Beginning July 5, staff newcomers are going to get a warmer welcome to UC Davis.
Responding to the Staff Workload Issues Task Force Report and other calls for a more thorough orientation, the Staff Development and Professional Services Unit has revamped the half-day session into a daylong program that emphasizes a personal welcome, UC Davis’ special campus culture and the variety of support services for staff members. And, everyone will receive a welcome letter from Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef.
"This has been a work in progress incorporating input from the campus," says Carina Celesia Moore, manager of Staff Development and Professional Services. "We want to have a welcome for new employees that brings them into our community and explains why UC Davis is a great place to work."
The 1999 workload issues report recommended that the orientation for new employees include issues of campus culture and expectations.
"An institution of the size and complexity of UC Davis needs to do a much better job of welcoming and orienting new employees to the opportunities and challenges of working in a public research institution of higher education in general, and the campus culture specifically," the report said, pointing out that other comparable institutions spend from a full day to a week introducing new employees to the culture, environment and expectations of the organization.
Currently, new employees spend a half day in orientation, focused more on the logistical issues of working at a big campus.
The new program, to be held two Wednesdays each month at the University Club Conference Center on Old Davis Road rather than in a temporary building within the veterinary school complex, will emphasize "immersing oneself in the campus culture and community," Moore said. Chuck Yannacone of Staff Development and Professional Services is the lead facilitator for the day. He will explain the UC mission and history to provide the newcomers a context for their job. Supplementary materials have been created including an extensive online Web new-employee orientation to the campus that will be ready by July 1.
Day begins with introductions
The day will begin with a welcome, introductions and a discussion about what kind of workplace UC Davis is: how decisions are made, why the campus is a good place to work and the campus’s relationship to the University of California. Managers who’d like to facilitate the first two hours are sought. The orientation will include a virtual tour of the campus and ideas to help newcomers create their own subcommunity of friends and colleagues.
"We want to give them ideas of where to find kindred spirits in the arts, sports, interest groups, constituent groups and advisory committees so that they can connect and share," Moore says.
The new employees will learn about putting "The Principles of Community" to work from Karen Roth, educational coordinator for the Diversity Awareness Program, while John Gregg, director of controls and accountability, will discuss the university work culture and ethics.
The afternoon will be devoted to discussing the complex array of benefit choices. Currently about 2 1/2 hours are devoted to benefits, but Moore and her staff have determined that new employees want to learn more about their compensation package so the afternoon is devoted to the benefits program.
Ideas for support
Moore wants employees to leave knowing where to go for support when they face various kinds of job-related dilemmas. The new Web site is designed to help them answer those questions, and ideas from the site will be offered throughout the day.
Campus departments have contributed gifts to help employees feel more welcome: admission to Aggie sporting events, UC Davis Presents tickets, free bowling and pens, for instance. Employees also will have departmental informational brochures to take back to their work sites. In a departure from past campus orientations, the day will include breakfast, a "networking lunch" and an Aggie cookie break.
The job of orientation is borne also by the people in the new employee’s department, Moore acknowledges. "The revised new employee orientation program will be most effective if it is integrated back at the department level where supervisors not only support attendance at the full-day program but encourage their new hires to ask questions, explore opportunities and enjoy their acculturation process," she said.
A new supervisors’ guide will be created in the next year to help departments conduct their own welcome for employees to campus culture and support services.