Zacharias outlines Stanford UHR’s strategic plan

What are the human resources challenges you foresee for Stanford?

We have the same challenges as other employers in Silicon Valley, including affordability, recruitment and retention, transportation and the cost of living. At the same time, we’re unique because we are a nonprofit with a teaching and research mission. Also, we feed and house more than 10,000 students. We operate public facilities, including the libraries, art museums and the stadium and pavilion, and we manage patient-care facilities. As a result, decisions about funding—such as whether to allocate more dollars to health care costs—are made without the option of increasing prices as a corporation with a product or service might do.

In collaboration with many others throughout campus, I’ve identified five areas of focus for the next several years: workforce planning, talent attraction, talent management, employee engagement and HR excellence. Each area has its own plan, supported by initiatives to achieve that plan.

The core of our strategic plan is a set of initiatives intended to create and sustain a workplace culture of excellence and high engagement, foster a productive work environment where people feel valued and respected, promote innovation and growth and support the changing nature of work.

What initiatives will support talent attraction?

We aim to attract, recruit and deploy a diverse workforce made up of people who are highly qualified and motivated to perform to their full potential. There are many elements to talent attraction, and we’re initially focusing on two.

The first is assessing requirements and developing plans based on the results of a recruiting services assessment. We are evaluating what is done across all schools and units related to recruiting people to Stanford. We want to understand practices, identify opportunities to broadly adopt what is working well, and determine what improvements are needed. It’s too early to say what efforts might come out of our assessment, but we have begun a redesign of the Stanford Careers website to include deeper, more extensive information.

The second is further developing Stanford’s employer brand. “Cardinal at Work” informs both prospective and current employees about our workplace values and the richness of our experience. That experience includes a sense of purpose in our work and pride in our collective excellence and in the ways we work in a collegial and respectful way. Enhancing our workplace identity also means that current employees will see more events such as the new Cardinal at Work Cares Giving Campaign and events and activities done in partnership between University HR and other areas, such as BeWell; Land, Buildings & Real Estate; Residential & Dining Enterprises; Sustainable Stanford; and University IT.

Are there initiatives aimed at retention?

We’ve identified three initiatives to support employees’ continued development and professional growth and retain our workforce.

The first is defining manager excellence. We want to equip managers to be the best leaders, and this begins with articulating what it means to be an excellent manager, what behaviors are expected and what competencies are required. Excellence in managers will increase our ability to attract and retain people, as well as ensure that we are prepared for managing and leading change.

Second, we are preparing for Stanford in Redwood City. HR is providing leadership to partner with a cross-functional team on the changes and challenges associated with growing into two campuses. Core aspects of this effort include ensuring that the culture at Redwood City is consistent with Stanford’s culture; that management practices, policies and procedures effectively support both campuses; and that individual needs and organizational performance concerns are addressed.

Third, we are developing an improved performance management process for FY18. Our culture emphasizes feedback and continuous improvement, so we want those values and behaviors to be part of our performance management approach. In the near term, we will work with leaders and our HR community to determine an effective and easy way for managers and employees across Stanford to give and receive meaningful and timely feedback that enhances effectiveness and productivity and allows for organizational customization, if needed. Once we determine our performance management framework, we’ll evaluate the systems and tools required to best support it.

What other initiatives do you want to highlight?

I want to talk a bit about employee engagement. We’re committed to providing a workplace that allows everyone to use his or her full capabilities. Doing this involves aligning, engaging and rewarding staff members, ensuring all employees feel connected to and involved with Stanford’s mission and community (whether working on-campus or elsewhere) and, of course, for all employees to feel valued for their contributions and service.

So we want to continue actions based on results of the 2015 university-wide staff engagement survey. The results informed us about areas of importance to staff. The results focused on improvements needed to streamline business processes, enhance communication and collaboration and understand the connection between roles and responsibilities with the university’s mission.

The actions that continue to be taken within schools and units based on survey results align with initiatives championed by senior administrative leaders through the Administrative Planning Executive Committee (APEx), as well as formal projects/plans in the areas of talent strategy, process improvement and ensuring effective transition to Stanford in Redwood City.

We also will evaluate our benefits offerings and rewards programs. While our current benefits programs are competitive, we want to understand the differing needs of our diverse employees and, where indicated, develop options to meet a wider array of interests. And, we have an initiative to expand service recognition to be more inclusive and build on recent successes related to the annual Celebrating Staff Careers event.

Do you have advice to other new hires?

Learn as much as possible about our culture and the way the university—and your own organization—works. Get to know colleagues and build relationships across Stanford. An awareness of culture and the support of others can help you when you have an idea or a problem to solve or when you aren’t sure of what steps to take with your work. Tap into the knowledge of others by asking questions and hearing others’ viewpoints. Get as involved as possible and take advantage of Stanford’s offerings, including career development and continuing education, sporting events, the arts and live performances and the recreational facilities.

During the past year, I’ve learned about the amazing spirit here. It’s a unique energy and excitement that comes from the fact that much of what takes place here is forward-looking and creates and shapes the future. The spirit of adventure, a commitment to innovation and the value of collaboration are what I believe sets Stanford apart.

A more extensive version of this interview can be found on the Cardinal at Work website.