Daily Bulletin

Wednesday, September 17, 1997

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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New form for assessing staff

Five "values" are at the core of how staff members will have their performances appraised in future, under a proposed form that's being previewed this week by staff association members. The new appraisal form is reproduced in the September issue of the association's newsletter, along with a memo asking for comments by September 30.

It was devised by the advisory committee on staff compensation in an effort, the memo says, to find "what changes might better meet the needs of both managers or supervisors reviewing other staff members' performance, or as a staff member receiving a performance appraisal".

If the new form is adopted before appraisals are due next spring, all staff will be assessed on the five core factors:

client service,
collegial relationships,
communication,
"taking the initiative to make things better",
job knowledge.

In addition, "factors relevant to the position" would be selected from a list that includes "achievement of goals and objectives", "managing change", "problem solving", "team participation", "time management" and others. (Says the memo: "The selection of the optional factors will be mutually agreed on between the manager and staff member.")

The new form doesn't include boxes for numerical ratings on the traditional 1-to-5 system, by which "1" means a staff member is in big trouble while "5" is "reserved for those few individuals whose exceptional performance is recognized by all". Instead, the memo explains, "the ratings section provides a more descriptive list from which to choose and will be by check-box only rather than a number". The proposed form shows 11 possible ratings, ranging from "Performance was significantly below job requirements in several important areas" through "Performance met job requirements" up to "Exceptional performance in all areas of the job requirements which is recognized throughout the Department/Faculty or broadly throughout the University".

Says the memo: "The check-box does correspond to a numerical rating based on the 1 to 5 scale but this will not appear on the form. This has been done in the interests of providing a review less directed towards the end number and, it is hoped, with more emphasis on constructive discussion than final rating.

"With more choices of performance assessment is may also have the effect of moderating the gradually increasing overall average rating (approximately 4.17 in 1997)."

Jobs are on bulletin boards

That's right: interviews for winter term co-op jobs are just around the corner, as posting #1 of job possibilities goes up at 10:00 this morning. Interviews will start Monday, October 6. Students looking for winter term jobs are reminded that they must hand in a copy of their resumé package by this Friday, at Needles Hall.

And how much might a co-op student hope to earn on one of those jobs, anyway? Depends on the student's year and discipline, obviously, but figures from the co-op department show weekly salaries that could be as low as $150 (for some beginning students in applied health sciences) or as high s $800 (for some final-year students in actuarial science). An average engineer on the third work term would be taking in $532 a week; a math student on the fifth work term, towards the end of a UW career, would average $593.

Software available on CD-ROM

Here's a note of interest to people who use computers -- not, unfortunately, those of us with Macs, but the PC majority. It comes from Carol Vogt, who heads the newly organized Electronic Workplace Group in information systems and technology:

A lot of the software you want on your home PC is available for download from PC Depot, or elsewhere on the Internet. Unfortunately that can sometimes be quite time consuming over a modem. For example, the full Netscape Communicator is almost 14 megabytes in size, and is estimated to require almost an hour to download on a 28.8 modem.
As a convenience to our Windows 95 users. IST has created a CD containing many of the software packages everyone wants at home. Some of this software is not freeware, but have been licensed for UW students, faculty and staff. The CD is available from the CHIP, MC 1052, at a cost of $15, which includes the cost for licensed copies of McAfee VirusScan and WinZip. The following software is on the CD: Netscape Communicator, Eudora Light, McAfee VirusScan, WsFtp, NewsXpress, Synchronize, WinZip, Adobe Acrobat Reader, QuickTime Plug-in

More information is available on an IST Web page.

More chances to volunteer

Here are some opportunities listed this week by the local Volunteer Action Centre:

French-speaking visitor for "a lonely resident in a Kitchener seniors' home" -- "a female volunteer with good social skills and an understanding of beginning dementia who is able to visit twice a week".
Receptionist, three hours a week, for a counselling agency in Kitchener.
Volunteers interested in "helping raise awareness and understanding" of international development, to help with special events, displays and talks for Unitarian Service Committee of Canada.

For more information, the VSC can be reached at 742-8610.

And there will be many more volunteer opportunities right on campus, at a Volunteer Fair scheduled for next Tuesday, September 23, in the Student Life Centre. It's jointly sponsored by the Student Volunteer Centre and UW's office for persons with disabilities.

Who knows . . . you could be on your way to one of those newly announced awards for student volunteer service.

Happening today, coming soon

John Ousterhout of Sun Microsystems speaks at 1:30 today on "Scripting: Higher Level Programming for the 21st Century" (Dais Centre room 1302).

Renison College has announced this year's East Asian Festival, to be held October 1-4.

A job fair October 1 at Bingemans Conference Centre in Kitchener is sponsored by UW and several other post-secondary institutions, and promises "an opportunity to network with potential employers, research career options and obtain information about career opportunities, job requirements, salary expectations, industry growth, educational requirements, industry trends, corporate culture, skills and qualifications straight from the employer".

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY September 17, 1992: Instruction sessions begin to show staff, faculty and students how to use the new UWinfo gopher.

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca -- (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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