University Business - September 2007 - (Page 25)

HUMAN RESOURCES Smart Hiring Facing future talent shortages, higher ed institutions implement strategic staﬃng plans. By Carol Patton AST YEAR, THE UNIVER sity of Texas at Austin formed a workforce planning unit to examine staﬃng issues at the school. The team’s sole responsibility is to understand more about its workforce, both now and in the future. Topics like talent gaps, employee turnover, and demographics are discussed, and then the unit’s members work to develop solutions to whatever staﬃng problems the school is facing. “To look at any staﬃng alternative is going to take resources and time,” says Julien Carter, associate vice president of HR at the university, which supports approximately 15,000 staﬀ and faculty. “It’s an issue for us, if for no other reason just to ensure that we have competent staﬀ who are available to serve the faculty and students of this institution.” But as schools look toward the future, staﬃng becomes a big question mark. More and more baby boomers are exiting the workforce, which is fueling the skilled labor shortage. Some institutional leaders are concerned that they won’t be ready, that they will be unable to recruit the talent they desperately need. So they’re focusing their energies on designing strategic staﬃng plans that enable them to explore their school’s risks and vulnerabilities as well as marketplace opportunities in order to build a competent labor force. Carter says her school is at the beginning of this ongoing process. The threemember unit is inventorying employee skills and informing decision-makers about potential challenges such as positions that may be hard to ﬁll, ways to decrease employee turnover rates for each L In higher education, some positions remain unﬁlled for years. generation, and best practices to help prevent talent drain. As the unit began its research, she says its members realized the stark diﬀerences between the generations. Generation Y, for instance, needs feedback and rewards more frequently than baby boomers, who are accustomed to annual rewards and infrequent pats on the back. “So one of the things we’re trying to recommend is a salary administration policy that allows [rewards] to be spread throughout the year,” she says. “It’s going to have more meaning to that generation than just getting it all at once.” Deeper dives are also in its forecast. The unit will address “this looming threat on the horizon,” she says, with deans and vice presidents at the school so they can better prepare for serious staﬃng challenges instead of simply reacting to them as they occur. The signs of the talent shortage are ev- erywhere. So why aren’t more schools engaged in strategic staﬃng? What are they waiting for? Perhaps the wait is for more resources. Many HR departments are short-staﬀed, struggling to perform daily HR tasks, much less deal with future challenges. Forming such a unit is not without sacriﬁce. In UT’s case, remaining HR staﬀ had to pick up the duties of these three individuals. In the short run, Carter admits that her department’s eﬀectiveness was a bit diminished. Still, colleges and universities can’t aﬀord to fall behind. With a strategic staﬃng plan in place, administrators will understand more about what motivates tomorrow’s workforce, align their policies and practices with employee expectations and, in the end, evolve into an employer of choice that attracts and retains quality workers. “In the short and long run, that was our motivation for having this unit,” Carter explains. “Otherwise, we’re just dealing with the next fad, we’re not really being strategic. Without this unit—the pace of change today is so rapid—there is just no way that our HR staﬀ of 69 people who provide service to over 15,000 people could meet customer expectations.” SHARING RESOURCES Even if the talent shortage didn’t exist, strategic staﬃng still would translate into good HR management at any institution. Yet this isn’t a common practice within universities or colleges. There are Carol Patton is a Las Vegas–based freelance writer who specializes in covering HR issues. universitybusiness.com September 2007 | 25 http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - September 2007

University Business - September 2007
Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
People Watach
Sense of Place
Viewpoint
Human Resources
Money Matters
Financial Aid
Community Colleges
Una Fuerza to Reckon With
The Right Stuff
Making an Impact
Going VoIP
Training Your Staff to Protect SIS Data
Summer Conference Report
Business Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
End Note

University Business - September 2007