A Message from Ujima Donalson, POD Executive Director
UWHR is undergoing a strategic realignment that groups a number of our functional units under the newly formed areas of Campus Services and Operations, Total Benefits, and Total Talent Management, the latter of which I will be leading effective December 1. I continue to remain at the helm for POD and in addition will now oversee the recruiting and staffing units, each of which has its own extremely capable leadership. Although this change means some internal reconfiguring of who reports to whom, its purpose is external — to better support employees, leaders, and the UW as a whole and to ensure we’re building a workforce that serves the University’s needs today and in the future.
Aligning key units within UWHR means being able to take a more comprehensive and holistic approach and reflects an integrated talent management framework that includes acquisition, onboarding, development, and retention. One area of focus will be strengthening the ways in which UWHR supports managers in their work to hire, support, and develop employees. I also see major opportunities for change — and synergy — in efforts around employee onboarding. Up until now, various parts of this whole have been “owned” across UWHR. Campus Operations, for instance, has been responsible for communicating key information to new hires and hiring managers while POD has been in charge of the in-person New Employee Orientation and SLP Supervisor Orientation workshops.
As a primarily self-sustaining unit, POD and its fee-based training programs and consulting services will continue to operate in the same manner as before. However, I do expect that, over time, our heightened interconnectedness with other units in UWHR will spark innovations with the learning and development opportunities we provide and allow us to leverage skills and expertise across Total Talent Management.
I am beyond thrilled to join forces with my colleagues as we strive to add both continuity and ingenuity to processes and strategies that affect the spectrum of the employment experience, from recruitment to hiring, onboarding, engagement, development, recognition, and retention.
You can read more about our initial efforts with changes to New Employee Orientation, as well as our larger vision for onboarding, in this issue. In addition, this issue includes the first installment of key learnings from the CUPA-HR conference that I recently attended. Finally, because it aligns with University efforts around inclusiveness, for this issue we asked one of the new members of the University Consulting Alliance to write about creating welcoming and supportive work environments.
As always, I hope that The Leading Edge helps guide you along your path as a leader and acts as a catalyst for positive change in your organization.
