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Dear HR&B Colleagues:
The HR&B Restructuring process has been progressing rapidly since we met in the All Hands meeting in early April. I want to bring you up to date on the work that has been done on several of the HR&B initiatives as well as give you information about how our restructuring efforts fit into the broader UCOP restructuring.
Reporting Needs Assessment: As I mentioned at the All Hands meeting, this group investigated the reporting demands on HR&B. The work group has completed their assignment and a summary of the group's report is posted on the HR&B restructuring website. We have also shared their report with the UCOP-wide workgroup addressing similar types of institutional research issues and are waiting to see how it will be integrated into the consolidation of similar activities.
Local UCOP HR: Recently I wrote to you announcing the affiliation of the UCOP Human Resources department with UCSF's HR department. As I explained at the All Hands meeting, it has become clear that the future, smaller OP will not be able to support a stand-alone full service local Human Resources department. The affiliation with UCSF Human Resources will allow us to continue to provide the same high quality services to OP employees and enhance our ability to provide other services. We'll keep you informed as more information becomes known because this affects where and how you and others in OP will receive services and get answers to your employment and retirement questions.
SMG Policy Review: The work group continues to revise policies in order to present them to The Regents at a future meeting. At their March meeting, the Regents discussed the proposed approval authority model for compensation actions and expressed support for the model.
Alternate Models for Benefits Administration: The request for proposal regarding retirement benefits administration has been released and the bidders' conference was held earlier this month. The bidders' conference is a customary step in an RFP process that allows any potential vendors to ask questions about UC and about the project—in this case benefits administration. At the same time, a subgroup of this initiative's workgroup is reviewing the current retirement and retiree health and welfare administration processes and analyzing the cost and effort required to bring them in line with industry standards. We are still on target for an October 1 decision.
Vision and Organization Design: At the All Hands meeting, we shared our thinking about the direction of our future organization design for HR&B. You may remember this from the PowerPoint presentation. I have recently appointed an implementation team, with Judy Ackerhalt as the project director. Elly Skarakis will serve as project director in Judy's absence. Other team members are Mike Baptista, John Cammidge, Karla Campbell, Stan Kowalski, Kris Lange, Dennis Larsen, Nicole Savickas, Gayle Saxton, Randy Scott, Christy Thompson, Richard Townsend, Jeannene Whalen, and Anne Wolf. The goal of the team is to help us achieve a smooth transition to our new structure. I have asked them to have an organizational chart, budget and implementation plan finalized by June 30. In addition, the team will manage the implementation plan, communicate with employees, coordinate with other OP redesign teams, provide support to unit leaders, trouble shoot conflicts and identify resource gaps. It is a tall order!
I am aware that many of you are asking about the process for getting new jobs in HR&B when we begin the transition to our new structure. Among the many tasks the Implementation Team will address is exploring development of a process to survey HR&B employees to find out what skills, interests, knowledge and experience they have that could be useful in the new structure. The team will also be determining which jobs will remain similar to current jobs and which will change, and developing the process for advertising jobs that are new and interviewing for the new jobs. The team and I will keep you informed as they know more.
As we move forward with the HR&B redesign, we are also strengthening our coordination with the larger UCOP-wide restructuring. As you have heard, Michael Reese, Associate Vice President of Business Strategies, is now leading a UCOP-wide restructuring team, which is taking on the role the Monitor Group previously performed. Deanna Dudley, who was a member of our operating team and the Berkeley Offsite group, and Karla Campbell of our implementation team will represent HR&B on the UCOP restructuring team.
I encourage you to follow the OP consolidations closely as these initiatives—the consolidations of budget and business resources, communications, institutional research and legislative analysis—affect the HR&B structuring. In the cases of budget and business resources, functions that have been disbursed throughout OP will be centralized in newly formed units that will enable system sharing, standardized processes, and FTE savings. More information about these consolidations is available in the brown bag PowerPoint presentation on the UCOP restructuring website.
As you can see, the pace of restructuring both in our unit and throughout UCOP has quickened. We expect the arrival of President-designate Yudof to influence and strengthen our efforts, and the final state budget could also affect our plans. I will continue to keep you informed through the website, emails and additional All Hands meetings. Don't forget that you can use the website to write to us with your questions, comments and ideas, and you can choose to send your input anonymously.
In closing, I want to thank all of you for your continued hard work and service to our customers. I know the restructuring can be distracting. At the same time, you are dealing with more work as our colleagues retire or leave for new jobs. Nevertheless, at this time it's important for you to think about yourself and your career. So, I encourage you to take advantage of the workshops we are offering and keep your eyes open for new opportunities in HR&B and throughout UCOP that fit your interests.
Judy