[Histmaj] Forwarding at the request of Dean Harris: Supporting Our Staff

[HISTORY UNDERGRADUATE ADVISORS via Histmaj]

Please share this message with faculty, staff, and students in your unit

Dear Colleagues,

The health of our college’s professional ecosystem depends upon a shared understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities and upon an unfailing commitment to treating our colleagues—faculty and staff alike—with respect. Each one of us contributes to the creation of a healthy professional environment through our daily actions and words. Work environments that are characterized by consistently respectful, collegial, professional behavior support well-being and they also advance our efforts to retain our outstanding employees.

To ensure respectful treatment of our staff colleagues, I share below some specific suggestions that I strongly encourage you to practice, which build upon our College of Arts & Sciences guiding principles<https://artsci.washington.edu/about/guiding-principles>. Please read these suggestions carefully, and feel free to reach out if you have questions about what you might do in your unit to support a healthy professional environment.


  *   Take time to learn what staff do, and to fully understand their job description, roles, and responsibilities. If you don’t know, feel free to ask your department chair, or invite staff to a faculty meeting so they can report on their job description, work they are performing, and perhaps share ideas about furthering productive collaboration.

  *   Staff are our respected partners across the university and should be treated as such. They have defined roles that must be respected. Do not ask them to do things that are not part of their job description. If it is not part of their job description, do not expect staff to engage in event planning, catering, or in taking care of personal needs.

  *   Be sure you know and are respecting staff working hours including both hourly and exempt staff. UW staff typically work from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm with a lunch break falling midday. Please limit requests for their assistance to working hours. Please do not ask or expect staff to answer email after hours or respond to phone calls or texts after hours. Unless it is offered, please do not expect staff to provide their personal cell numbers.

  *   Please be mindful of deadlines and plan accordingly so that you leave buffer time before deadlines in case staff are out of the office or other unexpected contingencies occur. Don’t expect staff to stay late, after working hours to help you meet a deadline, and be sure you understand the cascade effects of hard deadlines. Endeavor to submit documents, applications, reimbursement requests, proposals, or similar well before the deadline to ensure staff have time to properly process submissions and that they can forward them to necessary next-step destinations.

  *   Please do not expect staff to use software platforms that are not standard to the University of Washington. Generally speaking, staff are required only to use Microsoft Teams and Outlook. They are not expected to navigate across multiple platforms throughout their day and doing so risks loss of information and breakdowns in communication.

  *   Please use a respectful tone when speaking with your colleagues. Frustration can certainly get the best of us on a difficult day, but please be mindful of the dynamics of power differentials and be especially kind to those who may feel less empowered at the university, and who are doing their best to support your work.

Thank you for taking time to follow these practices and for all you do to contribute to and to sustain a healthy professional environment in our college.

With best wishes,

Dianne


Dianne Harris, Dean
Professor of History
College of Arts & Sciences
University of Washington


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