Employment Policies Committee Reports on Progress

October 07, 1999

SEARCH THE GAZETTE

HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

In April 1999, President Neil L. Rudenstine appointed an Ad Hoc Committee on Employment Policies, with the charge "to review the University’s current policies with regard to its contingent workforce, and to make recomm ations as necessary." Rudenstine asked the Committee to focus "on data and analysis including demographics, total compensation, and types of jobs in light of Harvard’s existing policies and the relevant external markets." The Committee was asked that its work not disrupt the University’s collective bargaining and contractual obligations, and that its recomm ations remain consistent with such obligations.

The Ad Hoc Committee has met seven times between April and September 1999. Committee members include Professor Quinn Mills, HBS, Chair; Professor David Cutler, FAS; Professor Barbara McNeil, HMS; Professor Frank Sander, HLS; Professor James Stock, KSG; Executive Dean Paul Levy, HMS; Administrative Dean Nancy Maull, FAS; and Vice President for Administration Sally Zeckhauser. The staff to the Committee include Robert Iuliano, OGC; Polly Price, OHR; Kim Roberts, OHR; and Clayton Spencer, Office of the President. The Committee has prepared this Interim Report to inform the community of its progress and anticipated next steps.

In April, the Committee met with four students representing the Living Wage Campaign, who expressed their concern for "those who haven’t seen the benefits of the good economy." They also expressed their belief that Harvard has a responsibility as a major employer and a not-for-profit institution to take the lead in paying a living wage. They explained that, although they recognize the importance of fringe benefits to employees, the focus of their campaign is the $10 hourly wage. Later in the spring, the Chair of the Committee, the Provost, and the Dean of Students in Harvard College met with five students representing the campaign to summarize the work and progress of the Committee. The student representatives once again outlined their views and goals. Students were invited to continue to share their views with the Committee, and to submit additional materials in writing.

At a later meeting, the Committee talked with Ted Mayer, Director of Dining Services for the University, who employs many of the University’s entry-level workers. He provided details about dining service operations and costs, and helped the Committee understand the implications of creating wage rates higher than market rates. He also provided the Committee with insight about career paths of entry-level workers.

After a meeting in which the staff described the way Harvard operates and the nature of its workforce, the Committee members asked for further information on three groups of workers for discussion and careful analysis. The first group is "casual" Harvard employees, or those who work less than half time (possibly over ext ed periods) or for less than three months (up to full time in any given week). The second group is employees of outside firms doing service work on the Harvard campus. Within this second group, the Committee decided to focus its attention on service companies that have contracts of more than $50,000 per year with the University. Finally, to provide some context, particularly for the assessment of employees of external companies, the Committee also decided to acquire information on the wages and other terms of employment for the regular Harvard University employees – both full and part time – working in dining services, security, and custodial operations, all of whom are covered by the collective bargaining process.

The Committee asked for data about each group of workers and has received and assessed information about the numbers of employees in different categories, their wage rates and relevant market data, their benefit levels, their status as members of bargaining units, and their demographic profiles. Data were drawn from the University’s human resources information systems, surveys of and interviews with Harvard hiring managers, written surveys and telephone interviews with contractors doing business on the Harvard campus, external market surveys, and discussions with representatives of other large universities in the Boston area.

The Committee is still studying the data and is awaiting additional information about two categories of employees. In September, the committee staff expect to conclude telephone interviews with custodial companies working at the University. In early October, casual employees will be surveyed through a questionnaire sent to their homes. The Committee waited until October to do this survey so that the results would not be skewed by the large number of students working as casual employees during the summer. The Committee expects that survey results will be available for its analysis sometime in November.

The Committee will review this data in the context of respecting the University’s obligations to the collective bargaining process and consider many factors, such as current and future career development programs for entry-level service workers, recent issues concerning the University’s policies applicable to "casual" employees, and the University’s relationships with contractors and their employees.

A final report will be forthcoming as soon as the Committee’s work is concluded later this fall.September 27, 1999