HR Effectiveness Survey

Survey results suggest that HR should invest in agile and flexible work environments when appropriate – ensuring that service offerings and the workplace community supports employees in hybrid and remote environments, while also ensuring that employees who predominantly report on campus do not receive the brunt of traditionally “on-campus/in-office” labor if it’s not part of their job description (including, reception work, mail organization, printing/faxing, answering phones, event planning/coordination, etc). With this in mind, there are training/development gaps inherent in the flexible work policy which may offer HR an opportunity to work across campus to better design hybrid-forward work environments, that reimagine traditional modes of working while increasing productivity and equity for all work environments (whether 100% remote, hybrid, or 100% on campus).

As this is the College’s first thorough review of the flexible work policy, it was important for Human Resources to understand how connectedness, belonging and community were fostered in a hybrid/remote environment and if there were learning gaps inherent in the transition to a hybrid-forward environment. 68% of respondents stated that they feel connected to their coworkers/team when working remotely or hybrid. This percentage decreased, however, when their coworkers/team members were working remotely or hybrid (with only 59% feeling connected to their peers that were remote/hybrid).

30% of employees surveyed stated that HR is not available to assist them on the days and hours they need, and 37% of employees stated that when contacting HR, service was not delivered in a timely manner. Human Resources should review its issue/request intake procedures and utilize issue tracking technology, as appropriate, to commit to, and to better track, response time and to ensure availability when employees need us.

In doing so, it is incumbent upon HR to define a standard response time based on issue/request severity and to commit to that policy to ensure stability and to strengthen our relationship with our clients. This is also in line with survey trends stating that only 52% of respondents believe HR provides information that is accurate the first time around, 57% believe HR provides helpful and accurate information, and only 50% believe HR exhibits a solid understand of HR issues. It is incumbent upon HR to review HR procedures, responsibilities, and objectives to ensure consensus in employee support and to increase our internal communications and education to ensure that information is as accurate and clear as possible the first time our clients request it.

It is also important to note that there are three (3) standard shift schedules at the College: day shift, evening shift and night shift. Currently, HR staff are day shift employees only. Reviewing responses to the statement “HR is available to assist me on the days and hours I need” based on the shift schedule of the respondents provides important context to the shift groups who feel best supported by HR’s service hours. In reviewing how HR ensures service availability and accessibility, it will be important to consider how shift schedules may introduce roadblocks for employees who need to access HR services, as employees predominantly working the evening and night shift may be prevented from reaching HR for questions/solution, or attending HR presentations, events, or meetings.

Part of reviewing quality of HR service means reflecting on the ways in which we work within Human Resources and the role that we play in pursuit of the College’s strategic goal of becoming an employer of choice. This means reviewing historical and more nascent programs in HR – such as the HR Business Partner model, the transition toward HR Cloud based self-service, analytics, and data processing, and HR’s relationship with College divisions—to understand what progresses us and what presents roadblocks toward realizing our mission.

This translates into the notion shared by 33% of respondents who believe that newly hired employees do not receive support and information that helps them stay at the College. Likewise, 47% of respondents believe that their HR Recruiter could do more to attract/retain talent for their area. It is evident from this data that an audit of the recruitment and onboarding program is necessary and that gaps exist in the sourcing, recruitment, and onboarding of candidates.

This aligns, importantly, with current people analytics suggesting that a new hire’s first forty-five (45) days are critical in determining the viability of employee retention within the organization (Harvard Business Review). As HR reviews/manages turnover, in collaboration with IC leadership, it will be imperative that HR upskill the College in effective practices for onboarding and orienting employees within their organization, their position, and their team. In doing so:

• HR should clearly define the roles that campus departments and HR share in the partnership to recruit and onboard talent (and to identify existing talent within the internal candidate marketplace to provide progression, retention, and upskilling opportunities for our existing workforce).
• HR should audit current practices and campaigns aimed at recruiting and sourcing talent to ensure its effectiveness – defining the candidate value proposition to increase candidate pools and to reduce time-to-hire statistics.
• HR should continue its efforts to expand onboarding opportunities across a variety of mediums (web-based, in person, hybrid) and across various employee milestones (first day, first 6 months, first year, first promotion, etc) to ensure employees can stay engaged with IC and also receive information that supports them in each of their positions at the College. (At the time of this survey, the only onboarding offering was a module offered through IC HR Cloud. Beginning March 2023, an in-person onboarding offering was re-introduced for new hires.)