A special task force on University of Wisconsin System Restructuring unveiled its basic policy goals behind the system’s new Human Resources Design Project at the Capitol on Wednesday.
Alan Crist, UW System associate vice president for human resources, and Darrell Bazzell, UW-Madison’s vice chancellor for administration, presented before the Special Taskforce on UW Restructuring Wednesday to start discussions over how UW’s Human Resources Design Project differs from the HR changes occurring in the UW system.
The redesign of UW System HR department is in the second phase to overhaul the system after legislation included in the Wisconsin budget last year gave the system authority to create its own HR system outside of the state government.
A large portion of the discussion was over future compensation plans and flexibility options. Bazzell said while he did not have a direct answer to compensation plan reform, the project’s main goal would be to bring consistency to the department.
“For those of you in the Legislature, there seems to be a fairly uniform system here. In the UW System, it is very different,” Bazzell said. “What if nearly a third of your workers were operating under a set of rules that you had no ability to change or bargain with? We need to bring all our employees under one umbrella.”
When asked about what the budget for this project may be, Bazzell said people are working on their own time to develop the project and at this time did not expect any significant costs.
Bazzell also addressed UW’s design’s team’s efforts to create a more efficient HR system and said an important objective was to meet the unique needs of the Madison campus.
“Maybe it’s efficiency; maybe we might want to just call it more responsive design,” Bazzell said. “But in terms of things we can streamline, like payroll or vacation schedules, I think you’ll get some more cost savings simply by putting in more common business practices.”
Crist said according to terms laid out in the state budget, the new UW System human resources must be in place by July 1, 2013. He was confident the project would be completed on time.
When Rep. Pat Strachota, R-West Bend, asked if the project teams were using any other university models to develop the system, Bazzell said the group looked to the University of Virginia, which went through a similar process, and a number of other institutions when forming the department’s goals and policies.
Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls, asked Crist how much disparity there is among the pay between the campuses and if this is an issue that should be addressed with the payment plan.
“There was a commission that found there were significant differences between pay amongst the campuses,” Crist said. “We’re all competing in different markets, which is essentially what’s impacting the differences in those salaries.”
Crist said the project, ideally, would like to give chancellors the flexibility they need to address their compensation issues at their campuses.
He added one of the most important compensation issues for Madison would be reforming the merit pay system so exemplary work throughout the system could be rewarded appropriately.
