Napolitano participates in Google Hangout with UC staff

University of California President Janet Napolitano met with a panel of five UC employees in a Google Hangout Wednesday to discuss issues ranging from campus climate to compensation and benefits.

The webchat, which is the second in a series taking place this year, is part of Napolitano’s attempt to provide for direct dialogue between herself and UC staff members.

“It’s just one of the ways to listen and to understand the concerns of the UC community,” said UC spokeswoman Dianne Klein.

Panelists, chosen through a nomination process, represented various UC campuses. There was one representative from UCLA in the webchat, UCLA Community Programs Office Advisor Mia Watson.

Live-streamed to the public, the webchat also allowed audiences who were signed in with their Google accounts to share their questions and concerns in a comments section prior to or during the Hangout.

Donna Coyne, UC Santa Barbara associate director of admissions, raised the first concern in the webchat about establishing equitable compensation for staff.

“Staff really (believe) that staff doing equal work are not being paid the same across campuses,” she said.

Napolitano said that the UC, though it does not use a common uniform system to determine salaries, is working to ensure fair compensation across the campuses, but did not specify how.

The panelists also discussed staff professional advancement. Sarah Woodside, associate college administrator officer at UC Santa Cruz, raised the concern that there were not enough opportunities for staff to advance in their careers within the UC.

In response, Napolitano said she plans to implement a UC-wide system to alert people of job opportunities within the University, not just within employees’ departments but across their campus and the rest of the UC.

“It will be difficult, but I think we ought to have it,” Napolitano said.

An viewer asked Napolitano if she anticipates other changes to the UC Retirement Plan benefits.

Employee contributions to the UCRP are set to increase to 8 percent for employees hired before June 30, 2013 and 7 percent for those hired after July 1, 2013 because of the UCRP’S low investment returns over the past five years.

Napolitano said she does not anticipate any more increases to employee contributions apart from the July increase.

Susan Forstat, UC San Francisco health care facilitator, also brought up the issue of working remotely and whether it could be incorporated more into UC work life. Napolitano said she was interested in identifying staff jobs that would be appropriate for working remotely.

“I think there’s real appeal to looking at some of these different work methodologies moving forward, particularly with the young generation,” she said.

Before the chat, Watson said she was excited to have the opportunity to hear Napolitano’s thoughts and engage with the public. But some employees thought the efforts to engage with staff were not far-reaching enough.

Edwin Batres, meeting room captain, said he knew some employees who would not be able to watch the webchat, because English is not their first language. He added he did not know the webchat was happening.

Todd Stenhouse, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3299 union, the largest union representing UC workers, said he was also unaware of the Google Hangout.

“I’m surprised that the endeavor is to elicit feedback from staff,” Stenhouse said. “They failed to notify the largest employee union in the system.”

Napolitano concluded the webchat by reiterating the University’s need to find “more financially stable footing.”

“There’s never enough money, ever. We have to figure out how to best accomplish our mission with the resources that we have,” Napolitano said.