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As Housing & Residential Services’
scope expands, it becomes more important to evaluate how we do business
and shift some of our assumptions. As we make paradigm shifts, we
increase cooperation and gain efficiencies in our operations. Below
are examples of paradigm shifts that improved how we do business,
and in some cases, gained a cost savings.
- A major shift in Housing’s leadership occurred as the five
Unit Directors worked with a consultant to review their working
practices. They created a plan to work together in decision-making,
toward the good of the whole department, rather than operating
as five separate units.
- Residential Operations began a five-year program to include
more Spanish language in their daily operation. Managers began
attending Spanish classes, and some English language documents
were translated into Spanish.
- A new Online Student Employment Application process was set
up and implemented. The goals were to centralize the vast amount
of student applications into one location, accurately represent
student job availabilities within H&RS and save manager’s
time. This system also allows easy updates on changing information
such as job descriptions, pay rates, and any particular application’s
status.
- In order to balance the customer counts in Carrillo and Ortega,
residents were assigned to one or the other commons and their
ACCESS cards were designated with stickers. A similar number of
residents were assigned to each facility to help with consistency
and throughput. Students could choose to eat in either facility
at any breakfast or at any meal, Friday through Sunday. Residents
were also free to select a take out meal throughout the day, which
helped offset the crowding inside the facilities. These options
helped maintain a steady stream of customers and minimize crowding.
- A system was developed and established for summer conference
dining at Francisco Torres that effectively mirrors the system
in place for the other facilities. There was an effective collaboration
with the Family Vacation Center staff that helped create a new
system of operation for the return of the vacation center after
its two-year hiatus.
- Several operating efficiencies accompanied Carrillo’s new
style of cooking. Carrillo was able to cut down on food waste
by “batch cooking” (cooking small amounts of food needed
at the time). Batch cooking also ensures the highest quality food
possible and therefore reduces food waste. Plated menu items help
control portions consumed, which also helps with the food cost.
Due to cross-training within Carrillo, each cook has the capability
of working in every platform, allowing Carrillo to shift staff
during peak periods.
- Ortega Dining Commons made changes to provide service as close
to the platform style at Carrillo as possible. Self-serve bars
were added daily, especially at dinner when the meal counts averaged
over 1,300, Monday through Thursday.
- Staff from Business Services and Dining Services teamed together
to streamline the weekly guest meal billing. Previously, the system
took almost six hours to complete and now only takes half an hour.
The new system goes directly into BA/RC, bypassing RMS.
- The use of Modern Postcard and Kinkos enabled our department
to improve the output quality of many publications (e.g., Convocation,
invitations and maps) with substantial cost savings.
- The department revamped the idea of one large H&RS graduation
event with smaller, more personal gatherings within each unit.
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