USAC's annual SCBC report gives guidance on University policies

By Susan Wittstock, onCAMPUS staff

Issues related to work/life, compensation and health care were the focus of the 2002-03 Staff Compensation and Benefits Committee (SCBC) report, presented to President Karen Holbrook and other senior administrators Feb. 3. SCBC, a sub-group of the University Staff Advisory Committee (USAC), presents the report annually to provide executive leaders with an overview of benefits and policies recommendations that staff consider top priorities.

Benefits for household dependents and domestic partners, parking and educational assistance also were on the agenda for this year's SCBC report, as were alternative leave options and child care.

"You have presented me with a very, very thoughtful report that thoroughly covers a number of important issues,"Holbrook said. "I have read it carefully and thank you all for an excellent job."

Work/life

Kristy Baker, who served with Eva Banks as SCBC co-chair, presented administrators with an outline of the report's findings. "It must be realized that an employer of choice not only provides an exceptional place to work, but also acknowledges and supports the fact that employees have a life and obligations outside of the workplace,"she said.

SCBC gave its support to the recommendations made in last year's Report of the Presidential Commission on Staff Development and Work Life, endorsing the subsequent action plan, the hiring of a program director for work/life in the Office of Human Resources, and the current work/life survey of faculty.

Larry Lewellen, associate vice president for human resources, credited USAC for its role in bringing work/life issues forward as an institutional priority, and offered continued support from his office. "This is such a straightforward section to agree with,"he said. "Human Resources and USAC have a completely shared agenda."

Compensation

SCBC recommendations regarding compensation emphasized the role that salary plays in staff retention, as well as the need for regular performance reviews to ensure that pay raises are based not only on market benchmarks, but on merit.

Administrators expressed support for increasing salaries, but noted that the tight economy and the state of Ohio's budget constraints will make the University's compensation goals difficult to achieve.

"The problem for us is -- as a state-assisted institution -- budget cuts trickle down,"said William Shkurti, senior vice president for business and finance. "The good news is we have a governor who stuck his neck out for us. He has proposed to exempt higher education from the next round of budget cuts."

However, Shkurti cautioned, the governor's plan requires legislative approval, which is not guaranteed at this point. In addition, the governor has told state employees that under his budget plan, their wages would be frozen for two years. "Many of our staff make less than state employees in similar job classifications,"Shkurti said, "and all of our faculty and staff received minimal raises that were less than those provided to state employees two years ago, so hopefully we can still get where we need to be in what will be a very difficult financial and political environment."

Ed Ray, executive vice president and provost, said compensation and other goals may require the University to realign the uses of current limited resources. "In some sense, the easiest way to do this is to eliminate positions where vacancies exist, rather than make hard decisions about activities we're going to stop,"he said. "Maybe there are operating areas where we have duplicate activities or where we're placing too many resources. We might be best served by eliminating some activities and shifting people into other, under-served areas."

Robert Meier, chair of USAC, reiterated the SCBC report's recommendation that every effort be made to avoid eliminating staff positions. "If you cut staff and still have to keep some tasks, the remaining staff have to pick up the slack. If you change the procedure, though, you can get a lot more accomplished,"he said.

Ray also said he agrees that every unit in the University should regularly carry out performance reviews. "This shouldn't have to be a recurring theme,"he said. "I don't want to indict the system as a whole, but there really isn't any excuse for any area not to have a system in place or a process beginning for performance reviews.”

Health care

A sizable number of SCBC's recommendations focused on health care. Quality health care that is affordable and widely available continues to be a top concern of staff, SCBC leaders told administrators. The report recommended and commended on-going evaluations of the University's health plans, encouraged incentives for wellness activities, requested the restoration of an around-the-clock helpline for health plan members, and urged increases in the financial coverage provided for dental and vision benefits to adjust for inflation.

Recommendations regarding coverage for faculty and staff outside of central Ohio were greeted with affirmations. Lewellen said the University has already taken steps to partner with a network provider, Medical Mutual of Ohio, to serve regional campus and Extension employees, beginning sometime later in 2003 or early in 2004.

Lewellen emphasized that staff will continue to be consulted as health plan decisions are made. "I think SCBC's point about educating staff on our findings and recommendations is going to be a big part of this year's deliberations. As we consider new designs and options, we need to build awareness of the choices being considered."

It comes down to setting priorities, Ray said. "Some of the recommendations have practical implications and others have cost implications. We will need to do some consulting to see which items are the most important to pursue at this point in time,"he said.

Household, partner benefits

SCBC recommended that University employees' household dependents, such as elderly parents, be given access to Ohio State health benefits and that domestic partners be given comprehensive benefits.

Holbrook indicated her support for extending access to University health care. "I do think we will see it happen much sooner rather than later,"she said. "A number of things have come into play to keep it from happening just yet, but I think the support is building among the trustees."

Other recommendations

Highlights from additional SCBC recommendations from the report include:

• Parking: the creation of an oversight committee to re-evaluate current funding trends and expectations accompanying significant increases in annual parking costs;

• Educational assistance: a reduction in the three-year waiting period for tuition eligibility for the dependents of newly hired staff to one year;

• Communications: the creation of a clearinghouse for information to provide employees a single location to begin a search for information;

• Alternative leave options: the exploration of alternative leave options providing flexibility to respond to the multiple needs of staff; and

• Child care: the continued expansion of childcare facilities both on and off campus.

  A report card, listing all previous recommendations by SCBC and the status of their implementation, will be completed by spring and presented to senior administrators. Last year's report card showed that 43 percent of past recommendations have been moved forward, Meier said.

To view the entire SCBC report, visit www.acs.ohiostate.edu/org/usac/SCBC/SCBC.html.

Review process continues for STRS health care benefits

By Susan Wittstock, onCAMPUS staff

The health care committee of the State Teachers Retirement System board is still in the process of reviewing health care benefits, with changes for 2004 expected to be announced in the next few months. In an effort to sustain a health care fund under serious strain, STRS is considering several measures, including increasing the years of service needed for health care coverage eligibility and reducing the coverage provided to dependents and spouses.

Several channels are now available to address the concerns of affected constituencies, including approximately 3,600 Ohio State faculty.

"This will have a significant effect on the retirement decisions of many faculty. More people may be delaying retirement because they are worried about how to fund health care,"said Larry M. Lewellen, associate vice president for human resources. "I'm especially worried about those who are already retired or are close to retirement."

For individual members, STRS has organized forums across the state to give teachers and faculty the opportunity to learn more about proposed changes. The Columbus session will be from 1-3 p.m. March 1 at STRS Ohio, 275 E. Broad St. To register, call (888) 227-7877.

That session also will be broadcast live via the Web at www.strsoh.org. Viewers are asked to register by Feb. 27 by clicking on the "Health Care Webcast Registration"link on the STRS Web site.

Herb Dyer, executive director of STRS Ohio, said the forums are necessary to educate STRS members.

"Investment losses and double-digit inflation in health care costs have dramatically cut into the projected span of time over which the (STRS) board can forecast it will be able to help retirees with the cost of their care,"Dyer said. "We had felt that retirees and actives near retirement did not understand the predicament we are in. Far too many members had not noticed our continuing reference to the fact that help with the cost of health care is neither advance funded by employers nor guaranteed by the Legislature."

At the institutional level, Ohio State has joined with other public universities, school system administrators, community colleges, retiree associations, teachers' unions and the AAUP to form an alliance called the STRS Advocates for Healthcare.

Statewide, there are 206,331 active STRS members and 101,619 inactive members. Currently, there are 105,300 individuals receiving either retirement or disability benefits.

STRS Advocates for Healthcare, which began meeting in late 2002, is independently reviewing proposed changes and making recommendations.

"It's an interesting alliance of unions and administrators, all with a common interest in adequate and affordable health care,"Lewellen said. "We are all meeting together to try to assist STRS with these difficult decisions."

Lewellen is co-chair of the alliance with Bill Leibensperger, secretary/treasurer of the Ohio Education Association.

A sub-committee of the alliance is comprised of individuals with health care expertise: Jeff Walters, executive director of Managed Health Care Systems at Ohio State; Gregg Gascon, national health care expert for the Ohio Education Association; John Abraham, national health care expert for the American Federation of Teachers; Tom Mooney, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers; and Lewellen.

"STRS has been extremely good about giving us all the background on financial plans and all of their information from constituents. They've been very open,"Lewellen said. "We're still in the process of analyzing that information and determining initial recommendations to STRS. Longer-term recommendations will need to involve broader discussions with universities, faculty, teachers and school systems."

STRS is between a rock and a hard place, Dyer said. "Changes must be made on Jan. 1, 2004 that will mean higher costs to retirees and less benefits. It is the only way to keep a plan in place for today's retirees that does not eliminate our ability to offer some help for the next generation of retirees,"he said.

If no changes were made, the current health care fund would be depleted by 2008.

Potential changes for implementation beginning Jan. 1, 2004 include:

• New retirees and others not already enrolled may need 10 or 15 years of service credit, instead of the five years currently needed, to purchase health care coverage through STRS.

• Retirees with less than 15 years of service may pay 100 percent of health care premiums for themselves and their dependents.

• All spouses and dependents may pay 100 percent of health care premiums.

• Members who retire in 2004 or later may pay 100 percent of their health care premium until they reach age 60.

Although STRS is not required by the Legislature to provide health care, Dyer stressed that STRS is committed to providing access.

"The retirement board has said it will absolutely continue its best efforts at guaranteeing access to a good health care insurance plan to eligible retirees and their dependents,"he said.

To help ensure protection of the STRS pension fund, the faculty contribution rate will be raised July 1 from 9.3 percent to 10 percent, the maximum under Ohio law. Also effective July 1, STRS has reduced the allocation of employer funds to the health care plans from 4.5 percent to 1 percent, with the difference going to the pension fund.

Additional changes beyond 2004 are expected, Lewellen said. "The more you delve into it, there's a very serious problem with funding retiree health care and there's no relief in sight,"he said. "Ohio State will continue to be a part of this process. We will keep faculty informed and continue discussions with Faculty Council and the Faculty Compensation and Benefits Committee."

Changes announced for new hires only for OPERS health care benefits

Significant changes for all members likely in 2005 plan year

By Susan Wittstock, onCAMPUS staff

The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System has not made any announcements regarding future plan changes in health care benefits for members hired before Jan. 1, 2003.

"They are still in the initial stages of going through this review process. They had focus groups fall quarter and plan to have additional focus groups during spring quarter,"said Susan Marsico, associate director of benefits for human resources. "OPERS will be concentrating on four main categories during this review process: eligibility provisions, plan design, contributions and policy/cost containment issues. Definitely some significant changes will need to happen, but these most likely will not begin until the 2005 plan year. Since OPERS has a much larger health care trust fund reserve balance than STRS has, they are currently planning to phase in the changes over a longer time frame."

A new health care plan, the Choices Plan, is being designed for all employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2003. New employees who have previously contributed to OPERS, however, will be placed in OPERS' original health plan.

Under the Choices Plan, staff will be allotted a monthly amount, based on service credit, to purchase health care coverage. Choices will be administered as a cafeteria plan, meaning participants will select from a number of insurance choices, with multiple levels of medical, prescription, vision and dental coverage.

Employees with 10 years of service will receive 25 percent of the maximum monthly allocation. With each additional year of service between 10 and 30 years, the allocation amount will increase. Those with 30 years of service will receive 100 percent of the maximum allocation.

Allocation funds not used in any given month will be rolled into a benefit recipient medical account. If the cost of coverage exceeds the monthly allocation, the difference will be deducted from the recipient's pension benefit.

Because this is a new plan and participants are not eligible to receive health care benefits for 10 years, the specific plan offerings are still under development. In the meantime, though, disability benefit recipients and survivor benefit needs will be accommodated.

Just as with STRS, there is no legislative requirement for OPERS to provide health care benefits.

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