Phillip Week 11: Interview with Patricia Castillo, Director of Employee Relations, EPISD

The El Paso ISD is one of the largest school districts in the State of Texas and as an educational institution, I was wondering how its rewards system(s) is different from that of a private sector institution.

Good morning, Ms. Castillo. Our cohort's readings deal with reward systems and employee retention. Can you describe any rewards or incentives used in the school district?


Every department and campus within the district is different, as they'll all have smaller types of incentives and/or team building activities. As a district, we are limited as far as financial incentives we can offer. I would say right now we have a long-tern benefit in which employees can roll over unused sick, personal and vacation days each year. By the time an employee retires the district will pay the employee 50% of what those days are worth.

Even if an employee leaves the district?


As long as the employee is eligible for retirement when the resign.


(NOTE - According to the Teacher Retirement Systems of Texas, an employee is eligible for retirement when the employee's age and number of years worked adds up to 85. Ex. A 55-year-old who has worked as a teacher for 25 years is eligible to retire with full benefits).


Does the school district participate in any of the traditional employee recognitions, such as Employee of the Month/Year?


Yes we do and the EOM gets a plaque but we can't offer financial incentives or days off. The employee is recognized at a board meeting, receives a plaque at that meeting and then it's business as usual.

One of our readings talks about employee engagement and how the more an employee is engaged, the more likely that employee will stay on the job (Heymann & Barrera, 2011). For an organization that can't provide much in the way of incentives and rewards, how do you keep employees engaged?


That's a terrific question because right now as we search for a new Superintendent, we are in the middle of trying to change what has been the status quo for the last 5 years in that employees pretty much did what they were told and had little to no input. Administrators pretty much abided by what the Superintendent wanted and everyone else had to follow suit and no rock the boat. Today, we are trying to find ways where employees can be more vocal when it comes to policy and how things work.

Don't employees have a federation that serves as their own special interest group to help in that department?


They do but that group isn't as strong as they would like their members to believe. On the contrary, this was the same group that fought hard to convince the board of trustees to approve the district changing health benefits plans, a move that many employees are regretting.

So we're leading the way in re-enforcing our communications process to employees and encouraging them to work within that process.

Thanks very much for your time!

Reference

Heymann, J., Barrera, M. (2010) Engaging Employees in the Company's Profits and Their Own, Harvard Business School, pp. 1-28