UC President Janet Napolitano issued the following e-mail to the UCOP community on Thursday, Feb. 27:

Dear UCOP Colleagues:

We’re making very good progress with the UCOP Efficiency Review. Thanks to your active participation we’ve received about 695 ideas for improving the Office of the President. Here are the recommendations I’ve asked the Efficiency Working Group to begin implementing this month:

1. UCOP-wide standard online performance appraisal: UCOP will transition to a standard, electronic method of performance appraisal. All performance appraisals will use the electronic system. The move to an online system will reduce manual reporting and improve accountability and service metrics. This change is a direct response to the recent staff engagement survey. Additionally, we will immediately begin using an online service for checking references of prospective employees. We’ve been piloting the service and the results exceeded expectations.
2. Less-Paper/Paper-Less initiative: There are many opportunities to reduce the amount of paper that is used in the course of business or is simply stored in cabinets taking up unnecessary space. While changing the way we work to use less paper will take time, we are beginning those efforts now. In the coming weeks, a cross-functional work group will sponsor several events designed to immediately reduce the amount of paper onsite. Look for additional information shortly.
3. Direct FedEx label printing and OfficeMax ordering: To support continuous improvement and to cut back on burdensome processes, departments will have the ability to directly print FedEx labels and order office supplies without having to go through several layers of approval at UCOP and UCLA. I would like to personally thank Brad Niess for helping to refine this recommendation.

Finally, earlier this month, UCOP circulated a survey designed to solicit campus input in the evaluation of UCOP’s functional performance and service quality. It was sent to over 3,000 campus and medical center stakeholders. We plan to use feedback from the survey to identify opportunities to be more efficient, save money and create new, smarter ways of working. I look forward to reviewing the survey results with UCOP leadership in the coming weeks.

In the days and weeks ahead, please look for announcements to participate in focus groups to further examine your ideas and keep up the enthusiasm for a more efficient UCOP.

Thank you again for your participation — keep the ideas coming!

Yours very truly,

Janet Napolitano
President

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