Staff Advisory Council
November 15, 2017
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
HR Conference Room
Present:
Martha Tetrault, Brittany Burdick, Charlotte Clark, Kevin Thomas, Nadine Nance Scott Henderson, Susan Gaskell, Tamra Hjermstad, Veronica Bosley, Scott Duncan
Minutes Approved
The minutes for the June, September, and October meetings were approved without amendments. Kevin noted that the website has been reorganized to make it easier to navigate: https://sites.williams.edu/staff-advisory-council/
Learning and Development
Kevin asked the Council for feedback on the Learning and Development programs, both looking backward and forward. The following themes emerged from the discussion:
Access
The group focused on the problem of access to employees for these programs. They recommended working with department heads to support learning activities, encouraging supervisors to ensure coverage when staff go to programs. They recommended:
- Training series on a theme
- holding the same program at different times,
- catered lunch and learns,
- sessions that end with a catered lunch for continued discussion of the material,
- a “badge” system that would allow staff to be recognized for participation in learning programs as well as other ways of engaging in the larger Williams community.
Topics
The group also recommended specific topics for trainings, like meeting management, and more talks by senior leaders with information about Williams, such as:
- Dukes and Fred – financial administration and capital projects
- Megan – campaign
- The work of the Committee on Priorities and Resources
Agenda Building
Kevin led an exercise to generate ideas about what topics the council would like to discuss. They then grouped their ideas and voted on them. These were the results:
| Category | Suggestion | Number of Votes |
| 1 Professional Development |
Promoting staff development funds or resources for staff development programs off campus | 2 |
| Yearlong onboarding program | 1 | |
| Opportunities for staff to audit class | 0 | |
| “Open house” career advising? Somewhere to stop in and chat about goals/struggles | 0 | |
| 2 Work conditions and policies |
Add more staff parking lots | 3 |
| Creating dialogues around flex. time options | 2 | |
| Develop a plan and strategy to build and maintain a multicultural staff (consider obstacles, like not paying for travel for staff positions) |
2 | |
| Looking at maternity leave for all staff | 1 | |
| More fitness classes offered at various times | 0 | |
| 3A Building Community |
Having more opportunities to connect across departments. Social Events (e.g. knitting club?) | 4 |
| Bridge hourly vs. salary staff divide. Also bridging faculty and staff divide and faculty behavior guides | 3 | |
| Learning more about other Williams staff daily routines | 0 | |
| 3B | Better access for communication with all staff (especially for those that don’t access a computer daily) |
4 |
| Better communication between departments | 1 |
Next Scheduled Meeting, Thursday December 7, 2017, 11:00 a.m., HR Conference Room
Email any recommended agenda items to Kevin Thomas
