Submitted by: Bill Kuntz

There has been quite a bit of talk, both in and out of meetings (Union, Management, or joint) about "Pay for Performance". Whatever its merits or "demerits" may be, Pay for Performance is part of our contract now, and we should all strive to make the best of it.

One way to do this is to take advantage of the Electronic Classroom on A-floor in Firestone Library to learn or enhance needed computer skills. This room is open Wednesdays and Fridays, 12:00-2:00 both days so that one can use the computer-based training (CBT) that is available on these machines. Obviously for those of us who have CBT on our workstation PCs, there is no need to go there. But some of us don't have PCs; or our PCs do not have the program; or, as in my case, it's loaded on my PC, but there isn't sufficient memory in my PC to allow it to work.

For years, we have been telling Management that we have valuable skills, and of course we do, with our knowledge of one or more foreign languages, our analytical ability and attention to detail, and the variety of other skills that we bring to our jobs. However, we have also said that those we don't have, we could learn if given the opportunity. Through negotiation, as well as cooperation on shared goals, we have an opportunity to learn new or augment basic skills; let's take advantage of it while it's still available.

Due to new technology as well as other factors, jobs always change, but with the new integrated system that is soon to arrive, the jobs will probably change a lot faster. And in some cases, we will probably create parts of what our jobs will be as Labor and Management set out to define new roles for each one of us. But to do this, we will have to know how to use well the variety of programs with which our PCs are equipped.

Strictly speaking, using any of the Office software is not part of my job, and yet I find that my job has grown so that I maintain a few documents that are necessary for my job. By the standards of the people whose primary job it is to work with Office software, these documents are simple, I'm sure. But it is far more efficient for me to maintain the documents so that I can do so immediately, thereby not cluttering up someone else's time in addition to maintaining my own train of thought focused on the particular action required until all aspects of the processing of an item in my job are complete. And then I can move on to the next piece, and most likely will not have to go back and re-handle the previous item.

Before I set up documents which are important to my job, I created practice documents, where I could experiment--use trial and error--with some of the Office software on my PC. These practice documents are still useful if I expect to be leaning toward the "error" part of my experimentation, or if I just want to test how something works first; I don't really hurt any important documents, by continuing to use my practice documents. But since I started going to the Electronic Classroom where I have access to CBT, I find that I am surprised less often by seemingly big errors, and I also find it easier to undo them. And, of course, it makes good sense to apply what is learned, whether in a genuine work-related or practice document.

Sometimes we are being called on to do things that ordinarily in the past we would not have done; sometimes we are volunteering for those tasks. Among these tasks can be included oral presentations and training sessions. It's possible that the new tasks are not always welcome, especially if one's day is already filled beyond capacity with necessary tasks. Nevertheless, knowledge and use of a greater variety of skills can add interest and greater job satisfaction and general self-esteem. It is doubtful that it will add more meaningful money; nevertheless, Pay for Performance addresses ability to do many tasks, so it may generate more token money.

I don't think anyone is sure where we are going, but the time to learn any needed skills is now. And the training for these skills is available now. On Wednesdays and Fridays, I eat a quick sandwich and then use the rest of my lunch break for CBT. I'm working primarily with Office software in CBT, but the training modules that are available include basic Windows concepts as well as web-searching and web-surfing, and probably some other things I'm overlooking.

So far, I've learned the basics of word-processing (Word), spreadsheets (Excel), and HTML--the writing and formats of web-pages. Currently I'm learning how to do computer presentations (PowerPoint). By no means am I an expert, but my skills are or will be adequate, and that can be true for all of us. But it's up to us to use CBT before we lose it due to perceived lack of interest, and it's possible that we won't realize what we will have lost until this new system is in place and work patterns shift dramatically.

Bill Kuntz

OrderDivision

609-258-1597

wkuntz@phoenix.princeton.edu