UK Board of Trustees Approves Work-Life and Benefits Initiatives
April 24, 2007 - Since September 2006, when the results of UK’s first comprehensive UK@Work Work-Life Culture Survey were disseminated, the campus community has been engaged in a process to identify, prioritize, and address work-life concerns in a systematic way to enhance our workplace culture.
"A Top 20 public research university provides competitive pay and benefits to its exemplary faculty and staff," said UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. "We've taken the time and received the input on campus, through the work-life initiative, to conduct a substantive analysis of where we need to improve our benefits to ensure that we recruit and retain the workforce we need to achieve our ambitious goals."
The comprehensive package of benefit and staff enhancement recommendations approved by the Board of Trustees - see highlights below! -was recommended by work-life committees composed of faculty and staff, who studied work-life issues in-depth. The committees’ recommendations are the culmination of a multi-year work-life initiative led by President Todd. This initiative incorporated direct feedback from faculty and staff surveys, as well as input from a wide array of employee organizations, including the Work-Life Advisory Council, Employee Benefits Committee, Staff Senate, University Senate, UK Work-Life and UK Human Resources. In addition, several other groups reviewed survey results to provide input and guidance. We greatly appreciate the efforts of all individuals who devoted time and energy to examine work-life issues more closely, and develop recommendations. The original reports and recommendations of the special work-life commitees are available here.
UK’s newly adopted, comprehensive work-life strategy includes the following components:
Child Care Facilities
The Board of Trustees designated two UK real properties, one on north end and one near the healthcare complex, for the construction of two child care centers, as recommended by the Work-Life Committee for Child Care. An external child care provider will construct and operate the centers, as identified with a Request for Proposals, and will likely be opened within the next two years.
North Campus: Woodland Avenue
Approximately 1.3 total acres with street frontage in the general vicinity of 457, 459, and 461 Woodland Avenue.
South Campus: University Court
Approximately 1.3 total acres accessible from University Court and located southeast of the Regulatory Services Building and northeast of Shawneetown Building A and B.
The UK Work-Life Staff and Faculty Surveys revealed that almost 40% of staff and faculty work-life survey respondents currently have children under 18 living with them. The greatest difficulty for these parents is finding reliable and quality child care. A feasibility study noted that center-based care is needed for 220-250 children under the age of 5. This does not consider the spaces available at the Early Childhood Lab, and does not include care for children of students or the future expansion of faculty and staff population. Of the 19 benchmark institutions, 17 have at minimum, a lab school, and over one third have more than one child care center. We look forward to updating the University community on this initiative in the near future!
Employee Assistance Program
The Board endorsed initiatives to enhance the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), personal counseling services related to personal or professional circumstances.
Initiatives include: Increase funding for existing services and support, add a position to the work-life office to coordinate services, support, and programs, and to provide funding for website resources. The 2007-2008 cost will be $69,000. The final proposal from the W-L Committee will not be completed until May 15, 2007.
The UK Work-Life Culture Surveys revealed the following:
Faculty respondents: ranked as #2 Most Valuable potential work-life program.
Staff respondents: 40% evaluated as being of Value and/or Great Value.
Look for more details coming soon.
Domestic Partner Benefits (now Sponsored Dependent Benefits)
The Board approved to extend UK benefits to same and opposite gender domestic partners. Eligibility would begin July 1, 2007, and eligible employees must sign an affidavit and demonstrate financial interdependence. Total projected cost may eventually be $633,216 (2006-07 dollars) by 2010. Based on enrollment at other institutions, the initial enrollment will be less and grow over time to this estimated level. This is not a new expense. The estimated cost is absorbed within the overall amount budgeted for benefits each year.
The majority of Fortune 500 companies and many of UK’s benchmarks offer comparable benefits. Local and regional companies such as Lexmark, Toyota, Ashland Oil, Lexington Herald Leader, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Ford and UPS offer domestic partner coverage. In the results from the UK Work-Life Culture Surveys, this initiative was the most frequently written comment by faculty respondents, and was also included in staff respondents’ written comments.
June 2007 Update - Sponsored Dependent Coverage
As implemented on July 1, 2007, this coverage will be replaced by broader, sponsored dependent dependent coverage, which will may provide benefits to persons who reside in an employee's household but are not relatives of the employee.
Click here for more information on sponsored dependent coverage.
Family Education Program
The Board approved a Family Education Program, which is the expansion of the educational benefits for employees to a spouse, partner or dependent. This initiative, which would cost about $4.9 million annually, would allow employees to transfer this benefit to a spouse, partner or dependent in the form a University of Kentucky tuition discount. Under the Family Education Program, the undergraduate tuition credit for a spouse, partner or dependent will vary from 10 percent to 50 percent based on the employee’s length of service at UK. For example, an employee with five years or more of employment at UK could receive a 50 percent reduction in the price of tuition for a spouse, partner or child. All eligible, regular full-time employees may choose each semester to use either the Employee Education Program benefit, or if they have been at UK for at least one year, the Family Education Program. Eligible employees may designate a partner or one dependent to receive a tuition discount for undergraduate, for credit, classes only. The discount will be applied to the student’s total undergraduate tuition and mandatory fee charges.
All Kentucky public universities and private colleges provide this benefit in some form, and several UK benchmarks provide this benefit. The UK Work-Life Culture Survey results revealed that faculty respondents ranked this program as the #1 Most Valuable potential work-life program. Staff respondents ranked this program as the #2 Most Valuable potential work-life program. This initiative was included in both faculty and staff written comments.
Click here for more information.
Career Advancement and Professional Development Program for Staff
The Board endorsed the establishment of a Career Advancement and Professional Development Program for staff. Initial steps in developing this program include a full-time career counselor for staff, financial incentives for attaining of a General Educational Development (GED) certificate, and a computer loan program for staff. The 2007-2008 Cost is established to be $330,000.
For Staff Respondents of the UK Work-Life Culture Survey, dissatisfaction was expressed with the availability of information and advancement opportunities at UK. Interesting career advancement and opportunities was ranked as the #2 reason for being attracted to UK, and ranked as the #6 reason to stay at UK. Also, 2% of the staff respondents reported they do not have a high school diploma. Several benchmark institutions have sophisticated programs in place.
Supervisory Training
The Board approved to enhance and expand supervisory training for all managers, supervisors, and department chairs, to include: creating an “employer of choice” work environment with attention to work-life support, trust, communication, respect, and recognition. The 2007-2008 cost is estimated to be $200,000.
In the UK Work-Life Culture Survey, staff respondents disagreed supervisors are effective in some dimensions. Nine of 10 manager/supervisor respondents indicated work-life training would be of Value. For faculty respondents, on a list of primary reasons to stay at UK, the most frequently selected item was: Greater assistance from chair/director to insure success of work. The results from the Best Places to Work in Kentucky survey revealed the need for sophisticated leadership and management training.
Click here for more information.
Phased Retirement
The Board endorsed a program to provide phased retirement opportunities for UK staff. The program would be similar to what is currently offered to faculty. The staff employee would work 50% FTE or more and receive full benefits. Phased retirement requires a voluntary agreement between departments and individual employees. An employee may work a maximum of five years in this program. The cost could be neutral in some cases; however departments would absorb any incremental costs from within their operating budgets.
From the UK Work-Life Culture Survey, two-thirds of the staff respondents rated this program as being of Value and/or Great Value. It was ranked as #2 in a listing of potential work-life programs.
Click here for more information.
Shared Leave Pool
The Board approved the creation of a Shared Leave Pool for staff. The pool will consist of donated Vacation Leave (VL) by regular University of Kentucky Staff employees. This pool is to be used in the event an employee suffers a catastrophic illness and exhausts all accrued paid leaves. A Shared Leave Pool Committee will review and determine contributions and distributions from the pool. The 2007-2008 cost is expected to be neutral; however in areas where staff coverage is a necessity for business operations (Hospital, clinics, PPD) over-staffing costs will exist (on-call, overtime, etc.). Staff members will be able to donate in August 2007.
This initiative was proposed by the Staff Senate as a need requested by staff members. The UK Work-Life Culture Survey results further confirmed the need to support individuals with unexpected crises and/or emergencies to help manage work-life. This program is a best practice for involving employees to help each other within the UK community. Look for more details coming soon!
