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Working Groups

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The Working Groups within the Staff Senate provide an avenue through which a group of Senators can do a deep dive into a specific area of concern for all staff. The desired outcomes from the working groups are:

  1. A greater understanding of the area of focus.
  2. Motions and/or recommendations proposed to the Staff Senate to address issues that have been identified.

The President and President-Elect, with input from the Executive Committee, will determine the Working Groups for each year based on the most pertinent needs for all staff.

  • The Staff Survey Working Group, was established during the 2018-2019 academic year with the goal to survey the SCU staff to ensure that the work of the Staff Senate is representative of the concerns of the community it serves. A survey is conducted every 2-3 years and acts as a key instrument in shaping the agenda of the Staff Senate. In March 2022 the Staff Senate Survey Working Group conducted a survey of staff and shared the final report and results with the entire SCU community in July 2022. The common themes throughout the report were employee retention, compensation, and benefits. 
  • The Anti-Racism Working Group: Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) - The Staff Senate continues to support the seven Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that were instituted in spring of 2021. These ERGs continue to provide a venue for staff to come together and grow as a community at a personal and professional level. All of the ERGs continue to assess staff bandwidth and backup support resources in order to develop a sound and sustainable plan for engagement and execution. The Staff Senate offers financial assistance with ERG programming. For more information visit: https://www.scu.edu/staffsenate/staff-ergs/
  • The Constituent Engagement Group focuses on developing tools and resources for all Senators to engage with one another and their constituents, solicit feedback and share with the Senate and all staff. Continuing the momentum of the Constituent Engagement Working Group, the Staff Senate
    Executive Committee opened the Staff Senate Orientation to all staff with the hopes of informing
    staff about shared governance and igniting active participation in the Senate as senators, committee
    members, working group members, or liaisons to university committees.
  • The Anti-Racism Working Group has a key role in educating and creating community amongst communities of color and marginalized members on campus. The Group is broken into three subcommittees:     
    • Policy and Recommendations 
    • Outreach and Employee Resource Groups (ERG) 
    • Education and Professional Development
  • The Staff Benefits Working Group focuses on improving staff’s awareness of what benefits are available and reviewing the Staff Policy Manual.
  • The Constituent Engagement Group focuses on developing tools and resources for all Senators to engage with one another and their constituents, solicit feedback and share with the Senate and all staff.
  • The Diversity and Inclusion Working Group continued to promote initiatives that celebrated and increased diversity of the SCU staff. The Working Group identified areas and researched potential ways to address existing diversity issues, and continued to work with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to pull relevant data from the Campus Climate Survey.
  • The Staff Benefits Working Group continued to find solutions and support the University’s efforts to address the Bay Area’s affordable housing crisis on behalf of SCU Staff.

 

  • The Diversity and Inclusion Working Group was renamed in 2017-2018 to align with the University-wide diversity and inclusion initiative. This Working Group continued to work with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion by finding ways to address and implement changes resulting from the 2019 Campus Climate Survey.
  • The Staff Benefits Working Group continued look at housing and compensation while also working to highlight areas of inequity between faculty and staff benefits, particularly regarding retirement
    benefits. An added goal midway through the year was to create a list of unofficial benefits - those periphery benefits not directly sponsored by HR but available to Santa Clara Employees by outside companies or SCU departments. The Working Group developed a staff benefits report, which included proposals for retirement benefits, housing, parking, and tuition remission. The working group shared the report at the June Staff Senate meeting and sent it to the entire SCU community in July 2019.
  • The Staff Survey Working Group was established for the 2018-2019 academic year with the goal to survey the SCU staff to ensure that the work of the Staff Senate is representative of the concerns of the community it serves. A survey is conducted every 2-3 years and acts as a key instrument in shaping the agenda of the Staff Senate. In March 2019 the Staff Senate Survey Working Group conducted a survey of staff and shared the results at the June 2019 Staff Senate meeting and sent the results to the entire SCU community in July 2019.