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Goal 6.0 DELIVER EFFICIENT, EFFECTIVE, AND RESPONSIVE BUSINESS SYSTEMS AND RESOURCES THAT ENABLE THE SUCCESSFUL ACHIEVEMENT OF THE LABORATORY MISSION(S)
Appendix B Volume 2, Self-Evaluation FY2006

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Objective 6.3 – Provide Efficient, Effective, and Responsive Human Resources System

Introduction/Background

Date of last assessment: October 2005

Departmental Overview:

The Human Resources Department at SLAC enables the scientific and educational mission of the Laboratory by guiding human resource matters with creativity and integrity. We provide a full range of human resource services to the organization and all of its employees. We are responsible for administering Stanford University Human Resources Policies within the SLAC environment and for assuring compliance with the Personnel appendix of our contract with the Department of Energy. The Department includes 21.5 (full-time equivalent) employees in ten functional areas, including Employment, Benefits, Labor Relations, Employee Relations, Workers’ Compensation, Personnel Records, Training & Development, International Services, Housing, and Compensation. (See the SLAC Human Resources organizational chart in Appendix A.) This assessment provides information on the provision of those services based on three Performance Criteria mutually agreed upon by SLAC and DOE.

Identification of Self-Assessment Report Staff:

Names, titles, affiliations of participants:

Lee Lyon, Director, Human Resources
Lisa Mongetta, Manager, Staffing Services

Performance Objectives and Measures:

Performance Objective: 6.3a Customer Needs
Human Resources management will monitor employee/customer feedback in order to ensure high quality service to its employees.

Performance Criteria: 6.3a
The requirements, expectations, and preferences of customers are collected and addressed.

Performance Measure: 6.3.a
Based on the analysis of survey data, the Human Resources Department will establish action plans to improve those areas that do not meet customer expectations.

Discussion:
In order to assess customer needs and satisfaction with the Human Resources Department, we asked all SLAC staff with e-mail access to respond to the following questions:

1. How well does Human Resources respond to your needs?
2. Are you treated respectfully and professionally by Human Resources staff?
3. Rate the overall Human Resources Department performance.

On each one of these three questions responding staff were asked to rate the Department on a 1-5 scale with 1 being outstanding and 5 being unsatisfactory.

In addition, all responders were asked to give their written comments to the following two questions:

1. What works well in the Human Resources Department?
2. What would you like to see improved in the Human Resources Department?

These questionnaires were distributed and collected by a non-Human Resources Department staff member who specializes in such matters. He gathered the data, collated it, and presented anonymous numeric results along with the written responses to the questions to Human Resources Department management.

Findings:
Results from our customer satisfaction survey were received from 172 (11.2%) of our population of 15034 SLAC employees; this represents about a 1% greater response rate than in 2005.

The quantitative results of this survey are displayed in Table 1. Results indicate that 83% consider Human Resources’ staff to be doing an outstanding or good job in the performance of their duties. As a point of comparison, the overall average for Human Resources Department performance was 2.2 in 1999; 2.5 in 2000; 2.2 in 2001; 1.9 in 2002; 2.0 in 2003, 1.7 in 2004, 1.8 in 2005, and 1.8 again this year. According to our customers, we have performed extremely well in providing our services during this past year.

The quantitative data is supplemented by narrative comments made by responding survey participants. In general, the Human Resources’ staff was very positively acknowledged for their responsiveness, knowledge, and caring. All of the service areas received numerous positive comments.

The feedback from the narrative question on what could be improved narrowed to two items: 1. While numerous positive comments identified our responsiveness, many of the suggestions for improvement identified the difficulty in contacting the Human Resources staff directly without getting voice mail. We will develop a more formal plan to address this issue as part of our action plans during 2007; 2. There was criticism of the communication about a reduction in the retiree medical benefit. SLAC relies on the Stanford main campus Benefits group to initiate such communication. In this case, the change was communicated only in a campus based publication called the Stanford Report. We have already addressed this issue with our staff and are now copying all such articles into our daily SLAC Today daily newsletter.

In summary, SLAC employees perceive the Human Resources Department as performing extremely well. The patterns in the comments identifying areas for improvement have been evaluated; an action plan for improving the Human Resources staff availability will be initiated and the communication issue has already been addressed.

Table 1

Performance Target:

Overall customer feedback is between 2 and 2.5 on a five-point scale, or Action Plans are implemented and measurable progress/action is taken.

Based on the target, Human Resources has earned an “A” rating in customer satisfaction, since our overall customer survey results are less than 2.

Performance Objective: 6.3b HR Systems and Processes
The Laboratory strives to provide efficient HR systems and processes.

Performance Criteria: 6.3b
Human Resource systems and processes will optimize the delivery of services with respect to quality and efficiency.

Performance Assumptions:
The system or process reviewed will be characterized in one of three ways: (1) it currently provides optimal quality and efficiency, (2) it needs improvement and a project will be initiated, or (3) it needs improvement but it is considered not cost-beneficial to initiate a project. The Laboratory will identify the status of the system when first reviewed, will report baseline data at that time, and will report the results of either the improvement or the decision to leave the system as is.

Performance Measure: 6.3b
The laboratory will evaluate HR systems and processes for improvements.

Discussion:
The Human Resources system selected for review during this self assessment period was the website which provides information to SLAC employees about Human Resource policies, processes and services and serves as the primary contact point for external applicant for SLAC positions

Background:
For nearly all organizations, their web presence has become an important part of their business communication. This is especially true in Human Resources; employees frequently look to the web for information regarding HR issues and applicants interested in employment at the Lab rely extensively on our web site for job and application information.

The SLAC Human Resources website had not been upgraded (except for routine maintenance) in several years. Two events stimulated our selection of this as a project for this year: the SLAC overall web site had undergone significant change to reflect the new program direction for the Lab and our Human Resources presence on the web was not as robust or current as we would like.

Actions Taken:
The Human Resources website renovation was identified as a necessary project to update the look and feel as well as make the website more user friendly for web traffic. The web site hosts had received input that the website was difficult to navigate. First, Corrine Purcell, the HR website owner and Erin Shatara, the back up, worked with the SLAC Web Information Manager to create an updated layout and color scheme consistent with the new SLAC version being used. Next, Corrine and Erin worked with the Human Resources staff and managers to update the individual web pages and delete unnecessary pages. Part of this process included identifying all web pages that needed to be moved to the internal server, where only those with SLAC NT accounts could access them.

On June 6, 2006, the website was locked for renovation. During this time, Ruth McDunn and her staff reformatted the existing and updated pages to fit into the format. The new version of the website was launched and announced on August 28, 2006. Since this time, the web site owners have received favorable feedback on the ease of navigation and the appealing new look.

Performance Target:
One or two major systems/processes are reviewed annually. Analysis against baseline data demonstrates clear improvement, or the System/Process is streamlined, enhanced or eliminated.

Based on this performance target, we rate our performance as “B+” on the basis that the needed improvement was identified, changes were made, and those that were implemented contributed to the desired results: Feedback from employees who use the website has been favorable.

Performance Objective: 6.3c Attraction and Retention of Qualified People
SLAC will attract and retain highly qualified employees, especially PhD-level scientific staff and faculty, by offering competitive salaries and by maintaining a work environment which minimizes undesirable turnover.

Performance Criteria: 6.3c(1) In Hire Compensation
For the best identified candidate for each posted position, SLAC will offer total compensation competitive in the local market and consistent with internal equity.

Performance Measure: 6.3c(1)
SLAC will offer an in-hire total compensation package sufficient to assure a positive offer acceptance rate for posted positions.

Discussion and Results:
SLAC Staffing Services made offers during FY 2006 to 198 applicants for positions at SLAC. Of those 198 offers, 23 were declined – 15 for compensation reasons. The others declined for various other reasons. The data indicate, therefore, that our offers were accepted 89.4% of the time overall and that 7.6% were declined for compensation reasons. We can conclude that SLAC and Staffing Services were successful in making offers that candidates found attractive. Although this acceptance rate earns us a B+ rating for this evaluation period, it is also clear that the hiring market is changing and that salary is becoming a more common consideration for our applicants. This is highlighted by the fact that last year only 2% of our declines were for salary reasons. We will continue to carefully monitor this development.

Performance Target:
In-hire compensation package assures 85% acceptance rate.

Based on the above performance target, SLAC has earned a “B+” rating on this measure.

Performance Criteria: 6.3c(2) Attraction and Retention of Staff
SLAC turnover, defined as the departure of any benefits eligible employee from SLAC for any reason, will be compared to the annual turnover for all of the remainder of Stanford University.

Performance Measure:
The SLAC work and work environment will be sufficiently attractive that total turnover at SLAC will be less than the total turnover on the Stanford University campus.

Findings:
The annual turnover rate for Stanford University, excluding SLAC, for FY 2005-2006 was 1344 terminations from an average population of 8737 for a turnover rate of 15.4%. During this same time period, the overall turnover rate for SLAC was 8.4%.

Discussion:
The SLAC turnover rate for this fiscal year was lower than that of the main Stanford campus by 45%. We attribute this difference to the combination of the intrinsic nature of the work we perform at SLAC and to the work environment that exists here at the laboratory.

Performance Target:
SLAC turnover (i.e., departure of any benefits eligible employee from SLAC for any reason) is lower than Stanford University by between 15% and 24%
Based on the performance target, we have earned an “A+” on this performance measure.

Performance Criteria: 6.3c(3) Attraction and Retention of Staff
SLAC will provide a work and scientific environment that will facilitate the retention of PhD-level scientific staff and faculty at the Laboratory.

Performance Measure:
The annual turnover rate, excluding voluntary retirements, for PhD physicists and engineers will be between 5 and 9%.

Findings:
The annual turnover rate for SLAC PhD physicists and engineers for fiscal year 2006 was 5.2%.

Discussion:
The turnover rate of 5.6% for SLAC PhD physicists and engineers is lower than last year’s 10.6% rate. We are pleased that we have been able to retain so many of our PhD-level staff and attribute this in part to the fact that many of them are working on cutting edge projects, including GLAST, LCLS, EXO, and numerous particle and particle astrophysics experiments.

Performance Target:
The SLAC turnover rate for PhD physicists and engineers is between 5% and 9%.

Based on the above performance target, SLAC Human Resources has earned only “A” in this category.

2006 Customer Satisfaction Action Plan Results:

Even though our 2005 Customer Survey did not reveal any major problems, we did establish two areas of focus for this last year:

• We will evaluate the training registration and reimbursement process and make changes as appropriate, and
• We will attempt to increase our person-to-person availability to our customers and reduce the number of calls that go to voicemail.

For item number one above, we took advantage of an ongoing project regarding the process. The SLAC Training System was a collaborative project involving the Environmental Safety & Health (ES&H), Human Resources (HR), and Business Services (BSD). The aim of the project was to create a centralized online gateway for SLAC training needs in addition to creating new systems for handling registrations and registration payments and reimbursements. It was an effort to combine resources and reduce the number of duplicate systems handling training information as well as update older systems that could not be improved.

The first version of the SLAC Training System was put into production on March 31, 2005. The programmer working on the system left SLAC after this migration occurred and was unable to respond to fixing system glitches and other problems that were identified by users of the system. Over the course of October 1, 2005 to January 31, 2006, a clear list of necessary fixes and upgrades were identified by the primary stakeholders. On February 1, 2006, a programmer was contracted to work through that list. The majority of the fixes were implemented within two months. The remaining fixes and upgrades without other system interdependencies were completed by July 28, 2006.

In addition to online system changes, a second HR staff member has been trained and is now successfully processing training disbursements. This has increased the number of people available to assist customers on training registration fee disbursement issues to two, allowing for better customer service and back-up coverage for the process.

For the second action item above, we simply reminded staff that our customers had identified our availability as something that could be improved; we did not develop specific action plans to achieve that improvement. You will see from our 2007 action plans that this is still an issue. This time we will develop a specific set of actions/behaviors designed to improve our availability.

2007 Customer Service Action Plans:

Even though the department’s overall customer satisfaction remains very high, in the spirit of continuous improvement, we plan during this next assessment period to address one issue that was identified as needing improvement:

• The Department will develop an action plan to improve our person-to-person availability during 2007. Success will be indicated by a significant reduction in the number of critical narrative feedback comments on this subject obtained from our survey question, “What would you like to see improved in the Human Resources Department?”

Operations Overview:

SLAC’s DOE Human Resources contact requested that we include information on the Laboratory’s actions in response to the changes in the Fair Labor Standards Act made recently.

As a reminder, the classification issues surrounding exempt status are managed by the Compensation staff at Stanford University. SLAC Compensation staff participated in many meetings on this topic. At this point, the University has not changed any classifications from exempt to nonexempt. We remain in contact and will continue to participate in whatever work groups they organize.

When the new FLSA minimum (regardless of percent time) was increased to $28,080/year, we reviewed every exempt salary at SLAC to be sure that we were paying our exempt employees sufficiently. We were particularly concerned that part-time employees might slip under this minimum. We were prepared to either raise the salaries or convert to nonexempt status any individual that did not meet this threshold. Stanford Graduate Students were not part of this process since they are not considered employees and they received a stipend connected with their education (and they get a tuition benefit as well).

The one category that was complicated was the 'visiting' invited scientist group. In these cases, individuals are coming, often for short periods of time, from a home institution and returning to that institution after their visit at SLAC. They are expected to be supported by their home institution, but the amounts can vary widely. We sometimes provide salary supplements to these individuals and they can be very small, e.g. $500/month. We modified our process to ensure that the combination of money from the home institution plus the SLAC supplement would exceed $28,080/year. We also changed our offer letter to document this threshold; in it we ask the recipient to contact us if our understanding is incorrect.

There were no other active individuals below the $28,080 threshold. In general, we are conservative and do not use exempt status for temporary jobs, preferring to use Temporary Employee - Nonexempt and Casual Employee.

Overall Summary:

In this assessment period, Human Resources believes that it has earned two B+s, two As, and an A+ based on the performance targets and has an overall “A” rating.

Appendix A to Objective 6.3, HR System

Performance Objective: 6.3d
Increase diversity in the workforce through participation of minorities and women in feeder programs. Such feeder programs would serve students at various educational levels including post-high school (Youth Opportunity Program), two year training institutions (Work Study Program), four year colleges (Science Internship Program), and graduate level (Graduate Engineering for Minorities).

Performance Criteria: 6.3d(1)
Increase in diversity within each of the feeder programs and an increase in participation by technical employees in hosting minorities and female students in their respective departments.

In 2006, we continued to partner with a SLAC consultant who helps to identify talented minorities and women for our feeder programs at educational levels ranging from recent high school graduate to graduate enrollment. We had nine participating departments in special programs. This year we added two new departments*. The following is a current list of participating departments:

• Accelerator Systems Administration
• Controls and Power Engineering Site Services/Maintenance
• Controls and Power Engineering I&C Systems Engineering*
• Controls and Power Engineering Systems Engineering
• Environmental Safety & Health Protection
• Linear Collider Detector
• Mechanical Fabrication Administration
• Power Conversion Engineering*
• Scientific Computing and Computing Services

Special Programs

a. Graduate Engineering for Minorities (GEM)

As a charter member of the GEM program (see Section VII.C. for description), SLAC continues to actively partner with the Consortium to create a pipeline for minorities in the mechanical and electronic engineering fields. GEM fellows are automatically considered for positions in engineering at SLAC. This year, we hosted a total of five GEM fellows. This indicates an increase in program participation from 2005, when 100% (4) were minority students and 25% (1) was female.

b. Work Study Program (WSP)

SLAC has an internship program that allows individuals opportunity to receive individualized on-the-job skills training primarily in technical fields. This year, we had 4 participants, of which 100% (4) were minorities, and 25% (1) was female. We extended the term of a Chemical Engineering minority intern with hopes of finding a regular ongoing position for this employee. This position is jointly funded by the Affirmative Action Office and the Environmental Health and Safety Division. Overall in 2006, we had an increase in program participation as compared to 2005, when we had two participants, one minority male and one minority female.

c. Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI)

Through the SULI program, students who are traditionally underrepresented in the sciences are recruited and encouraged to pursue their interests in scientific fields. Of 22 participants this year, 27.3% (6) were minority students and 54.5% (12) were female students. In 2006 there was a decrease in minority participation and increase in female participation as compared to 2005, when there were 50% minority and 50% female participation.

d. Youth Outreach Program (YOP)

Through the YOP program, summer employment opportunities are offered to local, disadvantaged youth between the ages of 16 and 22. Of 3 participants this year, 100.0% (3) were minorities and 66.7% (2) were female. In 2006, there was a slight decrease in program participation as compared to 2005, when there were 5 participants total, of which 80% (4) were minority and 40% (2) were female.

Performance Objective: 6.3e Build scientific diversity through collaborative partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Institutions serving minorities and women. For example, a faculty member from a Historically Black College is invited to SLAC by a faculty member from Stanford University to work on a collaborative project. This experience enables the faculty member to return to his/her College or Institution with a much more state-of the-art understanding of what is happening in the physics field and to share this understanding with their respective students. More importantly, this experience provides the sending institution ongoing access to the field of physics and the faculty members at Stanford University, which is very important for future discussion and relationships between the two institutions and which further enhances minority and female student opportunities at SLAC.

Performance Criteria: 6.3e(1)
Number of collaborative slots allocated to Historically Black Colleges and Institutions annually to maintain ongoing relationships between SLAC and HBCI.

Although the faculty exchange program that was initiated in 2002 has proven successful, we were unable to obtain funding for the program this past year due to budget cuts at Department of Energy. We continue to pursue funding and look forward to inviting and placing more visiting professors from Historically Black Colleges and Universities at SLAC as soon as funding is secured either from DOE or from a new funding source.