University of Wisconsin’s Faculty Senate voted to postpone a motion that would accept the Human Resources Design Project and send it to the Board of Regents in a meeting Monday.
Members of the Faculty Senate voted to postpone the decision to accept the project which would reorganize the university’s HR system until their next meeting in December. The vote passed by 104 in favor, 55 against and two in abstention.
Secretary of the Faculty David Musolf said members expressed an interest in having more details regarding a number of issues with the HR Design Project proposal.
Musolf said before they move forward with a vote, many on the board expressed the concern that they wanted to hear the response from executives and receive more details about how the plan will move forward.
“[Those present wanted] more details about how the plan will move forward before they vote on it,” Musolf said.
Others expressed an interest in hearing the response of executive sponsors, Musolf said, adding this would include the chancellor, provost and the vice-chancellor for administration.
Member of the University Committee, Mike Bernard-Donals said much of the faculty raised questions regarding the HR framework.
During the meeting, questions raised mainly addressed provisions about relations to equity and market considerations. Bernard-Donals said the idea behind this framework is to make sure faculty are paid based on open rates.
Bernard-Donals said this issue is not only internal, but deals with equity and fairness of salaries within the university. He said it is important to make sure people are not paid at different rates for the same job within the UW faculty.
“We want to make sure rates are balanced as much as possible,” Bernard-Donals said. “The idea is to use both internal State of Wisconsin benchmarks and peer benchmarks.”
The Faculty Senate will hear more details and put the HR Design Project to a new vote at their next meeting on Dec. 3.
Bernard-Donals said at the December meeting, he hopes everyone’s questions are answered in a satisfactory manner.
Bernard-Donals said once the Faculty Senate accepts the framework for the HR Design Project, it will move to go in front of the Board of Regents.
“I hope to move ahead with the new HR framework that benefits everyone at the University of Wisconsin,” he said.
