The Human Resources team appreciates the time, effort, and thoughtful feedback provided by faculty and staff who completed the Human Resources portion of the administrative services survey. Please know that it is our commitment to identify from your responses where we can better serve your needs and use that information to improve Human Resources services and processes.

Satisfaction with Human Resources staff—Total Average 4.49: In this portion of the survey, you were asked to provide your perception of how courteous, professional, and knowledgeable the HR staff is and whether or not your inquiries are responded to in a timely manner. Although it was reported that you are generally pleased in these areas, we are hearing that we need to be more responsive to inquiries in a timely manner (4.27).

Satisfaction with Human Resources Services—Total Average 3.86: This section includes new employee orientation, hiring process, benefits enrollment & open enrollment, development programs for staff and mangers, employee relations, and performance management. Although this covers a wide variety of services, the two areas that you have told us are in most need of attention are the manager professional development programs (3.71) and the performance management process (3.38).

Overall, how satisfied are you with Human Resources—Total Average 4.10:
We are pleased that 394 of you have taken the time to complete this survey and provide your observations and feedback. We are especially appreciative of those of you who took the time to provide written comments. Although aggregate numbers provide indicators, reading the comments about individual struggles and frustrations provides the detailed information necessary to identify and make meaningful changes.

We Have Heard You!
Based on feedback from the administrative services survey and last year’s Great Colleges to Work For (GCTWF) Survey, the following initiatives have already been put in place or are in the process of implementation:

A common issue raised in the comments section of the administrative services survey was the difficulty experienced in accessing and/or getting a response when attempting to contact Human Resources. We have worked with ITS to set up the main HR department telephone extension (x3133) so that if the line is busy or is not answered within a few rings, it will roll to another HR team member’s extension rather than going to voicemail. All HR team members will also be listening for when this extension rings with the goal of having this extension in particular picked up by a “live person.” In all cases, the HR team will make it a priority to respond to all telephone and electronic inquiries within one business day.

In both surveys, the theme of an improved new employee orientation was raised. Being unveiled this week is the enhanced new employee orientation. In addition to covering benefits, the orientation is being expanded to include an onboarding session that begins with a video welcome message from President Martin. Other elements include:

• Introduction to Drake’s Statement on Diversity & Inclusion and continuous improvement
• Virtual tour of campus
• Introduction to the work of the All Staff Council and Recreational Services available at the Bell Center.
• Introduction to HR’s BUILD learning and development programming, wellness and engagement services and programs
• Review of the blueView portal including where to go to find information about benefits, policies & procedures and how to view your online pay stubs, direct deposit information, W2s, etc.
• Lunch in Hubbell Dining Hall with an HR team member and All Staff Council representative

Currently in the final stages of development and soon to be released is the New To Drake webpage. This webpage is designed to take the place of the hard copy packet of information that Human Resources has sent via USPS to new hires. The advantage of this website is that it can now be available to all potential candidates, but a link to this page will be included in the HireTouch confirmation email that is sent to all new faculty and staff hires. When the new hire goes to this site, they can click on the link to a video welcome message from President Martin. In preparation for their first day, they will be taken to a step-by-step Orientation Guide. On this page are links to Drake-sponsored Benefits, parking information, on-campus map, Campus Public Safety, DART, Holiday schedule, Drake neighborhood home incentive plan, and tuition rebate plan. This site also contains a section titled “During Your First Week” that includes a link to a new hire checklist and another titled “During your First 30 Days.” We will be looking for feedback from you and new hires on how this site can be expanded and improved to enhance the new hire experience.

Communication of HR programming, initiatives, benefits, etc., was another common issue raised. The HR team worked with University Communications to develop a plan that would enhance our ability to communicate critical and important information without sending multiple facstaff emails. From that collaboration was born the HR Monthly Minute. This is a facstaff communication that is scheduled to be sent out on the first Wednesday of each month and is a summary of all of the HR learning and development, wellness & engagement, benefits, and other HR sessions scheduled for that month and any other information relevant for that month.

The HR Team has added Elevate Service Excellence to the Customer section of our balanced scorecard and will be using the results of future GCTWF and administrative services surveys to monitor our progress.

In response to other issues raised in the GCTWF and administrative surveys, here are some of the initiatives that the HR team has identified for the coming year:

1. Develop a manager training session on the orientation and onboarding of new employees. In addition to creating a new manager checklist, we will be identifying Drake managers who have successful new employee programs and asking them to share their ideas and lead these discussions.
2. Enhance the number and quality of manager development opportunities. As an example, the “Employment Laws: What Managers Need to Know” session facilitated by Nathan Overberg and Becky Reif from the Ahlers & Cooney Law Firm was not only the best attended manager session of this year, but also received rave reviews.
3. Examination of the current performance management system to not only improve utilization, but to examine ways to modify it to better support the continuous improvement model.
4. The HR team has discussed inviting ourselves to your department meetings to discuss ways we can serve you better. This initiative will be more fully developed during the spring, so look for additional information in OnCampus and the HR Monthly Minute. In the meantime, if there is an issue you would like an HR team member to come to your department to address, please let us know.

We also welcome your ongoing feedback and suggestions. Although survey data is great, it only tells us how we have done historically. All HR team members have access to the drakehr@drake.edu email account and is a good way to communicate to all HR team members at once, or you are welcome to send me your requests directly at gary.johnson@drake.edu.

—Gary Johnson, Human Resources