The May Staff Senate meeting featured Whitney Owen, executive director of University Business Consulting, to discuss the university’s strategic direction.
If you missed the session, you can watch or listen to the recording.
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Message from the Staff Senate Chair
Classified Staff and Non-Student Wage Employees:
First, let me start by thanking our staff for their incredible effort and continued support that helped make this transition to online learning and mandated telework possible. As I stated in the May 6 Board of Visitors Listening Session, faculty are here to teach and conduct research; students are here to learn and succeed; staff are here to support everyone. We are the infrastructure of the university. Any crack in the foundation can cause the day-to-day operations to crumble and new initiatives to stall.
It is no doubt that the leaders of our university have many difficult decisions ahead. In March, I was invited to join the Emergency Operations Group to represent the Staff Senate. This has provided me the opportunity to give input from the staff perspective. When the telework mandate went into place, there were still many employees coming into work. I advocated and pushed that the group work hard to get these remaining staff home. As decisions were being made early on in the pandemic, many felt their concerns were not being heard. To get a sense of the pulse of staff, we cancelled our originally scheduled April General Meeting, rescheduled our meeting with the Campus Planning Committee, and prioritized a telework session where staff could voice the challenges they were facing, share with each other ideas for well-being and balance, and learn about professional development opportunities that are available to them.
Our first telework session took place on April 1 and was followed up with a telework panel on April 15. At our recent May General Meeting with David Farris , Mr. Farris answered questions about Mason’s emergency response to COVID-19. The impetus behind these sessions was to get a sense of the concerns our staff are facing, share resources with each other, and provide answers where they are available. The senate also co-hosted an engagement session with the master planning team Tuesday, May 19, where staff provided feedback regarding the university’s master plan. Our June General Meeting will focus on the university budget and will feature Carol Kissal, senior vice president, Administration and Finance.
Last week, we gathered input from our constituency regarding operating procedures for fall 2020. We received overwhelming feedback from diverse units across campus. However, there was a common voice of deep concern for the safety and well-being of all Mason stakeholders as decisions are being made regarding the future. Last Wednesday, following our general meeting, the Patriot Tiger Team welcomed our input on their report during a shared session with Faculty Senate and student organizations. We communicated these main points to the team:
- Ensuring we have the proper infrastructure and sanitary efforts in place to keep all stakeholders of the university safe (safe ventilation, sanitizing between classes, mask policies, plexiglass barriers, access to sanitizing stations, protection for our staff serving on leased property, and limiting access to buildings to only those who have business on campus)
- Offering solutions to encourage a safe and successful semester (i.e.: long term flexible and telework options for employees, phased in opening when it is deemed safe to return to campus, rotation schedules to limit the number of staff in offices at one time, accelerating electronic forms with electronic signatures to limit the amount of paperwork in envelopes circulating on campus, and signage informing students, faculty, and staff of proper social distancing protocol)
- Offer employees with extenuating circumstances flexible telework options, reinforced by Human Resources and supervisors, without the possibility of retribution, to include: working parents, those in the vulnerable age category, high risk employees or employees that are caretakers or household members with someone high risk.
- Access to safe and dependable transportation to work (shuttles, vanpools, Metro, buses, etc.)
- Long-term priority of providing access to healthcare resources for employees (flu shot clinics/health clinics)
- In the extreme case of salary cuts, cutting salaries from the top down to protect our most vulnerable staff members
- Asking how Dr. Washington’s input is being taken into account in the decisions
If you would like to provide your personal comments and counsel to the Patriot Tiger Team, you may do so by submitting them to their comment portal.
We are listening to your concerns and taking your feedback to ensure that we are working toward our mission of advocating, educating, and appreciating while also supporting the significant work of staff during these uncertain times. Again, thank you to staff for the incredible work you are doing to support your colleagues, faculty, and students. If you have any suggestions or input of how or where you would like to see more Staff Senate involvement, please provide feedback using this form.
Regards,
Erin I. Rogers
Staff Senate, Interim Chair
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Telework Special Session
The Mason Staff Senate will host a special community session to discuss telework and other aspects of work life in the age of COVID-19. This session will be in lieu of our regularly scheduled April general meeting. The session will provide a platform for Mason staff members to engage about experiences or issues related to teleworking (or not teleworking) and to share suggestions and insights about how we can use this as a time for professional development, redefining roles, and finding new ways to achieve personal and department goals.
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
10 a.m. to noon
WebEx Event Information:
https://gmu.webex.com/gmu/onstage/g.php?MTID=ebd73b3e4a35dbc3d4a330f87a203b781
Event number: 612 407 723
Event password: SS123
Join from a video system or application:
Dial [email protected]
You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number.
Join by Phone:
To receive a call back, provide your phone number when you join the event, or call the number below and enter the access code.
+1-415-655-0003 US Toll
+1-202-860-2110 United States Toll (Washington D.C.)Access Code: 612 407 723
Event Protocol:
Microphones will remain muted for attendees during this session and can only be unmuted by the meeting host. If you would like to speak or ask a question, you may raise your hand to be unmuted. If you’d like to ask a question or make a remark please do so via text in the Q&A or use the “raise hand” feature located in the bottom right of the chat panel. You will be called on and unmuted at that time.
Submit your questions to the Staff Senate:
To promote dialog at the Staff Senate general meetings, the Senate is collecting questions/comments from constituents. Submit your question using the online submission form or email your question to [email protected]. You may include your name, or you may ask to remain anonymous. Please also include whether you would liked to be called on during the session to ask your question or if you would like the Senate to ask the question on your behalf.
The Staff Senate is an advisory body that represents all classified and non-student wage employees at George Mason University. Working closely with university administration, we address concerns that have an impact on the quality of work-life for the Mason community. The work of the senate is accomplished through open and continuous communication with its constituents.
For questions, contact [email protected].
Wednesday, May 28
12:00 – 1:00 pm
Fairfax: Innovation Hall 334
Videoconference to Prince William, Bull Run Hall 258; Arlington, Founders Hall 322; Front Royal, Academic 219
Interested in becoming a Mason Staff Senator? Want to explore the opportunity to learn about how the university functions from a new perspective, network across departments, and contribute to the well being of your colleagues? The Staff Senate will hold an information session and panel discussion for Mason staff who are interested in learning about the nomination and election process, the work of senate and what senators do. No registration is necessary. Please direct questions to Kathrin Breitt Brown, 3.4141, [email protected]