A Hearing Procedure for Temporary employees
Comment - We are required to hold a hearing for short-term employment of employees (especially students) in funded projects, even though it is a time-limited contract, and the faculty member does not have additional means of financing. When it comes to a large project, in which many students are employed as "technicians", this creates an unreasonable burden on the faculty member, who is required, as mentioned, to hold a face-to-face conversation with each employee in the presence of another person, with the clear knowledge that there is no way to continue employing the employee. In my understanding, there is no legal obligation to hold a hearing in this case.
Answer - Following labor laws in Israel, we are obliged to conduct a hearing for every employee, regardless of employment. Regarding temporary/short-term employees, there is a possibility of a written hearing that will facilitate the process.
The Pay Slip
Comment - To this day I have not received a single pay slip. I was told that one can access it via a designated computer and that it is impossible to do that from home.
Answer - Every employee can log into the payslip system at the Hilanet payslip system from any computer, including his or her mobile phone and any home computer. Pay slips cannot be sent by email due to data security considerations. Link to Hilan - https://technion.net.hilan.co.il/login.
Comment - Few people understand the various components of a pay slip. Consequently, it is challenging to verify whether all the elements due to an employee, including promotions (for academic staff), have been accurately received.
Comment - Regarding specific issues, particularly those related to the pay slip, it is unclear whom I should contact. The same applies to social benefits.
Answer - All relevant information is currently available on the Human Resources website, categorized by topic and according to administrative or academic staff. Additionally, HR is in the process of establishing a new interactive service center, named “Ofek,” which will enable all Technion employees to access their personal payroll-related data (personal portal). The service center pilot is expected to launch at the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025. Until the new service center is operational, specific inquiries can be directed to the Academic Staff Office.
Health Insurance
Comment - Health insurance at the Technion is managed by different agents: Administrative employees are managed by the "Madaness" agency, and the Technion teaching staff organization @ www.gilvardi.co.il oversees teaching staff. However, resolving any potential duplicate payments becomes challenging due to the involvement of two separate agents. The issue persists because each agent operates independently, making it difficult to reconcile the payments effectively.
Answer - The supplementary health insurance for administrative employees derives from a special agreement. The teaching staff organization insurance is an initiative of the organization itself and is not part of the employee's employment agreement.
Reporting Sick Leave
Comment - Previously, we were required to report the non-utilization of sick leave in the SAP system every two months. Currently, the situation has worsened, and we are now required to report this every month.
Answer - The rules for reporting non-utilization of sick leave were established by the Council for Higher Education for all universities and agreed upon with the academic staff. The new service center in HR, which is currently under development, will address this issue by providing personal information for each employee. Additionally, you can contact the Head of the Academic Staff Section in HR at any time for information or assistance.
Recruiting Engineers for Computing Positions
Comment - The recruitment process on campus - from the moment of initial contact with a candidate until he is brought to the tender committee (the final step before making a decision in our eyes and updating the candidate) - takes 2-3 months.
A considerable number of candidates with the potential to be admitted to the Technion find another job during this time and thus do not reach the final stages.
Answer - The collective agreements require us to publish an internal tender before going to an external one. In the framework of the new engineers' agreement, we carry out a parallel procedure in both internal and external tender. We are in the process of improving/replacing the "Hunter" system. We eliminated the need for personal exams to shorten the recruitment processes, so we are now ready to recruit external engineers within a few days.
Tenure and Personal Contracts
Comment - Abolish the issue of tenure and make personal contracts with higher wages.
Tenure is irrelevant in today's world. I believe that if an employee is good, then they will keep him anyway. The salary at the Technion is very low compared to the private sector, making it quite the drawback, therefore even if someone gets tenure, it is not certain that they will stay if they find another place that pays better.
Answer - Tenure is an integral part of our long-standing collective agreements. The HR Department is diligently working on renewing these agreements. Specifically:
- For engineers, the new agreement already addresses this issue.
- However, for other employee sections - the renewal of agreements is still under negotiation.
- Additionally, there are personal agreements that offer solutions in specific cases.
A Cumbersome Recruitment Process
Comment - Multiple HR employees are involved during the recruitment process.
As a manager, I initiate a request for tender publication, which goes to the head of the recruitment section for approval, and corrections, and only then to publication. Subsequently, the process is handed off to another employee in the recruitment section. Unfortunately, it’s not always clear who is currently handling the specific tender, and sometimes multiple employees work on the same tender, leading to inefficiencies. To address this, consider implementing a routing system similar to SAP. Such a system would provide real-time visibility into the process, allowing everyone to know who is handling it and the current status.
Answer - As part of HR's recruitment innovations, we are integrating an employee service center and digitizing processes: Managers will soon have access to an online platform that displays the coordinator’s name, responsible for each recruitment stage. Currently, managers receive regular update emails regarding the coordinator handling salary evaluations. Going forward, we’ll also provide updates on the committee coordinator.
Creating Job Description Files
Comment - The “Documentum,” established by the Technion, was intended to provide the necessary information for all cross-campus roles, such as graduate administrators, building managers, etc. However, the current information filing platform does not allow for sharing this information and is not structured according to the required metrics for each campus role.
Answer - The Technion CEO has established a committee to advance this matter, chaired by Ms. Dalia Gutman, the Head of Administration of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering. The committee includes heads of administration and units. The issue is progressing and will be presented during 2025.
Forms
Comment - Many of the forms we are required to fill out (for example: travel, training...) are PDF forms which require printing out, scanning, and sending them by email. This is a long process that can be significantly shortened/improved.
Answer - PDF files can also be filled out electronically without the need for printing or a special license. To install PDF editing software, please contact the faculty computer engineer. Additionally, the Technion is currently implementing a digital forms system called K2. This system is expected to address this issue.
Employee Retention and Evaluation
Comment - Managers do not have the tools to retain and evaluate employees.
Answer - Engineers At the Technion benefit from evaluation and retention tools.
Additional staff sections participate in an incentive and feedback program.
Furthermore, we are actively developing agreements similar to those for engineers to cover other staff sections.
