Student Housing and Dining Services Strategic Plan2021

IX. Future Staffing Needs

Student Housing’s staffing needs during the next ten years will be greatly impacted by the transition of food service workers to University employment and the increase of students being served as a result of our capital plans. We have reviewed our current organizational structure and begun to make changes. This section describes some of the specifics of our plan which will continue to evolve over the next several years (See Appendix H).

Student Housing’s Department Leadership:

Previously the department was led by a director and four associate directors with responsibility for administration, facilities, finance and information systems and residential education. A new associate director has been added to provide leadership in the day-to-day business operations area. Focus will be on continued integration of our purchasing, accounts payable, travel and entertainment activities in keeping with campus accounting efforts. This change also allows us to refocus and expand our information systems unit, as well as to increase our long range financial planning efforts.

Publication Coordination/Website:

As online services become more the norm for business operations, coordination of our website activities has become more critical. Although we will continue to provide some paper publications, our focus will continue to be increasing communications via our website. Recent organizational changes will allow us to support our website activities and publication needs into the future.

Payroll/Personnel Office:

The conversion of food service workers to University employment results in an additional 125 career Student Housing employees. This will require additional staffing in the payroll/personnel office to address the full range of human resources services for these individuals. In particular, this new staff group typically is not familiar with online services and will require more face-to-face and one-on-one assistance for payroll and benefits related activities. In addition, we anticipate an increase of labor relations activities which will need to be shared by the human resources manager and the payroll/personnel supervisor.

Purchasing:

Our near term plan is to continue with contracted food service. However, if it is determined that dining services will be moved to self operation at some point during the next ten years, it is anticipated that an additional two FTE will be required to support purchasing activities for food. Duties would include establishing purchasing agreements, as well as transaction processing of orders. Coordination with other UC campuses and involvement with the Office of the President’s strategic sourcing plans will be key to our ability to successfully make this type of transition.

Area Offices:

It has been determined that the addition of Tercero South Phase II in 2010 and the opening of Segundo Services Center in 2011, will result in the need for an additional office coordinator. This person would have a primary office location of Tercero, but would float between the other area offices as a back up to the other office coordinators during periods of absence. The recent reorganization of the area office functions to the Residential Education unit supports the coordination of the work that flows through these administrative offices.

Residential Services:

It is difficult to assess staffing needs in this area, based on the recent efficiencies gained through technology. The increase in online services for students and their parents has resulted in greater opportunities for automated customer service responses that are not limited by the typical 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. business day. Currently, the Residential Services, Residential Education and Residential Student Accounts offices are adequately staffed with no need for additional personnel, even with the anticipated growth in residents served. The manager in this area has been asked to continue to monitor workload to determine future needs.

Facilities Services Leadership Team:

The team is currently comprised of three Assistant Directors for Maintenance, Custodial and Auxiliary & Shop Services. Discussions have begun regarding the possibility of a fourth Assistant Director for Dining Facilities Maintenance. The dining facilities maintenance position will evolve as the plan for the dining services program develops. Initially, this position will serve as the liaison with dining services with regard to facility maintenance, capital improvements and oversight for preventive maintenance. As Student Housing takes on responsibility for maintenance of all dining facilities, this position, as well as the support staff needed, will be identified.

Sustainability:

Student Housing is committed to partnering with the Davis campus to create and operate sustainable facilities. A new Sustainability Coordinator position (Analyst III) has been approved and will be recruited in the near future. This position would actively track utility usage, recommend energy efficiencies, integrate resources into TMA and collaborate with our residential education office and student interns concerning sustainability educational outreach.

Custodial Unit:

The custodial unit currently handles all of the custodial services for the residence halls and housing administrative building. There is a custodial contract in place for Orchard and Solano Parks. This contract covers apartment turns and common areas. Custodial operation for our dining facilities is managed by our management contract provider. Any changes to this model would require additional custodial staffing. The Tercero South Phase II project planned to open fall 2010, will require an estimated eight to ten additional senior custodians to service three new buildings. Segundo Services Center will require two to three additional senior custodians. Supervisory needs for these increases will also need to be evaluated.

Maintenance Unit and Minor Capital Projects:

Recruitment was just completed for a new Physical Plant Mechanic Supervisor to oversee the Cuarto and Segundo areas and to implement a new model for maintenance staff supervision and minor capital project oversight. This new supervisor will coordinate the in-house and minor capital projects occurring within the residential areas they oversee. As we assume responsibility for dining facility maintenance, one of our two current Assistant Engineers will begin supervising this activity. The remaining Assistant Engineer position will eventually be phased out as the PPM Supervisors take on these responsibilities. As Student Housing takes over full responsibility for dining facility maintenance, three physical plant mechanics will need to be hired. An additional physical plant mechanic will be needed in Tercero when Phase II is completed.

Privatized Housing:

Privatized Housing has three components: 1) liaison role with private property management staff to problem solve ground lease contract issues related to annual rate setting, facility management and student conduct; 2) liaison with university departments that provide service to privatized housing areas regarding annual costs, delivery of service and risk management issues; and 3) interaction with student tenants regarding Environmental Health and Safety inspections and violations, fire inspections and violations, event requests (Living Groups), complaints regarding privatized housing management decisions, eligibility requirements for living on campus and student conduct issues. The first two components require a high level of administrative work and are managed by the Associate Director of Business Services position. The third component can be less predictable and time consuming. An assessment is currently underway to determine the best option for placement of this responsibility within the department.

Budget Office:

This office is comprised of a Budget Manager and three administrative assistants with responsibility for budget and rate setting, accounts payable and major maintenance accounting. Currently we are considering adding an analyst to this unit to provide high level analysis and accounting support to the unit and to help manage a full transition to TMA (facilities operations management database software) to encompass inventory, preventative maintenance, capital project accounting and other facility management needs.

Computer Services Unit:

The team is currently comprised of five programmer analysts and one computer resource specialist, all directly supervised by the Associate Director. Our plans include adding a manager to direct and supervise staff and provide consulting services between users and developers for future automation and application development efforts. Student Housing’s computer centers are currently staffed by hourly student staff. In the future, we are considering adopting an unstaffed business center model. A pilot program is currently underway with camera surveillance and electronic card access installed to address security issues. The new business center model would hopefully allow for adjacencies to the Academic Advising Center so one person can serve as a customer resource. A residential computing support program is also being piloted with the goal of enhancing computer safety and security awareness, education and support for residents and monitoring and maintaining the computer centers. Between these two pilot programs, the information being collected will establish what type of program will be optimally offered in the Computer Centers in the future.

Residential Education Office (REO) Leadership Team:

The team is currently comprised of an Associate Director and four Assistant Directors. It is our assessment that the staffing is adequate for the demands of each position. Our future plans include the creation of a new Assistant Director with responsibility for Academic Development. This would prove beneficial to the department and several other campus departments. This individual would oversee the operation and collaborative efforts with the Residence Hall Advising Team, Housing’s role in the “Understanding and Navigating the Research University” Freshman Seminar, Academic Theme Programs, Advising Centers and overall academic programming in the halls. Depending on how large the campus would like to expand the aforementioned freshmen seminars, creating a new position supervised by the new Assistant Director may also prove beneficial.

REO Area Coordinator Teams (ACT):

The experience and services offered by the ACT have proven to be a valuable asset to the community and the department. Strong relationships have been formed with outside offices and faculty, aiding in the transition of first year students. At the same time, two issues have hampered the staff’s ability to focus completely on the major components of their position. These are roommate conflicts and parent interactions, which require significant amounts of staff time due to their frequency and the need for immediate response. As a result, we have hired an additional Conduct Coordinator for the Tercero area. Based on our current plans for additional beds in 2010, we anticipate an additional coordinator will be needed in that area in order to maintain a 1:400 professional staff/student ratio.

Conference Housing Office:

The Conference Housing Office is functioning well with the current staffing model. The peak time, obviously during the summer, is augmented with the hiring of student staff to assist with reservations, setup and cleanup of conference operations. The continued growth of the University Guest Residence Program (UGR), which is housed on the first floor of Manzanita in the Primero Grove area, has not yet impacted our current staffing pattern. However, as we consider expansion opportunities, we will monitor this. In the future, we will assess the possibility of expanding our operation to encompass all three floors of the Manzanita building.

Media Resource Center (MRC):

The viability of the Media Resource Center for the long term was assessed during the past several years. Through tracking, a report completed by a Davis Honors Challenge student workgroup, and conversations internally, the decision has been made that the MRC program will be reduced significantly in the coming years. An important element of this decision was determined while planning the new Segundo Services Center. The costs to establish a new MRC infrastructure and program similar to the current form were quite significant. In addition, the current underutilization of the program and assessed need for the future resulted in the inability to justify the costs. Therefore, it was decided that the Assistant Director for the Media Resource Center (SAO III) and our Senior Television Technician positions would be eliminated effective October 2009. In the future, MRC activities will only include movies, educational programming and entertainment over the four Student Housing Channels. There will also be limited equipment available to create and edit internal videos for training and educational purposes.

Programming for Apartment Residents in Orchard and Solano Parks:

There is currently a very strong program offered for both Park areas. The variety of educational and community based programs for students and their families is extremely comprehensive and lends to supporting students at UC Davis who have children. There is currently a Coordinator who lives off-site and has oversight for both of the Parks areas. In the event that position became vacant, Student Housing may choose to hire a live-in staff member for each area to provide an on-site staff member while at the same time supporting other needs within the department.

Student Judicial Affairs Officer:

This position is located in the central housing office and has functioned well over the past several years to alleviate the workload of individual Conduct Coordinators and/or the Assistant Director of Policy & Conduct, particularly at the beginning of the academic year. Although, this is beneficial, we plan to evaluate the possibility of adding more of a leadership/supervision element to the position in the future, which would create more of a promotional opportunity for existing Coordinator staff. There may also be opportunities to assist the Office of Student Judicial Affairs during their peak times by allowing the Housing SJA Officer to work 5-10 hours a week in the Dutton Hall Office.

Innovative Housing/Cooperative Living Group:

The recent organizational change to move these residents under the residential education umbrella results in programming continuity for all of our residents, as well as increased accountability for these residents. In the future, REO will be evaluating the possibility of a local or live-in staff member overseeing the area and attending evening and weekend programs and meetings. This model may also be achieved through a live-in person at Orchard or Solano Park, which is mentioned above.

Residential Education Student Staff:

Student Housing provides a significant number of student employment opportunities, particularly within the residential education unit. Significant leadership skills are gained through the experience of serving in these roles. This staffing model is working well and continues to be a great resource for residents who connect with student staff in a way that is more difficult to achieve with professional staff. As we consider future opportunities, we are committed to continually assessing how to recruit the most diverse pool of candidates possible in order to represent our resident population. We have also found that the addition of Community Assistant (RA Alternate) positions has proven to be an asset in ensuring we have backup staff in case we lose Resident Advisors during the summer or early fall. We plan to continue to hire the same number of community assistants each spring to ensure that we have a sufficient number of students available at the beginning of each year.