USAC Corner September
USAC Representatives:
Paige Farst, Jeremy Bourgoin, and Kerrie Turney
We are excited to be your University Staff Advisory Council Representatives for Group 18! Part of our role is participating in monthly USAC meetings and each of us has a subcommittee responsibility based on our interests. The USAC Corner will be a chance to share updates from these meetings so you can learn of initiatives being proposed or conversations being held that may impact the future of staff life at Vanderbilt.
Updates: September USAC meeting
Happy September from your USAC Representatives! We hope you are having a great start to the semester!
Here are a few updates:
Guest Speaker: Coach Stackhouse-
- Fall plans for basketball fans looking good right now. As we know, things can change swiftly. Coach Stackhouse wants to see more staff and their families at the games. He loves to interact with other VU fans in public, feel free to say hi if you see him in person!
HR Update: Cleo Rucker-
- Remote/Hybrid Work Policy: Continues to conduct assessments of this policy. This will include a staff survey and focus groups. Results of these assessments will be shared with the university throughout the year and assist in any decision making. More info will come out in the next few days and weeks.
- Everyone that has been assigned remote/hybrid model must complete the Oracle Learn assignment. DOS staff can find more info about that here.
Committee Updates:
Communications: Goals for this year: More engagement of staff outside of USAC – this is your chance to get more involved!! Share your staff related information to the USAC Social Media form here.
EDI: Heritage Calendar this month celebrations Rosh Hashanah. View more info here.
Events: Upcoming Proposed events: More details to come!!
- October: Homecoming Events 10/23
- November: Happy Hours
- December: Turkey Toss, Elf Program, Second Harvest (in-person and virtual)
Membership: New DOS USAC member: Kerrie Turney! Welcome Kerrie! Our group will likely be adding a few more members due to several DOS USAC members have left the university in the past few weeks. More info to come.
Staff Life: If you hear of any issues of concern from your constituents, please pass them along to us. Paige and Jeremy are on this committee so reach out to them or use the anonymous form here.
First Reading of the Parental Leave Policy Proposal:
Foundations of Proposal:
- Research shows that paid parental leave is good for all stakeholders.
- Children see health benefits both in short and long term
- Parents are given time to recover and bond
- Women benefit through higher levels of employment, future higher wages, and more equitable division of husband labor
- Employers benefit by decreased turnover, increased productive,
Current Policy:
- New parents received 2 weeks of paid parental leave at 100% pay
- Leave beyond the 2 weeks of paid leave is cobbled together from
- PTO (100% pay)
- Short term disability insurance (66.7% pay, if worker purchased buy-up)
- Unpaid Leave
- There is no university wide policy that advocate for information grant flexible work schedule, remote work or other family responsive practice for staff returning from paid parents leave
- Families where both parents work at VU must stagger the use of their paid parents leave
- There is no single point of contact for all admin tasks required to go on paid parents leave or short-term disability.
Recommendation 1:
- Increase the provision of 100% paid parental leave benefits for staff (exempt and non-exempt) from the current 2 weeks to 16 weeks.
- 16 weeks of family leave is currently allowed under federal and state laws
- VU faculty, other than those in the schools of medicine and nursing, receive one semester (roughly 16 weeks) of parents leave at 16 weeks pay.
- At 16 weeks, VU has an opportunity to be a leader amongst peer instructions.
Recommendation 2:
- Fosters a culture of support for expectant and new parents through the implementation of policies and promotion of practices that ease the transition to and from parental leave.
Recommendation 3:
- Create a single source of info for all policies and procedures related to parental leave.
- Currently, here is a complete web of departments and websites you must visit to get all info needed to prepare for parental leave.
Recommendation 4:
Enable families with two parents who are both employed by VU to take parental leave simultaneously if so desired.
Questions about the proposal? Email: sara.putnam@Vanderbilt.Edu or adam.w.mckeever-burgett@vanderbilt.edu
Next steps: Second read and vote in October. Please submit any thoughts/questions you have before October! This will be passed to VU Leaders if passed during the October vote in USAC.