Gray Matters - June

Welcome to the June 2007 issue of Gray Matters, an electronic newsletter regarding HR issues and updates for supervisors, department heads, deans, directors and vice presidents. In this issue we address the following:

What Makes a Good Boss?
Staffing and Compensation for Wednesday, July 4th – Holiday
Reminder: Enhancements in Non-Exempt Staff Vacation Benefits
Are You A “Boiling Frog” in Your Workplace?
New Research Sheds Light on Bullying in the Workplace
Thought for the Month

Reminder. Staff performance appraisals are due to HR by July 31

From Patty Spinelli, HR Administration

Noah Blumenthal, a New York-based executive coach and author of the new book, You're Addicted to You: Why It's So Hard to Change -- and What You Can Do About It, says seven characteristics tell the good from the blah and the bad. Here's what makes good bosses:

They share information freely.
They empower employees to make decisions.
They share recognition with employees.
They actively seek honest comments from employees.
They welcome challenges, even to their ideas.
They share time and responsibility.
And they work constantly to shed their bad habits and behaviors.

Fewer than 10 percent of bosses fall into the "good" category, Blumenthal estimated.

Staffing and Compensation for Wednesday, July 4th - Holiday

From Kathleen Martin, HR Administration

This e-mail is a reminder that classes will be in session on Wednesday July 4th. Offices or departments that provide direct service to students are expected to be open. It is up to the department head or divisional vice president to decide the level of staffing necessary to operate based on the need to deliver instruction and/or services to students. Staff members who are approved to take Monday, July 2 and/or Tuesday July 3 off should record this time as vacation.

Staff members who work on the holiday will be compensated as follows:

Exempt staff required to work will be paid for the holiday worked and may take an alternate day off during the year.
Non-exempt staff required to work July 4 will be paid time and one-half for the actual hours worked on the holiday. In addition, they will receive holiday pay equal to their scheduled hours. Individuals’ time records should reflect the actual hours worked plus holiday pay. Additional details regarding holiday pay can be found by opening the following link on the HR web site: http://finweb.rit.edu/humanresources/policies/procedures/premiumpay.html#holiday

On behalf of Dr. McKenzie, please note the following specific expectations for coverage for the Division of Academic Affairs:

Every unit in Academic Affairs should have at least one central office open with at least one administrative/staff person available until at least 3 p.m. to which phone calls to other offices in that unit can be forwarded and to which drop-in visitors can be directed; if evening classes are scheduled for that unit, then the central office should remain open until 6:00 p.m. Units can be at the college or department level, at the dean's discretion, and also include the Library, Registrar's Office, etc.

Thank you for your assistance. If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact your HR Services Manager for clarification.

Reminder: Changes in Non-Exempt Staff Vacation Benefits

From Renee Brownstein, HR Administration

This is a reminder notice about enhancements for non-exempt employees, effective July 1, 2007.

Vacation Schedule Change. The vacation schedule for non-exempt employees with 10-14 years of service increases from three weeks to four weeks per year. We’ve made this change to improve our position relative to the colleges and universities with whom RIT strives to be competitive. Our benchmarking shows that the most common schedule among our benchmark schools for employees with this amount of service is four weeks; for all other service categories, we are already competitive.

Based on this change, a non-exempt employee’s annual vacation amount will change beginning the July 1st nearest the employee’s anniversary date as follows (i.e., if anniversary date is July 1 - December 31, vacation amount increases the July 1st before anniversary date; if anniversary date is January 1 - June 30, vacation amount increases the July 1st after the anniversary date):

Prior to 5th anniversary*	2 weeks
5th anniversary	3 weeks
10th anniversary	4 weeks
20th anniversary	5 weeks

* pro-rated for new hires after July 1st

Vacation time for non-exempt employees will continue to be tracked in hours, based on their standard hours. For more details on vacation time refer to the HR website at http://finweb.rit.edu/humanresources/benefits/timeoff/vacation.html

Sick and Vacation Time Reported on Payslip. I am also pleased to inform you that non-exempt employees are now able to view their remaining sick and vacation time through Oracle employee self-service on the online payslip.

Sick Time will be “front loaded” each July 1st with the total annual sick time hours and the balance will decrease as the employee uses sick time.

For example, full-time employee works 40 hours a week so receives 64 hours of sick time as of July 1. If the employee is out sick on July 25 for eight (8) hours, the sick time amount will show 56 hours remaining on the next online payslip (64 hours less 8 hours).

Vacation Time will work differently from sick time because RIT’s vacation benefit is based on an accrual system (i.e., earned throughout the year). 1/12 of the annual vacation hours will accrue the 16th of each month. The accrual will take place based on the pay period end date, NOT the check date.

For example, the 9/21/07 paycheck will NOT show the vacation accrual because the pay period end date is 9/13/07. The accrual will calculate and show in the next paycheck, 10/5/07.

Any vacation carried over from fiscal year 2006-2007 will also show in the balance amount. As an employee takes vacation, the balance will decline. It is important to understand that an employee could see a negative balance since the person may take vacation time before actually accruing it. You should not change your practice in how you approve vacation based on this negative balance since RIT’s vacation policy in this regard has not changed. There will be no difference from how it has been in the past other than the employee will now see a negative balance.

For example: full-time employee works 40 hours a week and receives 2 weeks, or 80 hours, vacation each fiscal year. Therefore, the monthly accrual is 6.67 hours per month (1/12 of 80 hours). If the person takes one week of vacation at the end of August, he/she has accrued 13.33 vacation hours and has taken 40 vacation hours, so the online payslip will show 26.67 negative vacation hours (13.33 hours accrued less 40 hours taken). This example assumes there was no vacation carry over.

Managers will still be able to view the employee’s up-to-date sick and vacation information in Kronos because the information will transfer from Oracle to Kronos each pay period.

If you have any questions about this information, feel free to contact Renee Brownstein at 5-7885 (rrbpsn@rit.edu) or Judy DeCourcey at 5-2604 (jfdpsn@rit.edu). Our TTY number is 5-2420.

Are You A “Boiling Frog” in Your Workplace?

From Kathleen Martin; adapted from the 6/07 newsletter of The Health Association EAP, RIT’s Employee Assistance Program

There’s an old folk tale about a frog that hops out immediately after being thrown into a pot of boiling water. However, when placed in a pot of cold water that is being heated gradually, that same frog fails to sense the rising temperature and slowly cooks to death!

Unfortunately, some individuals gradually fall into patterns of workplace misconduct that begin as seemingly innocent behaviors. Compare, for example, accidentally putting a pencil from work in your pocket (and hopefully returning it!) to intentional pilfering. This latter situation is whimsically described in the Johnny Cash tune entitled “One Piece at a Time” which describes an assembly line worker who acquires a fancy car one piece at a time by stealing small components over many years. It’s a cute song that will bring a smile to your face, but in reality it’s a ballad about stealing!

Researchers from the Carnegie Mellon School of Business recently revealed that under certain conditions, any of us can fall into a pattern of unethical behavior that escalates slowly and is apt to go unnoticed and unreported. When such acts become routine, both perpetrators and observers become invested in remaining quiet. In fact, in a recent survey of 418 employees conducted by the World of Work Institute, 19% indicated that they are faced with ethical decisions on a daily basis. These include behaviors such as:

Overlooking a student’s inappropriate behavior in order to avoid a confrontation with the student or “difficult” parents
Making purely personal calls during work hours
Sending personal letters through the employer’s postage system
Providing a fabricated excuse for performance deficiencies
Actively participating in the workplace “gossip chain”
Inappropriate Internet surfing on one’s work computer
Co-mingling personal expenditures with business expenditures for reimbursement by the employer

Integrity has been defined as “doing the right thing when no one is watching.” If doing the right thing at work is a problem for you, I invite you to contact our Employee Assistance Program at 800-252-4555 to discuss these challenges in a therapeutic and non-judgmental atmosphere. If doing the right thing at work is a problem for someone who reports to you, please contact your HR Services Manager for assistance.

New Research Sheds Light on Bullying in the Workplace

From Kathy Carcaci, Nancy McDonald-Stoler, Lori Sykes, and Newt Watson; HR Services Managers

A recent survey on workplace bullying conducted by scientists at the University of New Mexico found that nearly 3 in 10 U.S. workers are bullied at work, but only about 1 in ten would self-identify as being the victim of a bully. The survey authors listed a set of negative acts and asked how frequently respondents had experienced those acts in the past six months. Bullying was defined as experiencing "at least two negative acts, weekly or more often, for six or more months."

Survey authors attributed the discrepancy to several things:

“Bullying, by definition, is escalatory. This is one of the reasons it’s so difficult to prevent it, because it usually starts in really small ways,” said study team member Sarah Tracy, director of the Project for Wellness and Work-Life at Arizona State University.

Another factor might be that bullying is a phenomenon just creeping into people’s vocabulary as the research and education on the topic burgeons. For instance, Tracy explained, before the term “sexual harassment” was in the American lexicon, people didn’t identify the behavior as such.

Until recently, the term “bully” has been used to describe the schoolyard tyrant, which is kid stuff. So identifying yourself as a victim of a playground act can make a person feel weak and childish.

The survey also addressed the matter of witnesses to bullying behavior. Participants were asked if they had witnessed bullying behavior, learning that those who had found the experience to be very stressful:

“Witnesses describe seeing others psychologically terrorized as the equivalent to watching a mugging every day and being unable to stop it,” Lutgen-Sandvik told LiveScience. “They feel deep pain for their colleagues. Some get involved and try to help and are either targeted as a result or feel deep disappointment, anger, and shock that little is done to stop the abuse.”

Study authors suggest that the best way to fight back against a bully is to learn how to tell a compelling, detailed story about the behavior so that it can be reported to human resources or other managerial staff. LiveScience.com features a detailed article that lists 8 Tactics to Bust the Office Bully. These tactics were developed by Sarah Tracy, director of the Project for Wellness and Work-Life at Arizona State University, after analyzing narratives told by bully victims. Although these tactics are aimed at employees, HR managers might find both the tactics and the research helpful to use as a methodology when investigating worker complaints.

Thought for the Month

From Kathleen Martin

There once was a president named Simone
Whose convocation speeches now reside in a tome
Renowned for his penchant for ”talk”, it was much more about his “walk”
That brought RIT to become….the Category of One