The University of Oregon is making changes to its human resources infrastructure to improve service and support to employees and to use the latest technology to help recruit and retain future faculty and staff.
The changes come as part of a broad human resources examination to evaluate how the UO can benefit from national best practices. The new structure is intended to focus on providing excellent service to campus and improving communications, technology, program and policy development and international contracting processes.
“The new structure addresses immediate HR needs at the university,” said Jamie Moffitt, vice president for finance and administration. “At the same time, it provides a foundation for a new chief HR officer to develop the organization according to the evolving needs of our employees.”
The new organizational structure will include distinct departments for employee and labor relations, talent acquisition, human resources programs and human resources operations. The Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity department will move to report directly to the vice president for finance and administration. The office addresses concerns regarding all forms of prohibited discrimination, including Title IX investigations; manages development of and compliance with the university’s Affirmative Action Plan; and works with employees with disabilities who require accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
As recently announced, William Brady will lead the employee and labor relations department, overseeing campuswide employee and labor relations matters. According to Brady, consolidating expertise is an opportunity to better coordinate bargaining efforts and to strengthen working relationships with union leadership, bargaining units and officers of administration.
A director of talent acquisition will be hired to lead members of a newly structured “one-stop shopping” recruiting and search team. A new human resources program office will be responsible for compensation, benefits, leaves, faculty and staff childcare operations, work/life initiatives and professional development.
Finally, an human resources operations department will manage reporting and analytics, technology and a public-facing human resources service center for all inquiries related to employment at the university. The director of human resources operations will be Sonia Potter.
The organizational changes are effective Oct. 1. For now, departments should continue working with their traditional human resources contacts for different matters. Further information will be distributed as new processes to better support campus are developed.
A search for a permanent chief human resources officer is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Currently, the UO employs approximately 10,000 students, faculty and staff and manages several collective bargaining contracts, benefits plans and other employment-related topics from recruitment and retention to retirement.
—by Julie Brown, Public Affairs Communications