Creating Successful Recruiting and Retention Strategies Through Partnerships
Track Four, Wednesday, Dec 9 1998
3:30PM - 4:15PM, Room 6E
Papers for University Perspective presentation by:
Catherine R. Lester, Assistant Director, Administrative Computing & Year 2000 Coordinator, University of Texas at Austin
Onedia H. Sylvest ,Project Director, Internal Services, Computing & Information Services, Texas A&M University
Lauren A. Turner, Director of Human Resources, Mount Holyoke College
Coordinating Point of Contact: Onedia Sylvest, Computing and Information Services, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, 77843-3142, 409-862-3444, FAX: 409-845-2074, [email protected].
Summary
Universities are challenged with attracting and retaining talented information technology staff. To succeed we must move beyond our traditional rules and assumptions to find ways to create and sustain organizational cultures and professional development programs that attract and retain talented people. The success of the presenters� strategies relies heavily on partnerships between IT, HR, and the academic community in general. Representatives from three campuses present examples of successful programs that resulted from their trusted partnerships.
Historically, Texas A & M University�s Human Resources Department and Computing and Information Services Department worked in an operational relationship. In 1996, the two groups began collaborating strategically to implement human resources practices that would improve CIS�s ability to retain talented staff and attract new talent. This partnership has created new practices and policies that resulted in a more flexible work environment and better promotion opportunities for the staff. The latest collaboration is a pilot test of a flexible work program that includes both a flexible work schedule option and a telecommuting option.
The new workforce and the ever-changing technological work environment are requiring organizations to break out of traditional practices of resource management - Mount Holyoke College is no exception. All employers, not just institutions of higher education, are experiencing the impact of the changes in the workforce. We all acknowledge that demands for technology support and services have grown exponentially over the last five years. Since, information technology resources are limited, it has been essential that Library Information Technology Services (LITS) management work closely with College senior management to establish reasonable priorities and goals for themselves. Technology planning can no longer be a periphery or stand-alone activity.
Mount Holyoke College Human Resources and Information Technology staffs have joined their respective expertise to form a partnership that has helped to address many of the challenges that the College has faced. This partnership has resulted in the identification and implementation of several creative strategies targeted toward these challenges. Continuously, developing and retooling strategies to respond to these challenges has become a core activity in which Mount Holyoke Human Resources and Information Technology staff are invested.
Q: What is a constant problem for administrative computing units in higher education?
A: Recruiting and retaining technical staff.
Q: What is one of a university's most valuable assets?
A: Its graduates.
Graduates + Training = New Technical Staff
Administrative Computing Services (ACS) at The University of Texas at Austin has been hiring and training graduates with a non-technical background and turning them into successful programmer / analysts for 30 years. This training program has become essential during the past 18 months. Working with Human Resources, ACS was able to significantly increase the size of the pool of qualified applicants, as turnover increased the number of people hired within a single year. ACS continues to work with HR to meet legal requirements in the hiring process, while still finding new ways to alter campus procedures and policies to fit recruiting and hiring needs.
Creating your own programmer/analyst technical pool
Cathy Lester, Assistant Director, Administrative Computing
Services,
The University of Texas at Austin, Cause 98, Seattle, Washington
Q: What is a constant problem for administrative computing units in higher education?
A: Recruiting and retaining technical staff.
Q: What is one of a university's most valuable assets?
A: Its graduates.
Graduates + Training = New Technical Staff
Administrative Computing Services at The University of Texas at Austin has been hiring and training graduates with a non-technical background and turning them into successful programmer / analysts for 30 years. This training program has become essential during the past 18 months, when consulting companies have heavily recruited our application developers, luring them away with offers of 2 and 3 times their current salary.
The resulting turnover and retention problems are multi-dimensional problems, and that is how Administrative Computing has approached the problem: with both long- and short-term strategies, and with both one-time and recurring financial solutions. But the most important lesson we have learned is the enduring benefits of our in-house training program and the advantages and benefits of partnering with Human Resources.
Working in tandem with Human Resources, we were able to significantly increase the size of our pool of qualified applicants, as turnover increased the number of people hired within a single year. We continue to work with HR to ensure that we meet legal requirements in the hiring process, while still finding new ways to alter campus procedures and policies to fit our recruiting and hiring needs.
The curriculum in our training program has changed from a 3GL in the 70's to a 4GL in the 80's to cgi scripts in the 90's. But the training program has retained the same philosophy of hiring at the entry-level, based on an analytical aptitude test, and using a 6 month probationary period to verify skills and aptitude. The graduates of the training program are then available to campus departments to hire into their budget or to do contract work on shorter projects. Working again with HR, we have developed a department-to-department transfer policy that allows us to move personnel from one department to another for the same salary / position, as project needs demand.
You can see further information about our programs at the following websites:
Home page for Administrative Computing, University of Texas at Austin:
http://www.utexas.edu/admin/dp/
Web page describing our entry level position:
http://dpweb1.dp.utexas.edu/education/ia.position/index.html
Overview of our training program:
http://www.utexas.edu/admin/dp/education.html
Description of training program for campus staff employed by other departments:
http://dpweb1.dp.utexas.edu/education/acs.trng.html
Training materials:
http://dpweb1.dp.utexas.edu/education/DP.tutorials/
OHR employment application system
http://www.utexas.edu/admin/ohr/empl/
IT and HR Partnership at Texas A & M University: A Strategy for Successful Innovation
Onedia Sylvest
Computing and Information Services, Texas A & M University
College Station, Texas
Historically, Texas A & M University�s Human Resources Department and Computing and Information Services Department worked in an operational relationship. In 1996, the two groups began collaborating strategically to implement human resources practices that would improve CIS�s ability to retain talented staff and attract new talent. This partnership has created new practices and policies that resulted in a more flexible work environment and better promotion opportunities for the staff. The latest collaboration is a pilot test of a flexible work program that includes both a flexible work schedule option and a telecommuting option. This paper focuses on the process of the collaboration that resulted in the approval of this pilot test.
Over the past three years the Human Resources (HR) and Computing and Information Services (CIS) departments at Texas A & M have transformed our relationship. We moved from being merely client and advisor or service provider and customer to a partners. Through our partnership, we discovered how to implement innovative ideas and how to pilot untried programs in our University. Today, I want to share the process of discovery that resulted in our latest pilot test.
Texas A & M�s working hours and work location rules are based on state legislation and Texas A&M System policies. Two elements that particularly affect CIS are that employees are required to work 40 hours in a week and they cannot regularly work at a location other than their designated office or duty station. Over time, CIS staff became increasingly interested in telecommuting and began asking us for this option. Our initial discussions with HR during our recruiting and retention strategy sessions yielded little hope that such a program would be possible for state employees. However, CIS and HR followed two parallel paths that subsequently merged to secure approval for a pilot test of a Flexible Work Program in CIS.
CIS initially began research to document to CIS employees why telecommuting would not be possible. We discovered how it might be possible. The latest Texas General Appropriations Act (GAA) contained changes that allow alternative work locations for employees with specific permission from the agency head. Therefore, last Spring, the CIS HR staff began researching telecommuting programs, practices, challenges, and policies.
Meanwhile, as the change to the GAA became more widely known in the university, HR was getting inquiries about telecommuting options. They also began researching telecommuting to develop guidelines to help departments make informed decisions. HR also recognized the need for some type of test program. Then, the Director of CIS made a call to the Director of HR with a request for help in refining our draft ideas for a Pilot Flexible Work Program. Both directors immediately recognized an excellent opportunity for another successful collaboration.
Members of both staffs worked together for several weeks refining the proposal. The resulting proposal added a telecommuting option to our approved flexible working-hours program. The proposal addressed known challenges for telecommuting programs and incorporated the best practices and policies from the research. The proposal allows 25 volunteer participants to telecommute up to 30 hours per week during the pilot test. Selection considerations include an employee�s performance and discipline history as well as the characteristics of the work assigned. The pilot test is a phased program that includes:
After helping us address the known challenges involved in implementing a telecommuting program, HR helped us gain approval from the Provost. CIS has completed the initial training and selection of participants, and the actual test period begins in January, 1999
CIS is unable to predict what we will discover during the pilot of this flexible work program. However, HR will help us address any issues that arise; they will help us evaluate the program; and they will support us in our final report and recommendations. We also know that the lessons we learn during this pilot will allow HR to assist other parts of the university in dealing with the challenges of telecommuting.
We will share more information about our Flexible Work Program Pilot Test through the EDUCAUSE website concerning retaining, retraining, and recruiting information technology staff at http://www.educause.edu/issues/issue.asp?issue=hrit.
Mount Holyoke College
Collaboration, Adaptability and
Flexibility are Keys to Success!
Lauren Turner
Mount Holyoke College
South Hadley, Massachusetts
The new workforce and the ever-changing technological work environment are requiring organizations to break out of traditional practices of resource management - and Mount Holyoke College is no exception. All employers, not just institutions of higher education, are experiencing the impact of the changes in the workforce. Therefore, as we develop strategies to recruit, to retrain, and attempt to retain qualified, successful employees, we must acknowledge that we are doing so in an environment of increasing and changing customer expectation and a highly competitive and diverse labor market. In addition, this competitive labor market is fueled by both the demand for technology skills as well as the changing expectations of the employment contract. We, like many organizations, are presented with these challenges in the face of budget constraints and institutional cultural resistance to change.
Mount Holyoke College is a private, liberal arts college for women, located in western Massachusetts, with 1,900 full-time, undergraduate students and 900 employees. Approximately three years ago, our computing, library, and electronic services departments underwent restructuring which involved the merging of these previously separate entities into one large organization - Library Information Technology Services (LITS).
Many of the employment challenges we face are not dissimilar to the challenges of our peer institutions. Changing office and classroom technologies, maintaining competitive salaries, training and retraining, work restructuring, and managing expectations are among them.
We all acknowledge that demands for technology support and services has grown exponentially over the last five years. However, our information technology resources are limited. Therefore, it has been essential that LITS management work closely with College senior management to establish reasonable priorities and goals for themselves. Both Human Resources and Information Technology leadership have been successful in gaining support from senior management and in moving discussions about technology to be more central to college planning. Technology planning can no longer be a periphery or stand-alone activity.
Mount Holyoke College Human Resources (HR) and Information Technology (IT) staff have joined with their respective expertise to form a partnership which has helped to address many of the challenges with which our College has been presented. This partnership has resulted in the identification and implementation of several creative strategies targeted toward these challenges. Continuously developing and retooling strategies to respond to these challenges has become a core activity in which our Human Resources and Information Technology staff are invested.
One of our initiatives has been the establishment of a local experts group. With the expanding utilization of technology, in conjunction with the College’s commitment of resources to purchase hardware and software, this was an area in which user demand was burgeoning. LITS staff had no where near sufficient resources to respond to the need for support. But, we needed to come up with a solution which would prevent us from landing in a situation where we had a significant investment in equipment with no complementary support for education and training. Many staff were becoming very excited about the possibilities technology offered them in doing their jobs more effectively and efficiently. At the same time, many staff were overwhelmed. Working together, LITS and HR staff developed the notion of a "local experts" group. We were able to identify the more computer-literate staff disbursed across campus and decided to capitalize on their expertise and energy. If we could establish a group of users from across-campus who were excited about and took an interest in technology, we would have the foundation for a very useful campus network of experts who could partner with IT staff in all kinds of areas effecting technology. This "local experts" idea was proposed to department heads in all of our academic and administrative offices. There was overwhelming support for the idea and LITS proceeded to work with departments across campus to identify these "experts". This step of the process was critically important to the success of the group. It was necessary that employees who would be in this group have support from their respective managers and be provided work time to participate. An initial concern about this initiative was whether staff who were identified and invited to participate would feel that they were being fairly compensated for this more advanced technology role they would be assuming. I will discuss this concern further when I speak about the revamping of our Salary Administration Program.
Since its inception, this group has attended to many issues. They have been used as the target audience for initial introduction to and training on new technologies. They have served as "train-the-trainers" in learning new systems and relating their learnings to staff in their respective departments. They serve as liaisons between LITS staff and their departmental staff in solving computing problems. They have helped LITS identify, test, and prioritize new technology needs and campus training needs. The fact that some academic department administrative assistants are participants in this group has also helped build bridges with and support for faculty. This group has also had training on office ergonomics and has helped to identify and resolve ergonomic concerns within their departments. LITS staff, themselves, have also been very helpful in identifying workspaces across campus that pose ergonomic hazard and have both reported them to HR and worked with HR to resolve many of them.
Recognizing that many of our current employees are struggling with the need to learn new technologies, we have offered several training sessions on the software programs that are most highly used by staff. Although we had offered such classes in past years, attendance at them has historically been low. However, LITS staff continue to hear from department heads and staff that "they need training opportunities." Rather than continuing to follow the pattern of scheduling training, and experiencing low attendance, we challenged the community on their interest in and commitment to attending training sessions. LITS conducted a survey of campus needs and interests. We discussed such possibilities as charging departments a nominal fee to register employees for classes (since in the past, staff have registered, but not shown up), charging departments for "no shows", and encouraged department heads to urge their staff to attend and to provide paid release time for them to attend. Last year, we incorporated the LITS technology training opportunities into the HR catalogue of spring professional development opportunities. Participation in training sessions has increased. The result is that many staff have successfully developed technology skills which have helped them to be more effective in their jobs.
In thinking about the way office staff positions are changing and how technology is a central and key competency for success, LITS and HR staff discussed the notion of establishing a set of core technology competencies for new office hires. We identified, and obtained management support for, the following set of skills that we would establish as prerequisite skills for all new office/administrative hires: basic word processing; basic spreadsheet; use of web browser; basic shared printer and file sharing; e-mail; file management; basic hardware use and maintenance; comfort with learning new technology; positive attitudes toward change; and some understanding and appreciation of work analysis and work restructuring.
In 1996 we implemented a new Salary Administration System. Our former system did not include job factors which appropriately recognized and valued the changing role of technology in campus jobs. As we embarked on developing a new system, we knew that our job evaluation instrument (the tool we use to collect information about position duties, responsibilities, experience and education...) had to be modified so that it would collect better information about technical competencies required in positions.
Probably the most important change in our salary system was the closer linkage with market salary data. We did extensive benchmarking for many positions in our system in order to establish a competitive salary grade range structure. In assigning positions to grades, we not only considered the data collected from the internal assessment of the position, we also factored in the market salary information. This market data included data from all types of organizations including higher education, manufacturing, technology, insurance, and other service industries. We acknowledge that the market within which we are competing for qualified employees has significantly expanded. Whereas, in not-to-distant years past, we were much more inclined to use higher education market data for determining competitive salaries.
Since LITS was emerging as a new organization just as we were about to implement our new salary system, we agreed with LITS management that we would conduct a comprehensive study of their positions once the merger was complete. This study resulted in the reclassification of several positions with corresponding salary adjustments, and agreement among LITS management, HR staff, employees in LITS, and other appropriate college officials that we had achieved our goals which were to appropriately value positions based on our internal position evaluation instrument and to pay competitive salaries.
Another noteworthy strategy we implemented was the restructuring of the position of Director of Desktop Technologies (former title of this position was Director of Administrative Computing). The responsibilities of this new position included, in addition to more traditional administrative computing functions, the responsibility to partner with departments to enable them to creatively and efficiently use technology to accomplish their goals, improve efficiencies, and restructure workflow. Specific skills, abilities, and qualities we were seeking for the incumbent in this position included the ability to lead and implement work restructuring projects and train team members on the work restructuring process.
We have also invited Information Technology staff, as appropriate, to serve on search committees for key administrative and faculty positions so that they could lend their expertise to the search and selection process.
In summary, HR and LITS leadership truly work together to ensure that the college understands its technology needs and have developed a working partnership which enables us to respond to changing needs timely, effectively, and efficiently. Mount Holyoke College has adopted an institutional collaborative approach to information technology management and resource allocation. We continue to foster an environment in which individuals and departments are expected to partner to get work done and to create a culture not only able to function effectively with, but thrive on, change.