Re-skill your staff for essential
high-value work
As the economy faltered, university lege and Smith share campus security. IT people to stay current is through con-
business officers whittled down the cam- The University of Maryland buys energy tinuous education and training. Surely,
pus payroll, mostly non-instructional. for the entire state system. Payroll and every department on campus faces a sim-
They also sharpened business processes procurement for the 30+ colleges in the ilar diagnosis.
to strip the waste out of operations. Why Georgia system have been centralized. The common denominator is the
won’t those measures alone work? Another option is to automate with knowledge, experience and attitude of
When 70 to 80 percent of the operat- the latest available technologies. Elimi- the people on staff.
ing budget is payroll, the first inclination nate steps; mechanize what used to be
in a downturn is to cut people. Most cam- done by hand; compress the time con- Do less with less
puses tried to retain instructional staff, so sumed by tasks. At some point “doing more with less” be-
the administrators were hit twice as hard. comes unattainable—an empty concept.
Unfortunately, out with the bathwater go Re-skill for higher value work CUPA-HR’s Brantley, along with co-
an incredible amount of skills, experience September’s Today’s Campus reported on author Allison Vaillancourt, published
and cultural equity that is not replaced the move to centralize procurement func- an article in The Higher Education Work-
with newer, younger, cheaper staff when tions, employ technology to realize every place that rings with a universal truth.
rehiring begins. discount and to optimize the spend. Sci- It’s better to do less with less. Identify
Doreen Murner is president of the Quest’s Eric Zoetmulder explained how and pursue only those activities that are
National Association of Educational automating of tedious paperwork frees core to the mission of the institution,
Procurement, an organization that pro- up staff to do higher value work like be- those which make the institution unique.
vides training and development for col- coming better negotiators and category Eliminate the rest.
lege procurement manager members. procurement specialists. Identify the skills that are essential to
Murner says she has resisted the job at hand. In the HR
the temptation to cut her department’s case, those
own staff and encourages It is the same self-starter who skills are: change manage-
her members to do likewise. ment, work redesign, pro-
“People are a safe invest- will step up, accept change, rise cess reengineering, employ-
ment. Intellectual capital ee engagement, information
is priceless.” It may seem to the challenge and deliver.” acquisition and dissemina-
ironic, but in a recession, tion, organizational com-
the asset needed the most is The change-resister will remain munication, and planning
smart, productive people. and analysis. That list has
a change-resister. good ingredients for any de-
What to do instead of partment.
staff cuts? A gap exists between the capabilities Where do you get the essential skills?
Andy Brantley, president and CEO of of sophisticated constituent relation- Is your current staff up to the challenge?
the College and University Professional ship management (CRM) systems and
Association for Human Resources (CU- the staff who use them. There is much Recruiting versus professional
PA-HR), offers several solutions. Certain less need for data entry clerks and much development
work can be outsourced. In order to be more need for skillful managers capable Vincent Scaramuzzo is president of the
competitive with others in their field and of higher value work. For example, a re- higher education recruiting firm Ed-Ex-
attractive to customers, certain special- cruiter who can scan the historical details ec. He has often heard from the president
ists have optimized their productivity and nuances of an applicant’s profile in or senior officer “find me someone from
and processes. the CRM database while speaking with the outside.” Presumably, this outsider
Shared services may be an answer. him or her on the phone. would bring more skills without the bag-
Perhaps the same department or func- IT departments are scrambling to gage of the entrenched ways on campus.
tion need not be replicated on every keep up with security threats escalating Yet more times than not, the selection
campus. Administrative services like pay- with the sheer number of devices and committee ends up recommending a
roll or help desks are examples. Some are applications being used by students and candidate with a traditional background
more imaginative. Massachusetts neigh- faculty. Virginia Rezmierski at the Uni- from inside the academy. Scaramuzzo
bors Mount Holyoke, Hampshire Col- versity of Michigan says the only way for adds this is more often the case among
36 T
oday’s
C
ampus subscribe at no charge at www.todayscampus.com
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