Early Bird

Staff Senate recap

November meeting covers Open Enrollment, highlights from the Employee Exit Survey and more.

By Lindsey Coulter

November 18, 2020

Acknowledging that the Roadrunner community is dealing with multiple stressors, Rebecca Reid, president, Staff Senate, began the group’s November meeting by focusing on gratitude. The exercise was inspired by the Lunch Buddies program, which encourages community-building through now-virtual lunches and meetups. Look for more information on Lunch Buddies and ways to share your gratitude with the campus community in next week’s Early Bird.

Reid also called attention to updates on the Metropolitan State University of Denver Safe Return to Campus website and encouraged senators to watch a recent video from President Janine Davidson, Ph.D., that addresses a number of health, safety and operations topics. Reid also directed members to the Colorado Department of Higher Education COVID-19 dashboard for more information.

Open-enrollment presentation

Kristin Wall, senior benefits coordinator, provided a presentation on open enrollment, which runs through Friday at 5 p.m. Read this Early Bird article to learn more.

Wall added that a decision on an insurance-premium holiday should be available soon as members of the Colorado Higher Education Insurance Benefits Alliance Trust will vote on the holiday in December. Stay tuned to the Early Bird for more details as they are available.

Employee Exit Survey highlights

Tanya Rogowsky, Human Resources generalist, visited the meeting to share highlights from the confidential Employee Exit Survey data collected between November 2016 and September 2020. The survey asks outgoing employees to provide feedback on benefits, compensation, supervision, growth opportunities and more.

Altogether, 337 employees have completed at least a portion of the survey, but this does not account for all employees who have left the University during this time frame. Administrators and staff composed 68% of respondents, while 21% were faculty members and 11% were classified staff. Of all respondents, 40% left between years zero and three of employment; however, faculty members tended to stay with the institution longer. Of all faculty respondents, half stayed with the University for 10 years or longer.

Overall, 83 percent of staff reported liking their job, and of those 30% strongly agreed with the statement. Faculty had even higher rates, with 88% reporting liking their job.

Slightly more than half of all staff respondents said they didn’t see opportunities for growth; however, these responses were largely provided before the University’s new compensation structure was instituted. In contrast, 67% of faculty did identify paths to promotion (as faculty have a different compensation structure and tenure-track opportunities).

While 41% of outgoing staff agreed that morale was good in their department, that number was much higher among faculty respondents at 75%.

Top reasons for leaving the University included compensation, lack of advancement or retirement; however, more than half would consider returning to MSU Denver across all classifications.

Learn more about the survey data and findings in an upcoming Early Bird article.

Other updates

• Members are encouraged to read a recent Budget Task Force recap to follow recent budget decisions and information.
• Two policies are up for review by the University Policy Advisory Council: the University Lending Policy and the Recruitment and Appointment Policy. The latter references a search-and-hiring-process manual that is in development. Senators are encouraged to provide feedback.
• The Communications Committee is developing a communication-needs assessment that will be available for comment soon.
• The Elections Committee is working to develop a clearer election timeline and processes.
• The Recognition and Scholarships Committee has started developing rubrics for awards and determining upcoming award-nomination deadlines.
• The Employment and Support Committee is discussing goals and will reach out to University employment-policy experts to learn more about the new compensation policy to be a better resource to staff.
• The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee continues to identify its goals and structure. The group is looking at existing efforts on campus to better understand how members can support and plug in to those efforts.
• Members are also encouraged to visit the Strategic Plan 2025 website to provide feedback on the draft.
• Stay tuned for more information on an Alternative Work Arrangements Policy and a temporary-leave policy for staff senators.