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CMC Taking Suggestions from Employees

Employee Retention AQIP Team invites ideas to improve Colorado Mountain College

Suggestion boxes were suggested as being needed by employees to the Employee Retention AQIP Team during fall 2008. The boxes were placed at each college location during winter 2009.

As the Employee Retention team receives more suggestions, they are forwarded to appropriate parties to be addressed. Please review the results and on-going efforts.

Jump to campus/location: Aspen, Central Services, Leadville, Spring Valley, Steamboat Springs, Edwards, Rifle

Aspen

Date SubmittedSuggestionAction TakenAction Date
2/17/09Acrylic frame at front desk for ads for slow-moving classes in Aspen at each table in the student lounge.waiting for response 
2/19/09I would like to see part-time workers being paid for snow day closings. As a part-timer in Aspen, there are a few days every year that I have to miss due to snow that I don't get paid for and that makes it hard on me and my family.Forwarded to campus for a response.4/17/09
2/23/09I would like to see more/any distance learning training. I would love to learn the ins and outs so that I can help my campus better.Maureen Richardson will contact Kelly to bring her up to speed on Distance Learning procedures, answer any questions, and make sure she is on the list for future email distribution - Darryl Yarrow, 6/15/09
6/24/09: "It is my understanding that [suggester] will be contacting the Virtual Campus Media Center (or vice versa) to arrange for the appropriate training. Please let me know when this occurs and if there is anything further you need..."		6/15/09; 6/24/09
2/25/09I would like to see the hour limit for part-timers raised to an even 30 hours allowed per week, not 28.HR's response: CMC will maintain a distinct separation between what it defines as part-time (PT) and benefit eligible full time positions. That current spread represents maximum employment hours for PT positions at 28 hrs with benefit eligible positions starting at 32. Employment laws & past litigation require this separation. Contracts & agreements with insurance providers also require this.4/17/09
2/25/09I think the college should offer healthy vending options for students/staff. There is chips - sugar coated everything and such. I/we would like to see apples, oranges, bananas, nuts? Just something we won't go into a sugar-coma after eating.Aspen is checking with the current vendor about a healthier selection in the vending machines. Some protein bars and nuts are currently provided with the candy bars. "We will continue to see about increasing the selection to a more balanced mix of healthier snacks."5/15/09
2/27/09CMC grocery bags for a greener environment; advertising & PRMeeta left a bag for Kerry at Aspen 6/29/09, and Theresa emailed that during the month of July BEST & the AQIP Sustainability teams were focusing on plastics. Kerry sent an email to Theresa 6/29 asking if there was a possibility of providing the bags for sale. T cc'd Mariana & Meeta6/29/09
3/9/09I think we should move the artwork around. Some in the hallways are fading and look bad. Also, people tend to go to the same rooms and never see the rest of the building. I think if we took a day and everyone moved some pieces, we could do it quickly.Joe sent email to Kevin Wheeler re scheduling a couple hours to move the artwork on a Friday afternoon.6/29/09
5/29/09Have a day or 1/2 day conversational Spanish class for staff. I think it might be helpful for our campus staff -- especially Registration staff -- to have some common Spanish phrases.Joe sent email to Lorraine Miller about the possibility of providing training. 9/2/09: Lorraine indicated that she will put together a training session for the Aspen campus front desk staff.6/29/09
6/20/09People should not be allowed to be on so many committees. It should be limited to perhaps three a year. The same people are always volunteering and others never volunteer at all. The ones who volunteer are never in the office where they are needed. Somehow someone else always has to cover for them.Dr. Jensen will be keeping an eye on teams and how many are from each area. He will also begin monitoring how many teams per year personnel are on. [email from Debbie Novak to Theresa, 7/20/09]7/20/09
9/9/09I think it would help the instructors and the college to have students who are dropping classes to take an exit survey as to why they are dropping [the] classes. It would be good feedback to us and everyone else.Forwarded to Brad, Meta & Joe1/6/10
9/9/09As per another campus -- I think it would be good to have a copier/scanner for student use, and not our office ones. Coin or something similar.Forwarded to Joe M. & Steve Boyd1/6/10
9/10/09On the registration form, have an example of how to fill it out, like the non-credit ones have. Many people don't know what "(Syn#)" means and what the course code is.Forwarded to Bill Sommers and Joe M.1/6/10

 

Central Services

Date SubmittedSuggestionAction TakenAction Date
2/26/091) Create online bulletin boards so people can arrange to carpool and/or deliver mail to other CMC sites when they travel for meetings. 2) Create "hitching post" spots where people can meet to get rides up to/down from campuses (e.g., Spring Valley). Spots must be labeled (all weather) appropriately.waiting for response 
4/9/09The heating/cooling issues in the CS Annex are common, continuing concerns. But what is not agreed upon is which control module controls which area of the building and if the heat and cooling can actually be controlled. I would suggest email and signed communication to all the CS Annex staff with the accurate info about the HVAC system.Sam's email reply: Scott Kramer with Colorado HVAC will be analyzing the system. Some temporary work interruptions expected. "Our goal is to improve this system and make it a little more comfortable."6/8/09
10/7/09Carpet (indoor/outdoor or ?) Central Services receiving ramp. It will help dampen sound. People walk on the wood floor and it is fairly noisy. In addition, many things are dropped and dragged over the floor.Forwarded to Sam Skramstead1/6/10
10/21/10Move to a 24-hour work week, but require the same amount of work as is usually done in 40 hours per week, with the same pay as a 40 hour week.Forwarded to HR1/6/10
11/10/09The stairway on the 9th St. side of the [Central Services] building is dark. In the effort to be green, the lights are turned off. However, especially this time of year, it is dangerously dark. I missed a step and almost fell a few weeks ago. Can we have some sort of safety lighting on those stairs if people are always going to be turning the main lights off? It could be low-energy safety lighting on the steps themselves.Forwarded to Sam Skramstead1/6/10
1/10/10Place a stop sign at the alley/parking lot corner of the CS Building.Stop sign installed2/10/10

 

Leadville

Date SubmittedSuggestionAction TakenAction Date
2/24/09Reinstate the pay for performance pay plan process. This is the second time it has been "delayed." Employees were told this was a done deal.HR: Pay for performance will be reinstated the summer of 2009-2010. It was delayed once due to budget concerns. Since then Dr. Jensen has requested the evaluation system be revised to bring employee efforts and the strategic plan into alignment. It is important to align goals, performance, and strategies throughout... and it has taken time for this to be implemented.6/22/09
5/19/09It'd be great if we had a sheltered or out-of-the-weather bike rack. Some of us have bikes worth more than our cars. For folks not into cycling, they don't understand. We're not like little kids who leave their bikes out in the yard. Some of us have $3,000 bikes and would simply like to lock them in a covered area.None - anonymous suggestionN/A
6/18/09"When a student registers they are given a printed receipt that has their class schedule on it. Many students do not register in person and the receipts are mailed to them. This document is the only source of information the student receives regarding their classes. I think this receipt is a good place to provide additional standard information -- if Datatel allows printed comments to be added to the ""template."" Two comments that I think should be added would be about the CMC email address and how to get started with a distance learning class. They could be something like this ...
Attention new students: Please note that you will be assigned a CMC email address that will be used for any CMC notifications. [Then some comment about how they find out what their email address is and how to access it.]
Attention students taking distance learning courses: Please download your syllabus ASAP for information on how to get started. Go to www.coloradomtn.edu/distlearn."		Would require customization by IT.12/14/09
9/24/09Please put a garbage can next to the bathroom door with paper towels to avoid germs on the door handles.Forwarded to Sam, Alan, Mike S.1/6/10

 

Spring Valley

Date SubmittedSuggestionAction TakenAction Date
3/25/09Please choose a spring break week that will remain consistent from year to year.Reply sent via email 6/24/09 - Bill Sommers. See email on file. Bill said he would forward the suggestion to Brad Bankhead.6/24/09
3/26/09I'd like to propose that the college/HR consider adding position grades. For example: 3 out of 4 library technicians employed @ Spring Valley and Steamboat have Masters Degrees (I'm working on mine right now.) This possibility of a promotion to work towards would be motivating on many levels -- both professionally and monetarily. Skills would have to be demonstrated. [Suggester added clarification on 7/2/09: additional position grade would be "Library Technician II," similar to Front Range Community College position grade structure.HR sent response: "… systems typically align positions based upon duties, required credentials, market, and internal equity…. The positive is the stability and the ability to defend position placement, the negative is that it does not provide for personal recognition.... The Pay Plan Committee did [recommend] ... a procedure that awards credit for relevant degrees at the time of hiring..." Full response is in file.7/2/09
3/26/09Put spring break back where it belongs for Spring Valley campus please!! It is too late this year. Vet tech students work very hard. This is not fair to them (and a reminder -- the students are why we are here!) The only reason I "assume" break is so late is to benefit a very few with kids whose schools break late. This is not in keeping with "How does this help learning?" Please do not keep break this late in the future.Reply sent via email 6/24/09 - Bill Sommers said he would forward the suggestion to Brad Bankhead.6/24/09

 

Steamboat Springs

Date SubmittedSuggestionAction TakenAction Date
2/27/09Have part-time staff use web advisor for timesheetsMike Rhodes sent email to Theresa 4/20/09, on file. He has considered this, and mapped out an implementation plan, but there are too many problems with using WebAdvisor for p-t time entry.4/20/09
3/3/09WebAdvisor should be the only destination used when someone is trying to find information about classes. People who don't know about WebAdvisor tend to go to other destinations, such as "classes" at the top of the home page. They don't find all the updated information there. Since there are multiple ways of looking up class information, this has become confusing for people who are new to the website.Bill Sommers response via email: "Doug Stewart and I are now working together to move to using WebAdvisor as the single online source for searching for classes. There needs to be a few customizations made to WebAdvisor. This project will be worked on over the next several months."6/24/09
3/17/09Why are there no photos of Pres. Jensen, our Dean, Denise or the physical plant in the display cases? Cases put up by the physical plant.Left voice mail for Denise Roach to inquire on status - 9/3/09 
4/1/09Lids for coffee cupsLids ordered 9/18/099/18/09
4/12/09That we be notified of "safe" or necessary computer updates in a proactive rather than reactive manner. The current problem with the (today's [4/12/09]) email about anti-virus or anti-spyware downloads is an example. Without specific directions people will either not download anything or automatically download those items that appear appropriate. Either action can be a mistake.Jim English sent email to Theresa to say he was working on an email to the suggester in response to the suggestion.6/19/09
10/19/09Include date and time on information boards in lobbies, along the bottom corner.Forwarded to Sam, Peter, Stan1/6/10
1/20/10Send out minutes from CLT, SAC, CFI, etc. They used to be posted on Enews. Most of the time we don't hear about what is duscussed until there is a problem or sense of urgency.Pending 

 

Edwards

Date SubmittedSuggestionAction TakenAction Date
2/26/09At the Marketing Summit 2/24, Beth Zukowski showed everyone some posters she makes to promote new classes, etc. She mentioned she has an 11X17" color printer in her office. If marketing at CS had one of these (Sara Fowler said they currently do not) I suggested our sites could send our jobs to the one color printer and they could roll up the prints and send them to us via interoffice, etc. The posters would go in inexpensive plastic frames and would be very attractive and effective. (The frames are $11.00 or so ea.) Perhaps these could also be placed at libraries, etc.Doug Stewart wrote a memo to the suggestion committee with a brief cost analysis -- "seems like a good idea." See also emails from Daryl on file. Color printer in CS Annex is coming off lease later this year. Cost of printer would be $1700 to $3200, plus $1400 / year for cartridges. Might be a cost saving not using outside vendors.5/29/09
3/9/09A community copy machine should be placed somewhere in the building for students. You can choose to charge for paper or provide free. Students (since we keep our doors open to the back offices) continually use the copier, for their personal copy matters relating to school work. Employees working then have to facilitate the copier machine and perform tasks that have interrupted their job production. 1) load paper; 2) re-set copy features; 3) figure out where the jammed paper is; 4) re-set your personal computer settings to print off a different machine; 5) re-set jobs in the queue; 4) personal codes to copier machine given out like candy. The copy machine is on the blink as is. The repairman has visited, but if you don't work with the machine every day you tend to treat this beast like a machine from Kinko's. It just can't do it, it takes kids gloves.Barb Johnson emailed Theresa regarding Carbondale's process; Mariana emailed Theresa that the campus ordered a copying machine that can be operated using cash or a credit card.6/24/09
12/5/09The Vail-Eagle campus should partner with the Aspen Green Building program on the new green kitchen design. They would also like to incorporate plans for a greenhouse that doesn't use fossil fuels for heating in the winter.This was presented to the BEST team at their meeting on 2/3/10. The consensus of the BEST team was that this was a great idea.  It appears Todd Rymer and Peggy Curry at VE are currently addressing this.2/3/10
12/5Partner with Vail Resorts at the corporate level rather than the local level. Vail resorts has allowed us to offer many benefits to our culinary and hospitality students -- but we need more. With three culinary programs (hopefully), and a four-year hospitality degree just around the corner, the symbiotic relationship we have to offer each other seems destined to grow. [See writeup of suggestion in AQIP suggestions file.]Forwarded to Stan, Peggy and Meeta.1/6/10

 

Rifle

Date SubmittedSuggestionAction TakenAction Date
8/27/09As flu season begins, can we have our janitorial staff updated on proper cleaning methods to minimize the spread of germs? We have quite a turnover in staff and it would be good to have janitorial staff informed on good procedures.Two training sessions were held: 9/10/09 and 9/17/09. Sam S. said he would send out the PowerPoints to the facilities persons at the Rifle campus.9/27/09
10/20/09Dispenser for: pens; pencils; notebooks; scientific calculators.Forwarded to Nancy G. & Linda O.1/6/10