Administrative McMaster Work Pool: To have a work pool of administrative assistants who have already been interviewed, and are eligible candidates to fill in a position at short notice, for short periods of time.

Personal Safety: Provide an across the university email alert to all faculty, staff and students when issues involving safety of people of the McMaster Community is compromised.

• Provide more awareness of what is going on around the community.
• Reach those who don't review McMaster Daily News.

• Security Services have been working with UTS to come up with a resolution regarding computer network notification to staff and faculty regarding emergency situations.
• McMaster's new safety APP is a MUSST have! McMaster University Safety, Security & Transit (MUSST): Designed for the members of the McMaster University community, MUSST features ready access to emergency contacts, as well as a multitude of campus service providers (including Emergency First Response Team (EFRT) and the Student Walk Home Attendant Team (SWHAT))
• Notifies the campus community the circumstances of the emergencies. This will be rolled out to the entire University community in a short period of time.
• In adition, McMaster has a detailed emergency/crisis communications plan that includes a variety of tools to communicate with our community - including The Daily News, McMaster Update email (which goes to all faculty and staff each Friday), Public Address system, Notification Sirens, Emergency Stations (Red Phone and PA poles), and other avenues.

• Accessing temporary administrative employees can be a challenge. Human Resources Services has considered having a temporary administrative pool; unfortunately, Human Resources does not have the resources to maintain such a pool. Experience has shown that this is a considerable undertaking with an ongoing challenge in attracting and tracking individuals who have the requisite skills and availability.

Proactive Employee Health Benefit:Healthy lifestyle includes exercise, proper diet, and other stress relief activities. Allow for a portion of benefit plan, or other source, to cover cost of healthy lifestyle activities such as gym memberships, yoga or other fitness classes, meditation seminars, etc.

• A number of healthy workplace programs are currently provided to promote employee health and wellness (more detail at: a www.workingatmcmaster.ca).
• The Management Professional Development Allowance (MPDA) cannot be used to fund health and wellness programs, since they are not eligible expenses under the Broader Public Sector Perquisites Guidelines for the Province of Ontario, or McMaster's Perquisites Policy. Permitted perquisites are those that are related to the business requirements of the University and are required for the effective performance of the recipient's job.
• The BPS perquisites policy does specifically mention that fitness clubs are a disallowed perquisite.
• McMaster's MPDA policy has recently been updated to provide a greater benefit amount for employees who are members of TMG as an investment in their professional development and hope that employees see this as a positive investment in their future and their careers with McMaster.

Naturalization of Grounds: Naturalize as much of McMasters land grounds as possible by introducing native plants, and nature taking its course. This will decrease the need for grounds crew in the spring/summer/fall, savings on grounds maintenance, promote more wildlife, and would decrease the pollution from landscaping equipment.

• Due to health and safety issues, there are some limitations as to how much we can leave for the natural environment to take over.
• Currently, products used in the maintenance of campus grounds are native to the environment, minimizing the introduction of unnatural vegetation and invasive species.
• In addition, there are many groups and projects that are already in place addressing this for many areas surrounding, and including, grounds of McMaster campus. Some of these include:
• Groups:

1. Cootes Escarpment Group
2. Bay Area Restoration Council
3. Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG)

• Projects:

1. McMasters Backyard with the President
2. Buckthorn Stops Here
3. MACMarsh: remove designated areas of asphalt in Lot M (West campus) to allow nature to reclaim the barren ground (parking-lot-to-paradise transition). Increase green space and creation of a research facility
4. Green Space Project: Conservation and Natural Lands Inventory (Cootes Paradise)
5. Naturalization Project: The Presidents Advisory Committee is working with Royal Botanical Gardens to link trails together (3 that boarder the University)
6. Rain Garden: This is a student project initiative that is looking at Lake McMaster as a possible solution for this runoff issue.
7. Outdoor Classroom: another project in place to create an outdoor classroom by McMasters General Science Building.

Synchronized Litter Clean-Up: Litter clean up at campus entrances every Monday morning due to accumulation of garbage produced over the weekend.

• Facility Services has a number of staff members dedicated to picking up garbage through out campus every morning, Monday to Friday.
• If litter may have been missed, Facility Services wants to know and can be reported to service desk staff at extension 24740 so that staff can be dispatched as soon as possible.

McMaster Job Application System Improvement: difficult to use, unclear if the process was completed successfully, not user friendly.

• Is addressed within the Mosaic project
• Easy to navigate and also provides an integrated solution with other HR processes.
• The tentative implementation of this new function is late 2014
• More information about the Mosaic project and the HR team that supports the project can be found here

Recreate Human Resources Specialization: Employees in Human Resources have general knowledge of all areas, however few have developed specific specialization causing issues to be bounced around to get to a solutions. Eliminate generalists in HR. and recreate/retrain specialists (specifically in the areas of benefits/pensions/payroll/recruitment), allowing for the availability of expert advice in those areas to the community.

• From an HR Service Center perspective, the model is to provide one point of contact with specialized knowledge available for escalated inquiries.
• Some of this specialized knowledge is within the Service Center, for example, complex payroll and tax knowledge is at the Consultant or Analyst level.
• Other expertise remains in HR but outside of the Service Center such as the program expertise for benefit and pension that lies within the Total Compensation portfolio.
• The Service Center has been in existence for approximately four years this fall and we have promoted internally a number of key talent so although a point of contact might change, the knowledge is still part of the overall structure.
• It is encouraged to contact an HR Consultant or the Service Center Director if improvements can be implemented going forward.

Course for Entering Political Life: More informed on how to be a politician and how to cope with intellectual demands. Intended to make our elected representatives better (have some background in how governments work, how to read financial statements, relationships between and among governments, etc.). This would also provide candidates with skill sets that they will need if elected

• Feasibility review by CCE completed: market need for this is very small.
• Program exists in the GHTA market at Schulich that addresses this target (elected officials): Professional Certificate in Leadership for Elected Government Officials
• This program is ideally suited to anyone elected by the public to local government positions, including: Mayors, Councillors, Reeves, Aldermen, Regional Council Members, School Board Trustees, etc.

Process improvements for CAW hiring process: Documenting the education, experience and fit gaps of all CAW staff who apply for a job is redundant, especially when the successful candidate is another CAW. Suggest that this process be restricted to situations when hiring an External member for the CAW position.

• In January 2013, the process was modified from a single form for each CAW applicant to a form that summarizes results for all CAW applicants.
• This continues to provide CAW with what is required while reducing the time commitment required by managers for the process.
• The tools that managers require for this hiring process is posted on the Working at McMaster (Human Resources) website. This website provides managers with a step-by-step tool kit detailing all employment aspects with guidance, templates and process suggestions. Related to this idea, information is provided assisting in the hiring process, and a resume screening tool.

User Friendly Policies and Procedures: Difficult to find required policies and procedures. Entering University Policies and Procedures into a database with the following qualities:

• Written in language understandable by all individuals
• User-friendly and intuitive
• Flexible and accurate search function
• Easily accessible and visible on the McMaster website

• McMasters "University Policies, Procedures and Guidelines" website added an A - Z Index to allow for an easier search.
• A searching tool is provided at the top of the page to assist in refining your search (be sure that the "Policies" box is highlighted)
• Not all Policies and Procedures for the University are located on this page. There is a link provided on the right-hand menu to direct you to Administrative Policies.
• Policies and procedures are separated into University, Administration and Academic due to the review and approval requirements. University Policies and Procedures are reviewed and approved by Senate and/or Board of Governors, whereas Academic and Administrative Policies and Procedures are approved by the President, Vice Presidents and/or Provost.
• Currently, Policies and Procedures are undergoing review to simplify and update the policy and policy language.
• Composing a Policy on Policies has also been taken into consideration to address this issue.
• Since the update, an email was sent out to all Administrative Management representatives to address the issue of duplicate and outdated Policies and Procedures on other departmental sites, and to replace them with hyperlinks to the University Policy and Procedures Website. This will allow for a central area for Policies and Procedures to be updated consistently and accurately.
• If information about a policy is needed, but can't easily be found, individuals are welcome to contact the office or to send an email to policy@mcmaster.ca.

Monthly Sustainability E-Newsletter: Email notifications with information relating to energy saving tips (for home and work): news stories about what McMaster is doing to reduce their footprint, provide walking trails in and around McMaster, how to create your own garden, tips for finding a commuting partner, etc.

• McMaster community already puts a great effort into updating there staff and students on McMaster success story's relating to sustainability, as well as ways in which the McMaster community can be more sustainable.
• Links:

• Office of Public Relations: McMaster Daily News, McMaster Update
• Office of Sustainability
• Facility Services
• Faculty of Engineering

Departmental Purchase Savings: Employees should purchase Grand and Toy products on sale during normal shopping trips, or other vendors.

• To receive the benefits of the McMaster, Grand and Toy agreement, employees need to make sure they are signed into Grand and Toy Purchasing website using McMaster Departmental Account you are assigned upon application (New link under "New Office Supplies & Paper Awards" has been placed on "How To" register and purchase materials from Grand and Toy using the departmental account).
• Effective efforts with regards to sustainability have resulted in: Elimination of over 10,000 cardboard boxes, reduced on-site campus deliveries of over 10 times a day to ONCE a week. The cost savings are enormous (80% of contract savings realized to date of approximately $1.84M). McMaster is in year 4 of the 5 year contract.

Reuse of "Refuse" Repurposing or salvaging materials from spaces being remodeled or removed. Provide individuals the option to take doors, use windows or glass for other buildings, or gather a group of volunteers to salvage materials, sell materials or donate to organizations such as Habitat for Humanity's.

• Before demolition of an area, it is assessed for materials that can be salvaged and used elsewhere. An example of this can be currently seen through the demolition of Wentworth House. Materials such as doors, locks, furniture, blinds, play ground area, etc. have been removed and reused in other areas of the University.
• In terms of collecting the materials for organizations such as Habitat for Humanities, we run into issues such as the materials not meeting standards and regulations, limited room for storage, and costs for transporting the materials.
• Within the University, we currently have the BSM Auction site, which is a free service to help the McMaster community reuse and recycle unwanted materials.

Welcome Week- T-Shirt Expenses: Go through a different supplier for Welcome Week T-shirts to save money on costs of production.

• Currently, Welcome Week T-Shirts are purchased through the Campus Store, who coordinates the purchase through their list of pre-approved reputable manufacturing companies. These companies have met McMaster's ethical and quality standards. This may be the reason for the difference in price. We have definitely taken ethical purchase practices and cost into consideration and are always looking for a more cost efficient manufacturer that meets these standards.

Invoices from Printing: When a print job is completed with MPS, client should be provided with an automated quote, notified of completion and provided with an invoice when delivered and picked up. This allows for clear, easy to file records of printing expenses for budgeting purposes.

• Known issue and is being addressed in conjunction with MOSAIC project.
• New print management system being introduced will allow for "live billing" - invoice will be produced at the time of delivery with printing details
• Time frame of implementation: end of year (2013/2014)
• In the mean time, there is the option to request a quote before processing the order