The response to Delphi Question #600, a follow-up from Delphi Question
#598 concerning termination of the open salary policy, did not address
the issue of why this change was done with minimum visibility. The
follow-up question documented thoroughly how the announcement was
obscured. It is additionally noteworthy that not even division
directors knew about this very significant change to policy.
Furthermore, it was done on the very day that NCAR changed directors.
What person or committee made this decision?
Answered on December 04, 2008
No one decided to make this change with minimum visibility or hide the
change, any more than other changes to policies of similar
significance. Therefore, I guess the crux of this question revolves
around differing views of the significance of the change to policy.
The key point of the policy involved covers the release of employee
information; from my perspective, it was not a policy focused on the
open pay book, but instead was focused on protecting the privacy of
employees. We disagree on the "open pay book" part of this policy being
a "very significant" change, but after three Delphi questions, I will
acknowledge that some believe this was a very important part of the
policy change.
For the record, the update to the policy along with other policy
updates was presented to the UCAR Management Committee in March. In
that presentation, the emphasis was on protecting personal information
for security purposes such as identity theft. The question of the open
pay book was never raised. The updated policies were sent to NSF for
review, and July 1 was the beginning of the month after the policies
were approved. It was entirely coincidental that the new NCAR director
began on the same date; although, now that you brought it up, be very
careful of any announcements made on January 20th!
I think your question may actually be: "Who decided to obscure the
announcement and make it on the day that the new NCAR director took
office?" The short answer is: No one. Really. While additional emphasis
on communicating this aspect of the policy change may have avoided
three Delphi questions about it, the results would in no way have been
changed.
Bob Roesch
Director of Human Resources
