VP Statewide Visit Summary

VP Statewide Visits Summary

 

Orientation - We discussed the new and improved orientation process for all new employees. An email explaining all the details was distributed in January.  New employees receive a Welcome Email the day they accept our offer, they attend the UT orientation, they attend a short IPS overview and welcome in the central office on their first day of work, and each agency is updating its on-boarding process.

Handbooks - Each agency is either developing or updating its employee handbook. All will be finished by the end of February and posted on the Intranet.  Please review your agency handbook and offer suggestions for improvement.
 
APRs – We are in the midst of the review process for this year. All supervisors have received four hours of training and all staff had the opportunity to participate in a 1.5 hour overview of the process. All forms are due in the central office in March. We are starting with the assumption that all employees are scoring a three in each of the five categories of the PRS. Employees should demonstrate scores higher than three. Supervisors should demonstrate scores lower than three. We want to link individual performance to the strategic priorities of the agency, IPS and the University.

Intranet – We discussed the upcoming re-launch of our IPS Intranet. We want it to be useful for employees. The advocacy team has worked hard on the content. Please provide feedback for improvements.

 
Leadership Academy – We will launch a third IPS Leadership Academy this year. Applications will be available in the spring. Orientation will follow annual conference. The Academy will begin in late September or early October. Steve Thompson will lead session three.

Budget Outlook – the Governor’s State of the State address is February 3^rd. We’re expecting a modest budget this year, but no cuts. This is good news.

Telecommuting – we reviewed the status of the proposed IPS Telecommuting Policy. UT HR is developing a policy, so implementation of ours is delayed. In the meantime I am considering requests on a case-by-case basis.

Inclement weather – we reviewed the inclement weather policy. We will continue to review and modify it.

 
Knoxville office – no further plans are being made on the Knoxville move until the University purchases the building. That has been delayed for an indefinite period of time.

Strategic Priorities – I reviewed the three priorities the senior leadership team committed to during its winter retreat. They include (1) continuing our strategy implementation teams, (2) continuing to pursue the Baldrige process for accreditation as well as continuous improvement and (3) continuing our Employer of Choice efforts, primarily around the Employee Engagement Survey results.

There are two additional meetings scheduled February 24 and 25 in Jackson and Martin respectively. I enjoy meeting with the staff. About 40% of our staff attended one of the meetings. It's interesting to hear about all the various things going on around the state.