TRIUMF PSRC Meeting
June 17, 2010 13:15 – 14:30
Attending: Stu Austen (Chair), Jennifer Kaban, Niki Martin, Brenda Morrey, Colin Morton, Mike Mouat and Doug Preddy
Regrets: Curtis Ballard and John Drozdoff
Guest: Nigel Lockyer
Posting of Minutes
It was decided that at each meeting we will approve the minutes from the last meeting. If the minutes need clarifications or amendments, it will be done at this time as well.
Survey
The reasoning behind the staff survey was that there is a communication problem at TRIUMF. The survey and its results are viewed as a start point for a conversation. Senior Management Meeting (SMM) members didn’t all fill out the survey, participation levels can be seen even within SMM.
Pay Parking
Nigel Lockyer (NSL) wanted the pay parking structure to be as flexible as possible. There are many options for paying for parking depending on your vehicle usage. TRIUMF wants to use all the money collected from the parking to improve our parking lot instead of it going to UBC. Management still has not decided what to do about Emeriti at TRIUMF. UBC Emeriti do not have to pay for parking, it would be easiest to follow UBC’s standard. It was noted again that the timing regarding the pay parking was not ideal because it was announced around the time when the no cost of living increase decision was made and the HST was introduced.
Science Division Head Search
Management made an offer to a candidate who will be coming for INPC with his family. It is TRIUMF’s hope that the candidate accepts at the end of the visit.
Communication
It was NSL’s hope that each Division would have a monthly all-hands meeting. This hasn’t happened in great success. It was stated that “word of mouth” isn’t a proper way of communication and that seems to be what has gone on in the past. Divisional all-hands meetings would communicate what is happening at the lab and in the Divisions to everyone in each division. HR is working on their communication tools and NSL agrees that the HR Newsletter is not the proper vehicle for policy announcements.
Nigel
When asked to comment on a statement he was alleged to have made at a senior management meeting to the effect that P&S staff were not overworked, NSL made the clarification that the actual statement was more to the effect that morale amongst P&S staff was low but it was not because they were over-worked. He then spoke about TRIUMF careers as a job, way of life and what drives people. He noted that the work-horse of the lab is the P&S and TECs. There was discussion regarding maintaining the lab and what work goes into maintenance. NSL spoke about Ops people vs. Project people. The tug-of-war between new money and new projects. The tug-of-war between where the lab should be and where the lab could be. NSL reported that he believed a large portion of what we have to do currently is the result of poor planning, we’ve already committed to a number of projects that were poorly planned in the beginning and it isn’t worth it to pull out now. That is why Project Management is important, to prioritize projects with end dates in order to allocate funds and man power. NSL spoke about how it is important to be able to de-scope if necessary. A comment from an MP was “what is that old physics laboratory doing anyways?”, once they hear about our projects MP’s and government are more supportive. Key terms that resonate with government are “international connections, excellent science, and private sector”.
Direction of the lab - communication
One concern of the P&S is that it’s not clear what the focus is now after the funding has come through. There are fears over all of the upcoming projects, with continued maintenance, staff cuts, and reduced pay – with all of these things the future direction of the lab is unclear and it would be useful for everyone if once a plan is in place, that it be communicated appropriately with the staff.