key operational plans
Human Resource Support and Development Plan
Executive Summary September 2006
The Human Resource Support and Development Plan is a document that provides an overview of current human resources support and development services at UW Oshkosh, linking and integrating the Affirmative Action Plan and the Diversity Plan 2008. The Plan also outlines human resource support and development planning assumptions over the next five years, anticipates challenges with attaining recommended goals and lays out action steps to address those challenges.
The Human Resource Office, working closely with the Office of the Provost, is the unit responsible for providing the leadership to develop and refine this key operational plan to promote the increased professionalism, refinement and support of our four employee groups—faculty, academic staff, classified staff and students.
The Human Resources Office supports the Offices of the Deans, Chairs, Vice
Chancellors, Associate/Assistant Vice Chancellors, and Directors across the
campus by providing the following major groupings of services: (1)
coordination of fringe benefits, immigration and international taxes; payroll
and leave accounting, workers compensation, unemployment compensation, family
and medical leave, and student employment for all employee groups; (2) manage
recruitment, reclassification for classified staff, performance evaluation
and merit processes, labor relations, complaints and grievances of classified
staff; (3) provide assistance with recruitment, salary equity and re-titling
for academic staff, complaints and grievances of faculty and academic staff.
In supporting these same campus offices, the Office of the Provost has typically
provided the following major groupings of services: (1) relationship
management between administration, faculty and instructional academic staff;
(2) manage recruitment, selection, renewal, promotion, tenure and merit for
faculty and instructional academic staff; (3) provide orientation of new
faculty and instructional academic staff; (4) manage development programs
for faculty and academic staff.
The Equity & Affirmative Action Office supports these same campus offices,
along with the entire campus community by providing the following major groupings
of services: (1) leadership on equity and affirmative action; (2) education
and training on issues related to equity and affirmative action including
involvement in the recruitment and hiring processes; (3) develop, implement,
monitor and evaluate equity and affirmative action policies and procedures;
(4) serve as the contact for faculty, staff and students on complaints/grievances
related to equity and affirmative action, and as the employee ombudsman. At
this time the HR Director is also the Director of Equity & Affirmative
Action, with an Assistant Director of Equity & Affirmative Action reporting
to the director.
The Offices have historically taken a reactive approach to human resources management, focusing primarily on the administration of services (e.g., processing applications, benefits, performance evaluations, and payroll). In the past several years increased training programs for employees, a mentoring program and improved orientation of new employees have been initiated, indicating a shift to a more proactive role. For the Human Resources and Provost’s Offices to be valued by other administrative offices and employees, they must provide efficient administration of the personnel function but, equally important, they must become a partner in enhancing strategy execution, generating commitment and productivity from employees, creating solutions to human resource problems preventing the campus from achieving its full potential, and nurturing the organization’s capacity for change. We must create value and value creation demands a real transformation for the human resources function.
In an effort to become an effective strategic partner and align the human resources function with the strategic vision of the university, the units must become collaborative partners in delivering human resource services and meeting the needs of a diverse campus community. They must adopt an internal consultant role and provide leadership support for practices and standards which motivate employees and result in effective use of human, financial, technical and physical resources. The units must place a high value on professionalism, collegiality, and cooperation while recognizing the importance of individual contributions. Finally, they must be proactive in furthering a campus culture that embraces diversity as a means to ensuring excellence in the delivery of education.
The three units cannot achieve this vision alone. All campus leaders (e.g., Vice Chancellors, Assistant Vice Chancellors, Deans, Directors, supervisors, department chairs) must develop a more proactive approach to managing human resources. They must seek information, education and training that will enhance their leadership. They must call upon human resources providers to provide assistance in developing reward systems, solving performance problems, resolving conflict, ensuring knowledge transfer, developing leadership, and building healthy work climates within their units, colleges and departments.