Leaves committee to review plan design, increase days available

In response to the feedback received over the last 10 days regarding the proposed changes to the leaves policy, the University Leaves Committee along with Bill Sullivan, chief financial officer and treasurer, will re-evaluate the proposed leaves plan.

Vic Lechtenberg, special assistant to the president and chair of the University Leaves Committee, said the committee sincerely believed the proposed program was well-designed and would be seen as balanced and fair. However, the tremendous amount of input received recently has made it clear that the original feedback received by the leaves committee did not provide sufficient insight.

"We truly appreciate the input from employees that we've received," Lechtenberg said. "The primary, but not only, concern we heard last week was that the number of allotted days was not adequate in the proposed plan. Thus, the number of allotted days will be increased."

Additional focus groups were held this week with Sullivan to gain further insight into the full range of perceptions and concerns regarding both the existing leaves policies and the proposed changes.

Those who could not attend one of these sessions are encouraged to continue to provide feedback by emailing timeoff@purdue.edu. In addition, the information sessions that were already scheduled will now be conducted as additional forums with Human Resources during which faculty and staff can continue to provide feedback and have their questions about leaves answered. The schedule of upcoming information sessions is available on the dedicated Web page.

"Again, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all faculty and staff members who have shared feedback and questions thus far and look forward to learning more through the meetings that will be held in the coming days," Lechtenberg said.