This document is intended as a guide for Finance and Operations merit staff, supervisors and HR professionals related to the Merit System Members Grievance Procedure outlined in the UI Operations Manual: 28.3 Merit System Members Grievance Procedures. Grievance processes and timelines are clearly outlined in the policy, however, this addendum guide is intended to provide Finance and Operations merit staff members direction as to which individuals will serve as the point of contact at the various grievance steps.
Grievance Step 1 - Employee’s immediate/administrative supervisor
Recommend supervisor consult with their HR Unit Representative upon receipt of a grievance.
Grievance Step 2 – Administrative Head of the Unit or Department
In Finance and Operations, these individuals are *:
- Business Services: Debby Zumbach, Associate Vice President and Director, Parking & Transportation and Business Services.
- Parking and Transportation
- Purchasing, Accounts Payable and Travel
- University Shared Services
- Laundry Services
- Printing and Mailing Service, Surplus, Materials Management
- Risk Management
- Campus Safety: Mark Bullock, Assistant Vice President, Campus Safety
- Facilities Management: Lynne Finn, Associate Vice President and Director, Facilities Management
- Treasury and Budget: Susan Klatt, Assistant Vice President and University Secretary
- University Business Manager and UI Space Planning: David Kieft, University Business Manager
- University Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer’s Offices: Terry Johnson
- Controller’s Office
- Accounting and Financial Reporting and Capital Assets Management
- Grant Accounting
- Financial Analysis
- Tax Manager
* Please note, the policy allows for these individuals to assign a designee to hear (if desired) and reply to the grievance after the grievance is delivered to the above contact. Recommend that the HR Unit Representative be involved in and/or made aware of the grievance process at Step 2.
Grievance Step 3 – Head of major functional or administrative unit of the University with a copy sent to Senior Human Resources Leader for the administrative unit.
In Finance and Operations, these individuals are:
- Head of major functional unit: Director, UI Employee and Labor Relations – elr-help@uiowa.edu
- Senior Human Resources Leader: Lew Montgomery
Both the Director of UI Employee and Labor Relations and the Senior HR Leader will participate in the Step 3 grievance hearing and response.
March 2021
General Notes
The annual performance review deadline is March 28th. Your department/unit may impose a deadline prior to March 28th; please check with your leadership for specific details.
A performance review is required for any regular employee hired prior to January 1st.
A rating of Outstanding or Unsatisfactory/Needs Improvement must be reviewed with HR Rep or Senior HR Director prior to the supervisor’s performance review meeting with the employee.
Launch Review
P&S
The employee launches their performance review form in Self Service (My Career > Career & Performance > Performance Review), completes their self-review, and then selects Submit Performance Review to send it to their supervisor.
Alternatively, the supervisor launches the review, and selects Send to Employee for comments to send it to the employee to begin working on it. The supervisor should share details about the performance review process when scheduling the review and ask the employee to complete their self-review well in advance of the discussion to allow time to review and prepare.
Merit
The supervisor initiates the form for Merit employees by selecting the Create New Review on the left side of the page in the performance review tool. Merit employees do not have access to the performance review until the acknowledgement step, so the supervisor should provide a self-assessment form to the employee so they can complete it and share it with the supervisor prior to the discussion.
Employee Self-Review
P&S
The employee enters comments in the performance review tool, including the Universal Competencies, Employee Goals & Accomplishments and Employee Additional Comments sections. The employee has two options for entering goals. They can:
1) enter them directly in the Employee Additional Comments section; or
2) upload them as an attachment by dragging and dropping into the Employee Performance Documents section.
When finished, the employee selects Submit Performance Review at the bottom of the online form to send it to the supervisor.
Merit
Merit employees do not have access to the performance tool until the acknowledgement step, so the supervisor should provide a self-assessment form to the employee so they can complete it and share it with the supervisor prior to the discussion. The supervisor is responsible for uploading the document into the form.
Request Feedback
P&S and Merit
A performance review best practice is to request feedback from direct reports - and others, as appropriate – for all staff who supervise others. Feedback can also be useful for non-supervisory staff. A discussion with the employee about who they would like to ask for feedback is a collaborative and transparent way to decide upon a list of feedback providers. The Request Feedback feature in the performance review is the method for soliciting feedback from others who work with, or are served by, the employee.
To ensure useful feedback, provide guidance on the type of feedback you are interested in receiving, and seek feedback that is based on observable behavior. An example of a helpful feedback prompt is, “Please describe your personal observations of (employee’s) strengths and areas for development related to their ability to meet deadlines.” This is specific enough to yield helpful and actionable information and encourages the person providing feedback to cite actual situations and behaviors.
Be sure to prepare your employee for this practice. Do not let it be a surprise.
See Best Practices for Requesting Feedback form for additional guidance.
Feedback & Rating
P&S
After receiving the employee’s self-review, the supervisor enters comments in the form. The supervisor may also review, respond to, and edit the employee's goals in advance of the performance review discussion.
Note: The form can be sent back and forth between the employee and supervisor as many times as necessary to facilitate editing comments or attachments. To do this, the supervisor selects Return to Employee For Edits at the bottom of the form. When sending back-and-forth, the employee will not see any supervisor comments but the supervisor will be able to see all employee comments. Supervisor comments are not visible until the employee acknowledgment (final) step. A print option is available by selecting Print Review on the left side of the page. This is useful if the supervisor wants to share a draft with the employee during the conversation.
STOP: The supervisor and the employee meet to discuss and review before sending the form on to the employee acknowledgment (final) step. If the supervisor is planning to give a rating of ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Unsatisfactory/Needs Improvement,’ they may required to discuss this with their supervisor. This should take place prior to meeting with the employee.
After the performance review discussion, the supervisor may make additional edits and then finalize the review. Selecting Finalize Review & Send for Acknowledgment at the bottom of the page will complete the review and send it to the employee for their acknowledgment.
Merit
The supervisor enters information related to Universal Competencies, Employee Goals & Accomplishments and Supervisor Comments, and can attach the employee’s self-review and any other relevant documentation.
Do not use the No Rating option. A print option is available for sharing a draft with the employee during the conversation.
STOP: The supervisor and the employee meet to discuss and review before sending the form on to the Employee Acknowledgment step.
After the performance review discussion, the supervisor may make additional edits and then finalize the review. Selecting Finalize Review & Send for Acknowledgment at the bottom of the page will complete the review and send it to the employee for their acknowledgment.
Acknowledgement
P&S and Merit
The employee reviews the information sent to them by their supervisor and can provide final comments (optional). The employee then signs the review. A copy of the performance review will be automatically uploaded to the employee’s ePersonnel file, and the performance review process is complete.
