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Starting July 1, 2023, the University will add 16 hours of Annual Leave to the annual leave bank for non-bargaining staff. 

Two additional closure days for non-bargaining staff will be on the Fridays of fall and spring recess and occur on March 10, 2023, and Oct. 20, 2023. It is our intent that these changes will be ongoing beyond 2023. 

In accordance with our agreements, we will also have discussions with the leadership of AFSCME, MSEA, POA, and 51������-AAUP (fiscal year faculty) to reach agreement on providing additional Annual Leave and Closure Days for employees working in those bargaining groups. 

The new approach seeks to build on the spirit of the 2022 summer work schedule offered to non-bargaining staff while providing each employee with greater flexibility. While widely appreciated by many, the summer schedule was available only to non-bargaining staff and impacted our ability to offer the service expected by the community. With the addition of annual leave hours and closure days, the 2023 summer work schedule for non-bargaining employees will return to include the hours of noon to 5 p.m. on Fridays. The additional leave hours and closure days allows for summer flexibility where practical, responds to the needs of campus and empowers all employees to take personal time in a way that works best for them.

Each cabinet member would have standing office hours for faculty and staff monthly. Cabinet members would also visit departments upon their request to discuss a specific topic or topics.

Dear colleagues,

I hope you have settled into the rhythm and are enjoying a productive semester. As we enter our second month, I sense a growing sense of rejuvenation with a return to an in-person community that is feeling increasingly familiar, welcomed and normal. 

At the end of the spring semester, I shared the initial results from the Employee Engagement Survey and announced the Employee Engagement Survey Action Team of faculty and staff had agreed to work over the summer to analyze the quantitative and qualitative results and identify themes. Our colleagues did an outstanding job and the full team provided a presentation of their findings to the President’s Cabinet, which was followed by a robust discussion. Please find their presentations on the survey website. The team’s presentation was forthright, thoughtful and helpful. Please join me in thanking the Survey Action Team for their good work on behalf of all of us.

The Cabinet takes morale and the results of the survey seriously. We’ve had two additional conversations about what we have learned so far and developed our next steps. As a result of the survey, each Cabinet member has committed to improve morale as part of their performance expectations and has committed to a set of initial action steps. They have also gotten division-level results so they may look at the findings within their own areas. Over the last month or so, cabinet members have also been meeting individually with Survey Action Team members to gain a more in-depth, first-hand perspective. 

As for taking action as a full community, we have decided to create an action plan based on the three themes identified by the Employee Engagement Team: communication, transparency and appreciation. In addition, as the cabinet carefully reviewed the survey results, an important additional category emerged: value and support. We are now ready to take the next steps in our yearslong culture-building journey that began with the first survey in 2019. To that end, we have scheduled three Employee Engagement Workshops. 

You can expect active engagement at the workshops with small group activities designed to ensure a full range of perspectives about behaviors and outcomes that may improve morale. Following the workshops, we will review the input we collect to inform a measurable action plan. Because we want to make sure all employees can participate, we will offer a 7 a.m. session to provide an opportunity for those who have regular hours outside 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. or who cannot get away from their station during those hours. The sessions will be held:

• Monday, Oct. 24, 10-11:15 a.m. in the Bernhard Center North Ballroom
• Tuesday, Oct. 25, 7-8:30 a.m. in Bernhard Center rooms 208-210
• Tuesday, Nov. 1, 3-4:15 p.m. in the Bernhard Center North Ballroom

Breakfast and coffee will be offered for the early risers at the 7 a.m. Oct. 25 session. Light refreshments will be served and a brief reception will follow each session. 

I am asking for supervisors who set schedules to make adjustments that maximize opportunities for staff to attend and that you actively encourage participation from your teams. The more participation we have, the better able we will be to define success and chart a path to a strong first-choice culture. 

I look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely,

Edward Montgomery
President

Dear colleagues,

Three years ago, we launched the WMYou Employee Engagement Survey to assess our workplace culture and help measure progress on the University's strategic goals. As a result, we committed to enhancing our collaboration, communication and engagement. From that substrate grew such activities as: establishing our telecommuting and anti-bullying policies, the cross-campus teamwork propelling the Racial Justice Advisory Committee and efforts addressing various needs within vice-presidential divisions. The President's Cabinet developed its Principles of Community among its other engagement survey-inspired actions.

We also pledged in 2019 to regularly survey faculty and staff. Our commitment to doing so comes even amid an unprecedented period of challenge for employees and organizations impacted by a global health crisis, a steep recession and continued labor market upheaval. We also know that while morale isn't where any of us wants it to be, we will not waver in our efforts to advance change and improve our workplace culture. This survey is part of supporting those endeavors.

The 2022 survey’s initial results are now in hand from our vendor, ModernThink, with the full results due to us in coming weeks. Thank you to those who took the survey, which had a response rate of 52%. These initial results report on the “Top 10” and “Bottom 10” responses of faculty and staff springing from the 60-plus prompts the survey featured, such as "The work I do is meaningful to me," and "There's a sense that we're all on the same team at this University." You can find results on the Employee Engagement Survey menu item on the Office of the President website.

Next steps
As the initial results reveal, we have positive sentiments and there are other areas where we have considerable work to do. As we demonstrated in 2019, we will translate survey results into concrete actions. Collaboration, communication and engagement will guide these efforts. For example, the Employee Engagement Survey Action Team of faculty and staff formed to launch the survey will collaborate with the President's Cabinet on the response. The team has generously agreed to work over the summer to analyze the full report when it's available and identify themes. At employee forums this fall, we will determine the actions to arise from the themes identified.

But you don’t have to wait until then to provide feedback on how to improve our culture. You can submit your thoughts and ideas through a form on the Employee Engagement Survey webpage. You also can share ideas with me and cabinet members in formal and informal settings.

As we work to advance change, let us move forward with positive intent and a bias for action. By working together, I am confident we will be successful in strengthening our community in service to providing our students with the high-quality educational experience they deserve.

Sincerely,

Edward Montgomery
President

Dear colleagues,

As we work together to provide our students with a high-quality educational experience, it's also critical to foster an environment in which all employees are supported, engaged and respected for their work. To improve in those efforts, we need your perspective on how we can advance our workplace culture. Your voice matters.

This is why we are once again conducting the WMYou Employee Engagement Survey. It continues the effort we began in 2019 with the first WMYou survey and delivers on a promise that leadership made to establish a regular cadence of surveys every few years. With that promise comes a commitment to listen to the results and to take action based on what was shared.

The 2022 Employee Engagement Survey will remain open through the close of business on Monday, March 7. Later today, you will receive an email invitation to participate in the online survey from ModernThink, the independent company that will be collecting responses. Participation is confidential and responses will be recorded anonymously. Learn more about the survey

In 2019, the President’s Cabinet took on the task of reviewing and reporting the results. With this survey, results will be reviewed by a cross-campus group of individuals from many units and employee groups. This team of faculty and staff will share the findings with senior leadership and contribute to our understanding of ways for addressing the needs that are raised.   

Thank you for your investment in advancing Western Michigan University. Join me in taking the survey—we need and look forward to your feedback.

Sincerely,

Edward Montgomery
President