Benefits Committee Meeting
January 10, 2007
The Gropius room at the Graduate School of Design
PRESENT: Doug Campbell (DC), Kevin Lau (KL), Jennifer Lyons (JL), Steven Marley (SM), Deb Morley (DM), Leena Siegelbaum (LS), Craig Thomas (CT)
ABSENT: Candice Feldt (CF), Spruill Harder (SH)

• The committee reviewed responses to the poll that BenCom conducted online in the Fall. An announcement about the poll was posted to the hulinfo listserv. Out of the ~750 hulinfo subscribers, 160 staff responded for a response rate of about 21%.
• The following ideas for programs/presentations that BenCom could sponsor were derived from reviewing the poll results:

  • A presentation about Harvie – what info is available
  • An overview of Harvard's Benefits Package
  • The Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) and what it offers
  • Writing a Will
  • Benefits after retirement
  • Housing – home ownership, first time home owners, Harvard housing

  Because there were many other suggestions provided, BenCom will continue to reflect on poll results for future program planning, and also consider other ways of linking library staff with benefits info, i.e. links from the BenCom Web site.

• The committee discussed other ways that sponsored programs might be advertised in addition to announcements on hulinfo. The events calendar and Library Notes were both suggested.
• The committee has decided on “What the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Offers” as the next BenCom program. JL will check with LAEC about the date for the spring assembly to avoid schedule conflicts. She will also check the events calendar to see what other LA programs might be scheduled for the spring. SM will contact Nancy Costykne, the Harvard Human Resources employee who is the contact for the EAP program, and Will Barron from the Wellness Group (which is the organization who provides Harvard with the EAP service) to invite them as speakers and get possible dates for a program.
• The next Benefits Committee meeting will be scheduled once we have a date established for the EAP program.