FY 2004- 2005

Mission Statement

The Human Resources Department is a comprehensive human resources and payroll operation, providing Benefits Administration, Staff Recruitment, Training, Workers Compensation and Payroll Administration services to the West Georgia campus community. Our customers include the Faculty, Staff and Students of West Georgia as well as West Georgia’s retirees. With a staff dedicated to maintaining the integrity of West Georgia’s mission, policies and procedures, we provide quality customer service through personal attention to individual needs.

Departmental Statement of Goals and Outcomes

1. Continue to improve the level of customer service to the campus community through increased communications, cross training and making information easily accessible. (Applicable to Bread and Butter Goal 6c)

The department implemented semi-annual information sessions; the initial meeting was scheduled for June 17, 2004. These sessions are designed to reorient faculty and staff regarding human resource or payroll related issues such as:

§ General Benefits Information

§ Recruitment Policies

§ Training Opportunities

§ Payroll Policies and Information

2. Provide benefit information to all new faculty and staff. (Applicable to Bread and Butter Goal 6c)

In fiscal year 2005 the staff provided benefits orientation sessions for 82 new faculty members for the 2004-2005academic year. We also provided orientation sessions for 104 new administrative and support staff personnel during the fiscal year. Orientation sessions cover basic life insurance, supplemental life insurance, health and dental insurance, long-term care insurance, flexible spending accounts, retirement options, long-term disability, and completion of personal information for payroll purposes.

Hosted Optional Retirement Vendors during new faculty orientation, in order to assist faculty with making a retirement decision and facilitate the enrollment process.

3. Provide employees with a wide range of benefits in order to meet their needs. (Applicable to Bread and Butter Goal 6c)

Utilization of the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) continues to increase, 113 individuals have contacted EAP for assistance with personal issues as of March 31, 2005. Contacts were made for the following reasons:

Alcohol/Drug Issues 2
Emotional Mental Health 54
Job Stress 6
Marital 34
Other Family 17

Assessment:

The customer satisfaction assessment for the Office of Human Resources was conducted in December 2004. The results of the assessment show that, overall Human Resources is performing well, and the majority of the customer base is content with the service provided.

Of the 48 respondents who completed the survey 33 (72%) rated their overall experience with the office as good or excellent and an additional 6 (13%) rated their experience as average.

After review of the actual responses, items that respondents would like to see improved are as follows:

1. Additional training of staff, in order to facilitate prompt and consistent answers.

2. Improved interpersonal skills

3. Provide department heads lists of available applicants when department has vacancy.

4. Provide clear, concise and timely information regarding deadlines. Provide more than one-day notice.

5. Workshops on personnel and payroll policy.

6. Student checks being delivered to incorrect department.

In response to the requests of the respondents, the following action will be taken:

1. Cross training the HR staff is a continuous process, sharing information with the staff is a priority.

2. Interpersonal skills are imperative for the Department to function effectively. We will stress the continuous improvement.

3. Applicants are given the option to apply for multiple positions, but only at the applicant’s request. Providing lists of possible applicants to department heads would violate our EOE status.

4. Payroll deadlines are published at the beginning of each fiscal year, this information sent on the all-staff and all-faculty list serves and is published to the HR website. The communications later in the year are reminders that a specific deadline varies from the normal pattern.

5. Information sessions on policy and procedures are under development. We hope to have the first session in late July or early August.

6. PeopleSoft upgrades have eliminated automated updates of mail drop IDs; Spring Break we believe that this should be addressed at the University System level. We are now aware of the issue and have taken steps to make corrections manually.

Staff Productivity:

Two staff members attended their third year of the College Business Management Institute, this completes the program

Various staff members attended conferences of which two were hosted by the USGHRA and one by the Payroll Users Group, and the American Payroll Assn as well as a non-resident alien taxation workshop.

Various members of the staff serve on various University and System Wide Committees.

One staff member completed a MBA and another began an undergraduate degree.

Held Annual Benefits Fair during open enrollment period, 334 faculty and staff registered.

General Statement of Departmental Condition:

The Human Resources department is in adequate condition. The workload continues to increase with the increasing number of faculty and staff. In August 2004 the department processed 82 new faculty members, in addition to the 104 staff that were hired during the fiscal year. The department was involved in recruitment for 107 staff positions during the fiscal year.

There is a need to address the training needs of the campus community. One of the main topics that needs to be discussed is sexual harassment in the work place. We have plans to hire trainer that will assess the need of the campus community, then develop and deliver the appropriate training.

Goals for 2006:

The HR department will implement an applicant tracking system, through PeopleSoft in fiscal year 2006. This will add to the accuracy in our applicant tracking for Affirmative Action – Implementation Plan under development.

Begin implementation process of a Time and Attendance module. This process will require a campus study of current policies and procedures and will develop new policy and procedure to accompany an implementation. These processes as well as open communication will the charge for a committee that will be appointed.

Continue to examine core HR processes for continuous improvement.

Implement semi-annual human resource/payroll information sessions for campus community.

Implement a record retention schedule