Message to HFC employees, March 23, 11:00 p.m.
Dear Colleagues,
In my message to you at 11:30 this morning, I reported that Governor Whitmer issued a remain-at-home order for the State of Michigan for at least the next three weeks (through April 13).
I write now to address ways we will work together to serve students during this trying time. Please help me keep our focus on serving students. Since this crisis began less than two weeks ago, many of you have begun serving students by moving classes online. Many of you have been serving students from your home. And many of you continued to serve students by working hard here on campus.
All of these changes in our work will continue, yet even fewer of you will be working on our campuses. Your supervisors will contact you if you are asked to report to campus. As some of you can no longer work on campus, we may ask you to join the faculty in working to serve students from home. I am attempting to confirm whether I am permitted to be on campus, which is my preference. No matter my location, I promise that I will not stop working to serve you—so that you can serve our students. The Cabinet and other leaders have made the same commitment.
But I know that this is tough. These are drastic changes in how we serve students, which can be intimidating, scary, and frustrating. But I feel pride and optimism by looking at what we have accomplished together. I have seen facilities teammates picking up extra duties to keep our buildings safe and clean. I have seen front-line teammates show bravery and tenacity working to greet visitors in the Welcome Center. I have seen administrators in many departments and professionals in the Human Resources Department working tirelessly to propose equitable policies for once-in-a-lifetime questions. And I have seen faculty taking on the monumental task of moving the majority of our courses online in less than two weeks—working to help each other overcome hurdles that once seemed insurmountable.
You did all this in less than two weeks because of your endless drive to support students. I can see that drive in the eyes of the third-shift custodians I worked with last week. I can hear that passion for students in the voice of the enrollment associate I saw routinely showing up for work early—ready for the day. I witnessed the quiet strength of our building engineers who promised today to keep coming to campus, without seeking extra compensation, despite their contract arguably entitling them to it. I see the dedication to students in the tears of a faculty member who is terrified of teaching online, yet willing to try—and the many faculty who lift that teacher up to success.
Our students need you. Our College needs you. We will honor your commitment to students by a guarantee of uninterrupted compensation until at least April 13, 2020, which is the current end of the Governor’s order to stay at home. I know that this may cause some questions. And I ask for your patience because I do not have answers to all your questions.
You likely know family or friends who do not have a compensation guarantee in today’s crisis. Please take our College’s compensation commitment as a reason to pull together. I have discussed this with each of the Collective Bargaining Presidents, the Executive Director of the Human Resources Department, and the Faculty Senate Chairman.
Neither the College nor our teammates created this crisis. Now is not the time to compare who is working and who is not working. Instead, please join me in focusing on our team culture, so we will all prosper together with this guarantee of compensation.
This focus on the team is the only way we can keep serving students. And our students will be watching, along with their homebound families. If we fail to serve them now, we will fail in our livelihoods, because future students will not enroll. If we pull together to serve them, we will show our students and their families why we deserve their respect.
Now is our time to shine as a team. This is not the time to focus on our disagreements or power struggles. We are in unprecedented times. And I need your help. I seek your good will and your hard work until our students can emerge from this crisis. I pledge nothing less to you—my good will and hard work.
I want to share a few logistics with you for the coming weeks:
Online classes will continue as described on our website.
After midnight tonight, only personnel designated as essential will be permitted on our campuses. Unless you are notified by your supervisor, please do not come to either campus. The North and South entrances to our main campus will be closed. The middle drive is the only entrance that will be open (near Building N). If you need to come to campus for any reason, contact Campus Safety dispatch at 313.845.9630.
We are currently evaluating whether faculty may enter buildings to access teaching materials. We are hoping yes. We will share information when we have it.
If you need tech support while you are working from home, contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@hfcc.edu or 313.845.6345.
For those of you who normally submit timecards, we will not be collecting your regular timecards until April 14. Please hold onto your timecards for your work through today. Payroll will provide further details later. The Governor’s stay-at-home order and the College’s guarantee of compensation until April 13, 2020, supersedes the Emergency Leave Time (ELT) protocols we established last week. Your supervisors will notify you if that program is reinstated.
Consider the opportunity to spend some work hours on training, to learn new skills and grow in your career. Take a look at the training in the Cornerstone system in the employee portal. Ask HR if you need help. Or look for the training provided by our IT staff for Microsoft Teams. There are many other kinds of online training that can add value to your work and help you grow professionally. Talk to your supervisor about your ideas.
Please accept my sincere gratitude to all of you who have been working so hard to reinvent how we support students. Your work has been inspiring. It has helped keep me going through some long days and nights. The solutions we are still inventing together require extraordinary creativity, hard work, and dedication. I am proud of all of you who have kept showing up, in person and online, as good teammates with a positive attitude. You have done your best to help us achieve this incredible work. These times show the best of us as teammates and people.
I will share updates as I know them.
Keep going! You are serving students and making a difference!
Russ