is needed once
salary worksheets are sent, then managers/supervisors are instructed to see
either Laura Smith or Darlene Pullin.
Suggestion: 991
Subject: Difficulty Registering for Classes
Forwarded to: Registrar
I tried to register for a fall 07 class. Not able to...........will try tomorrow. Should not be this difficult.
Response: Thank you for your comments. As with any new
system there are going to be kinks to work through, as well as a learning curve
for all users (students, faculty and staff). I hope you were able to work
through the problem you were experiencing and were able to enroll. If you are
still experiencing registration problems, please contact us as registration@uhv.edu, or (361) 570-4110.
Thank you again for your comments.
Suggestion: 992
Subject: Faculty and Staff Directory
Forwarded to: HR Director
Please update the faculty staff
directory. It is still not accurate.
Response: The Human Resources Department is
responsible for updating the Faculty/Staff Directory on the university's web
page http://www.uhv.edu/hrdirectory/employee.asp. We review it for
accuracy and try to keep it updated, but please keep in mind that it is a
manual process and is not automatic with every personnel change. We would like to guarantee 100% accuracy
every single day but that is not possible given the continuous changes that
occur within the university (titles change, department name changes, new hires,
etc). We do very much appreciate being
contacted when someone notices something incorrect on the directory so that we
can fix it as soon as possible. Please
feel free to email me directly at smithl@uhv.edu or call me direct at 570-4800
if you see something that needs to be corrected.
Suggestion: 993
Subject: Communication
Forwarded to: President
Why are employees
having to read about UHV future plans (4-year institution) in the paper
instead of getting information from administration?
Response: Please look for a response next month.
