Operations Strategic Initiative Recruiting

    August 16, 2022

    To: All Operations Staff
    Cc: University Cabinet, Operations Leadership Forum

    On behalf of Recruiting Strategic Initiative Sponsors:
    John Whelan, VP, Human Resources
    John Barden, VP & Chief Information Officer
    Geraldine Sullivan, AVP for Employee Relations and Staffing
    Ronnell Higgins, AVP for Public Safety and Community Engagement

    Dear Colleagues,

    As previously announced, Yale University Operations has published a multi-year Operations Strategy that supports the University’s mission by establishing three common strategic pillars across all centralized staff units:

    • Reinforce and resource Yale’s mission
    • Build a more effective and efficient operating model Advance our reputation as a workplace of choice

    As part of the multi-year initiatives, the Recruiting Strategic Initiative aims to build an intuitive and efficient institutional process for staffing roles across Yale with highly talented and diverse candidates. Re-engineer the recruiting methods and practices of Yale to contribute to the culture and capability of Yale in an effective university-wide approach.

    Under the sponsorship of John Whelan, VP, Human Resources, John Barden, VP & Chief Information Officer, Geraldine Sullivan, AVP for Employee Relations and Staffing, and Ronnell Higgins, AVP for Public Safety and Community Engagement, and the leadership of Bridgett LaFountain, Director, Yale School of Medicine (YSM) & Employee Relations, Randal Ritter, Senior Program Manager, ITS Shared Services, the Recruiting initiative will:

    • Build an intuitive and efficient institutional process for staffing roles across Yale with highly talented and diverse candidates.
    • Re-engineer recruiting methods and practices to contribute to the culture and capability of Yale in an effective university-wide approach.

    Earlier this year, we successfully implemented the Employee Referral Bonus Program. To date, we have paid out over 32 referral bonuses.

    KEY GOALS KEY BENEFITS
    Improve the central capability to reduce pressure for local units to build overlapping capability in the units Improved pace of hiring – time to fill
    Create a “validated” process, informed enough/flexible enough to respond to the needs of the individual units and job families Improved quality and diversity of candidate pool and hires
    Define assessment criteria to balance institutional goals and localized need Improved transparency – stages in the process, accountability
    Assure process transparency and strong service orientation Improved clarity of process flow and delineation of responsibilities​

    Focus

    This initiative will initially focus on the following areas:

    1. Improve pace of hiring – time to fill
    2. Improve quality and diversity of candidate pool and hires
    3. Improve transparency for candidates and hiring managers
    4. Improve clarity of process flow and delineation of responsibilities
    5. Expand sourcing capabilities
    6. Organizational design

    Projects Underway

    • We have engaged Kincentric, a vendor partner, to analyze our current processes, lead various focus groups and conduct a survey to gather qualitative input on business priorities and how HR can support those objectives and goals.
    • A workforce plan strategy where organizations will need to decide upon open positions according to business needs is underway. You will learn more about this project workstream in the coming weeks.

    Over the coming months, the Recruiting Initiative team will keep you fully informed regarding their progress, critical milestones, and what actions you may need to take. Assessment of future opportunities for improvement continues and will be announced as they progress.

    The success of our mission relies on each member of the University community to identify and actively champion changes that reinforce the mission, solidify our reputation as a workplace of choice, and build an effective operating model. We encourage your support of this initiative and, in doing so, support the University’s mission.

    Questions?

    Please reach out to employee.services@yale.edu with any questions or comments about this important initiative.