August 11, 2005

SEPS SCRUTINY

           It is no secret that many employees are disturbed by the requirements of the new Scholastic Employee Performance System (SEPS). Many are concerned about the time away from regular work that is required to fill out the form. Others have encountered problems with the software. Others are offended by the requirement to do self-criticisms. Still others question whether the tone of the instructions imply that one has to set goals because we are not doing our jobs properly. And still others question whether those who set up this program have any concept of how magazines are put together.

Guild members should know that the company first approached the Guild back in April to see if we saw any problem with SEPS before it was introduced. The problem is, SEPS was described only in very general terms and the explanation at that time did not suggest what is now reality. The Guild was told only that there would be an informal mid-year talk with supervisors and that evaluations would go from paper to computer. The company also said that SEPS would probably not go into effect until next year because there was no time to set it up for a mid-year review in 2005. That’s all they said.

On August 1, at a meeting on another matter, we informed management that we were concerned about SEPS and needed to learn more, but believed that the new program was a change in work rules that had to be negotiated. At that time, a management spokesman said if there were a problem they would fix it. We have informed management that we require a meeting to discuss the impact of SEPS on the work environment.

     We are trying to schedule this meeting as soon as possible. As soon as we have that meeting, we will come back to you with the results.

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08/11/05