Just past the midway point in his one-year tenure as chair of Staff Assembly, Zack O’Donnell says that the campus constituency group is suffering a bit from an "identity crisis."

"All the way up to the Office of the President, we need to get our house in order so we have a clear direction and purpose for the future," he says.

A proposed seat for a staff member at the UC regents table could help in the long term, O’Don-nell says. Meanwhile, he says, more active involvement at the campus level also is essential.

He recently took some time out to talk to Dateline about his hopes for Staff Assembly.

What have been your main objectives while you’ve served as Staff Assembly chair?

My main objectives have been to increase the group’s visibility as a key information resource for staff issues and to upgrade our image as an organization that tackles serious campus issues – like parking, the Long Range Development Plan, budget cuts, supervision, staff morale, workload issues, work-life balance, retirement and diversity. We are not just a social group that puts on TGFS every year.

What are the key issues you see facing Staff Assembly?

Well, of course, the current budget situation is a serious issue for us this year and for the next few years to come.

Other priorities are to improve the working environment for all staff by fostering communications between administrators and staff on issues of supervision and work-life balance. I’m not talking about simply participating on committees, but actually seeing policies and procedures implemented. For example, the employee annual evaluation process could use an overhaul. Today’s evaluation process is too subjective. Tighter policies are required to assure that evaluations are done properly, objectively and fairly and that expectations are expressed clearly. You have to remember that pay increases and disciplinary actions are based on these documents.

And incentives need to be established for the due diligence required to complete evaluations. When no or very little pay raises are on the table, the incentive for a supervisor to complete a good evaluation on a good employee drops. That hurts the morale of the supervisor and the employee. Also, supervisors at all levels should be evaluated on how their staff perceive them.

What do you think about a proposal that the UC Board of Regents is considering regarding having a staff representative sit on the board?

This idea is long overdue. It is unbelievable that staff do not have a voice, while faculty and student representatives have been at the regents’ table for some time. If you can visualize the mission of the UC system as a body of water that must be distributed throughout the state via 10 campus locations, you can see the staff as the distribution system that directs the flow of water to its proper destinations. Without this staff pipeline, the teaching, research and public service missions would never be distributed to the state’s constituents. The staff assure that the efforts of our students, faculty members and administrators are seen, heard and felt by the people of California. My hope is that the success of this initiative will spur each campus to take a hard look at how they can better integrate staff organizations into their decision-making processes.

What are a few things you’d like to see done a bit differently?

I hope to enhance our Web presence in the near future with an interactive bulletin board service for staff to give anonymous feedback on campus issues. I think it would be a great tool for campus administrators to get the pulse of the campus on various concerns, for example parking, the budget, the setting of campus priorities, campus growth, the west campus neighborhood.

Also, there is a UCOP initiative on supervision which is very exciting and moving in the right direction. The campus needs to start thinking about how it treats supervisors and what an important role they play within the campus structure. I believe it is the key to resolving a number of campus morale and productivity issues.

What role do you see Staff Assembly taking as budget issues impact campus?

My hope is that Staff Assembly will be seen as a key source of trusted information by staff on the current budget situation. We will host budget sessions with key administrators that are open to staff for comment and questions. No one is asking for miracles, just open and honest communication.

Do you see Staff Assembly as playing any sort of role in the Davis community?

There are clearly issues that affect staff within the community such as housing, commuting and parking. At this time we are developing a parking subcommittee, and it would be great if we could have a sub-committee on employee housing, but we simply don’t have the bodies to do it. Right now we have committees on diversity, TGFS, scientific and professional staff, staff insurance and retirement, communications, and the executive committee.

What’s going to be new at TGFS this year?

TGFS has grown into a huge event which attracts about 4,200 people. But right now we don’t even have a TGFS coordinator for lack of volunteers. So the organization of TGFS is falling behind. We are, however, looking for a better location than Toomey Field and we do have a campus location in mind; but I can’t say more about that until all the permissions have been granted.

What do you think can be done to encourage participation in Staff Assembly?

We struggle with our limited number of volunteers. We have roughly 30 volunteers active on various committees and about 20 volunteers who help with Thank Goodness For Staff festivities. I hope that increasing our visibility and involvement in campus issues will get more people involved. On average, volunteering takes about 50 hours a year. There is truth to the saying that ‘many hands make light work’. If we could get some more hands, we would be in better shape.

I would just love it if we could get people willing to help organize events. We continue to be extremely open to new ideas. Events don’t have to be social in nature. They can be informative and educational.

What do you believe is the main benefit of an organization like Staff Assembly?

The main benefit of Staff Assembly is it’s ability to meet with campus administrators, ask the hard questions and develop a relationship of understanding and information exchange. Our campus administrators have very busy schedules and could overlook the perspective of staff on different issues. Staff Assembly assists with keeping them in-touch. In recent years we have tried to meet quarterly with administrators.

How do you think your background aids your leadership role in Staff Assembly?

I have worked in many positions on campus – from a casual administrative assistant in Campus Events and Information to analyst and managerial positions in Communications Resources. I have some idea of how staff at all levels are treated and how the system can operate in both positive and detrimental ways.

Why does the position of Staff Assembly chair appeal to you and why did you decide to take it on?

Having worked on various committees, including Staff Assembly committees in the past, and having been on campus for almost 25 years, I felt it was time to stop complaining and start trying to implement some changes in a broader fashion.

The potential of Staff Assembly is enormous. What I and my executive committee need to do is find a way to tap into the great resource we have in UC Davis staff. That is why I pushed to move the Staff Assembly quarterly newsletter to an on-line version.

O’Donnell, a 1979 UC Davis graduate, works for Information and Educational Technology’s Communications Resources department, where his focus is wireless communications development. His wife, Adrienne van Veen, works at the UC Davis Bookstore. For more details about Staff Assembly and volunteering, see: http://staff.ucdavis.edu/.