Meeting draws 250 to discuss HR
How can human resources professionals on campus collaborate more efficiently?
The question was a topic of discussion Friday when more than 250 staff members gathered at Student Center East for UIC’s first HR Academy, hosted by UIC Human Resources.
“We thought that if we could get everyone together to talk about human resources best practices, this would be a perfect time to say that we’re interested in joining together as partners so that we can deliver the types of services will be a value-add to the campus overall,” said Kim Morris Lee, director of organizational effectiveness in UIC Human Resources.
The professional development event included topics such as building a diverse applicant pool, employee performance management, employee relations, recruitment and retention and more.
“The overarching objective was to provide information for human resources professionals on campus about policies, procedures and best practices,” Morris Lee said.
“We’re hoping that people walked away knowing more about what they need to do to partner with human resources on campus so they can get the types of hires they need in a timely manner, as well as how to collaborate with us on a day-to-day basis to get information on how to build high-performing teams.”
The event also helped answer questions about civil service hiring procedures, she said.
“Quite often, there seems to be questions about how to process information to get someone hired or what kinds of individuals can be interviewed for a civil service position — there are civil service employees with Ph.Ds, J.Ds, MBAs,” Morris Lee said.
Keynote speakers included Cal LeMon, president of Executive Enrichment, Roy Alston of Academy Leadership and Carol Grannis and Cindy Maher of Leading Edge Coaches.
“They delivered a message in such a way that it was easy for anyone to understand the kinds of things you need to do when working with people and the strategies to put in place to receive a result,” Morris Lee said.
UIC Human Resources plans to host another event next year with the goal of attracting a wider audience.
“We want to build upon the success this year and provide more meaningful information about human capital to human resources professionals on campus as well as other universities in Illinois,” Morris Lee said.
