In April 2018, the Office of Human Resources (HR) engaged an external consultant, Harvey Blustain, to review HR’s recruitment workflow and provide feedback on how recruitment related processes could be streamlined and continued improvements could be made related to service to campus. Mr. Blustain was on-site for several days in spring 2018, reviewing process documents and website information, making observations, and talking with members of University HR and campus partners involved in the recruitment process. The project announcement provides additional background information.

In the summer of 2018, the university has received the consultant’s report and has since reviewed its findings and identified a series of next steps to take related to the recommendations. A summary of recommendations is also available.

We were pleased to note that the report acknowledges good and foundational work that has been done by University HR staff and campus partners, and that the findings were consistent with projects already underway or in the planning stages. We know that the types of changes the university has made in the last several years has had an impact on our partners, and we are committed to using the report to both move the recruitment program forward as a resource for the university and also to strengthen our relationships with our partners.

Next steps

Implementation Advisory/Work Group (IAWG)

At the request of the VPFA, Human Resources has launched the Implementation Advisory/Work Group.  The advisory/work group is charged with evaluating and assisting with implementation of recommended action items from the Recruitment Workflow Consultant Report in the context of HR and institutional priorities and strategic initiatives. The work group is advisory to the Vice President for Finance and Administration and CFO, and is led by Nancy Nieraeth, Director of Talent Acquisition, University Human Resources. The work group consists of a core group of key partners, with other campus partners joining as needed depending on the projects in process. The work group will also serve an important liaison role about initiatives in this area, interfacing with the HR Partners and HR Advisory Team groups.

We invited partners who can represent the University’s varied recruitment needs; who are solution-oriented and supportive of change; who are energized by approaching problems with a collaborative, reality-based, institutional focus; and who were willing to commit to the group for 6 months.

The group was formulated with a mix of academic and administrative units, to cover as many different recruitment needs and approaches as possible. We anticipate collaborative opportunities for other subject matter experts and stakeholders to participate.

Group Partners:

• Adam Unger, Business Manager IoN, Neuroscience
• Amanda Rosenberg,  Executive Asst to AVP/COS, Student Life
• Anna Duncan,  Divisional Personnel & Budget Specialist –Natural Science, College of Arts and Sciences
• Ben Kane, Payroll Operations Manager, Business Affairs Office
• Jessica Marquez, HR Manager, School of Journalism and Communication
• Kim Molinari, Director of Employee Relations, Advancement
• Michael Thompson, Assistant Director for Administrative & Financial Support, Financial Aid and Scholarships
• Nancy Fish, Office and Personnel Manager, International Affairs
• Tonya Perkins, HR Manager, School of Law

HR Action Steps

The HR leadership team analyzed the recommendations in the report. One of the key recommendations of the report was the charge for leadership to address the university’s philosophy and model for recruitment, including evaluating risks related to recruitment and classification/compensation decisions, and clarifying the university’s tolerance for risk in these areas. In response, Talent Acquisition prepared a risk profile recommendation for HR leadership and VPFA review and endorsement and anticipates sharing this broadly with HR partners in spring 2019 after reviewing with the IAWG.

Significant work has been done in this area to identify opportunities to transfer responsibility for low-risk functions to units, in relation to the development and implementation of the regional hub model mentioned in the report.

Many of the other recommendations in the report confirm needs that had been previously identified and action has already been taken. These include:

• Searches launched to augment both short-term and ongoing staffing in the recruitment and classification and compensation functions.
• Training recruitment staff to perform first-tier triage of incoming transactions and classification and compensation evaluation
• Automating PAC delivery
• Eliminating position-specific position descriptions for instructional Pro-Tempore hires
• Providing more training opportunities, including workshops on hiring tenure-track faculty
• Tracking of approval time metrics for position descriptions and requisitions on a quarterly basis
• Moving the completion of offer card and delivery of offers for tenure track faculty to University HR, rather than the units
• The Talent Acquisition team regularly meeting with HR Partners in their units to better understand their unique talent needs

A number of additional actions have been identified, some of which are already underway. These include:

• Identifying and addressing short-term and ongoing HR staffing needs
• Implementing a Regional Hub model for talent acquisition transactions on a pilot basis
• Continue development of integrating MyTrack and Banner for hires who are new to UO. This is currently being ran in beta mode to identify and resolve any remaining issues before rolling out to campus.
• Updating website content and integrating system and process instructions for ease of navigation and increased clarity
• Changing the approval process for revised position descriptions, in order to remove Banner set up and audit of codes for Affirmative Action Plan and other regulatory reporting from the critical path of final approval
• Identifying additional service metrics and building end-user reports
• Identifying cross-training opportunities for the HR Service Center to provide additional assistance for recruitment functions
• Streamlining research recruitments