The Office of Human Resources strives to have resources easily available for employees. In an effort to advance the services that HR provides to the University community, the department continually works to adjust procedures for maximum efficiency. This fiscal year, HR focused on the following initiatives:
Electronic New Hire Sign-in Forms
A new sign-in process was established to improve the time necessary for completing new hire paperwork. New computers were made available to employees in HR’s reception area to automate the sign-in process. In addition, each computer features a modified screen to accommodate faculty, staff and student assistant’s paperwork.
Rollout of eBenefits
In March 2016, HR began to implement eBenefits Self-Service which automates and simplifies the process of enrolling and managing benefit elections. To prepare for this transition, new hires and current employees completed an eBenefits signature authorization form enabling changes to be made online.
Recruitment Strategies
As a priority this fiscal year, Recruitment Services transitioned from screening minimum qualifications of applicants to providing recruitment support to departments and routing all incoming applications directly to the hiring department. Guidelines on how to screen applications and expedite the process were developed in support of the departments. The program was piloted with the divisions of University Advancement and Information Technology, as well as the Tseng College of Extended Learning, and some departments within the Administration and Finance division.
Faculty and Student Hiring Workshop
In order to streamline the process and better track attendance, registration for the Academic Personnel - Summer Faculty and Student Hiring Workshop was coordinated through SkillPort for the first time.
Professional/Personal Development Calendar
In an effort to be sustainable, the 2015-2016 Professional/Personal Development Calendar is now available in an electronic format. The electronic format allows employees to view, download, and print calendars from their computer or other electronic devices. This new format allows HR to modify the calendars to ensure all employees have the most accurate information to plan and attend sessions.
Background Checks
In accordance with a CSU system-wide policy, HR's Recruitment Services Unit enhanced its background check process and the benefit to hiring departments by utilizing the services of vendor Accurate Background. The practice was developed to further help prevent risk and provide protection to campus employees, students, volunteers, and guests.
Accounts Receivables
During the 2015-2016 fiscal year, in an effort to reduce the processing time for the handling of Benefits accounts receivables (A/Rs), Human Resources Services implemented a practice of proactively running a weekly report rather than waiting for notices to be received by mail from the State Controller’s Office. This has greatly reduced the amount of time between the A/R being established and the employee being notified. In addition, in February 2016 we began having new employees complete a pre-authorization form allowing Payroll to automatically deduct the value of a Benefits-related accounts receivable balance from the employee’s pay warrant. This strategy both decreased the number of employees that need to be contacted as well as increased the likelihood that we would be able to collect the funds. In summary, a process which sometimes took months to execute can now often be completed the same day a receivable issues. As a result, Human Resources saw a 57% reduction in Benefits-related accounts receivable balances during that time.
