Empowering Excellence

KU’s small human resources department takes on a large, but extremely rewarding, challenge.

| 2018 Q1 | story by Bob Luder | photos by Steven Hertzog

Empowering Excellence

“People are messy.”

Ola Faucher doesn’t mean to offend anyone with those words. She doesn’t mean it as any form of condescension or insult. Not even a critique.

It’s just that, when your line of work is dealing with the acquisition, professional development and contentment of thousands of employees who happen to be … yes, people … it’s wise to keep in mind that along with the rewards come challenges and headaches.

“It’s quite a varied field of work,” says Faucher, director of human resources (HR) at the University of Kansas (KU). “Whenever you deal with people, it adds a layer of challenges, headaches and rewards.”

Faucher knows of what she speaks. A native of Minneapolis, Kansas, she’s been director of HR at KU since 1998 but has worked in the department since 1976, and at the University since 1972. Before that, she earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from KU.

Mike Rounds (Senior Associate Vice Provost for University Administration)

She oversees a department of 36 people who serve approximately 10,000 employees, half of which are members of the University’s 26,000-strong student population.

In other words, it’s a relatively small staff that performs an incredibly big job.

“The size of our human resources function, if you compare it to other like institutions … we have a relatively small staff,” Faucher says.

KU belongs to the Association of American Universities, which consists of 62 universities nationally. Faucher says her HR department’s size falls close to the middle among those like institutions.

“Our goal is to enable employees to succeed and enable the University to succeed in its mission,” she says.

To accomplish that, the department provides a comprehensive range of services aimed at improving the lives of those who work, learn and visit the University. Most basic of those services include support and administration of employee benefits, such as health-care insurance, retirement planning, life insurance and disability insurance. It also partners with managers and employees across campus for employee relations initiatives meant to enhance and promote a positive work environment.

But, HR’s involvement with the University goes much further than that. It also works closely with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to ensure the campus is accessible and inclusive for everyone.

“Lawrence is a bit hilly, and we sit on top of a hill,” Faucher says. “That creates some accessibility issues. We want to make sure all of our events are accessible. Some of our buildings are quite old, and we have long-term plans in place to make some of our older buildings more accessible.”

Another ongoing partnership involves the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access (IOA), which is responsible for enhancing and strengthening diversity and inclusion at KU.

“We’re interested in having a very diverse and inclusive workforce,” Faucher says. “We want our students exposed to a global experience.”

The department’s stated mission is “empowering a community of excellence,” and everything KU’s HR staff works toward every day is with that overarching mission in mind.

“One thing we try to do with an organization this big is focus not only on the day-to-day requirements but make sure our campus leadership is organized and has a strategic vision, and that our operations are aligned with that strategic vision,” says Mike Rounds, senior associate vice provost for University Administration, who oversees not only the entire KU HR organization but also the University’s Information Technology operations.

“To me, a big part of it is keeping a central balance in what we’re trying to do,” Rounds says. “And, meeting the needs of our partners. All without losing sight of the fact that we have thousands of employees to take care of.”

Frank Reeb (Director of HR for Kansas Athletics) and Erin Spurlock

A City Within a City

To get a grasp of the magnitude of human resource’s functions at KU, Faucher says it’s helpful to think of the University as a city within a city. KU has its own police department, health center, power plant and IT department, all separate from the city of Lawrence. It’s pretty self-contained and sustainable on the hill in the middle of Lawrence.

To run that city within a city efficiently and smoothly, it must have an army of talented and committed employees. That makes recruitment among the most vital of HR responsibilities. The department works closely with deans and vice chancellors of all the various schools at the University in hiring faculty and staff, from the online application process to onboarding and compensation structure/salary equity.

The same goes for working with different department heads, such as housekeeping and plant operations, in filling openings.

“Everything we do depends on people,” Faucher says. “It takes people to teach, to research. Having the right people in the right roles is paramount to the University being successful in accomplishing its mission.”

Of course, hiring for an 8,000- to 10,000-employee public university doesn’t come without its challenges. It doesn’t help that the University resides smack in the middle of the United States.

Jessica Boyle (Director of HR Uni¬versity of Kansas Memorial Union)

“Challenges vary depending on the job we’re recruiting for,” says Angie Loving, associate director of human resources for recruiting and compensation. “Getting individuals to consider Kansas can be a challenge. Attracting people from the coast. Getting people to understand how amazing Lawrence, Kansas, is.”

Faucher adds, “We’re in a national and international competition realm. Our salaries are not as high as on the coasts. In terms of diversity, the Midwest is not always thought about as where the diverse want to come.

“With staff, we’re also in competition,” she continues. “It depends on the department. For instance, salaries for IT are not as high as IT jobs in Kansas City or Topeka.”

There are some areas of operating a major university that one would never think of in which challenges in hiring can be especially difficult. A prime example, Faucher says, is the hiring of technicians to maintain and repair the cooling and heating units in all the various buildings on campus.

“HVAC people are very hard to get,” she says. “They are very large systems. It’s a very competitive area.”

To help compete, Faucher says she and her department often try and sell the University’s intangibles.

“One thing we try to offer is a great work environment,” she says. “Flexible work schedule, family-friendly. Regionally, our benefits are pretty good.”

Ola Faucher (Director of HR at KU)

Help Within the University

The breadth and size of KU makes it impossible for a single human resources department to handle every area on campus. So, the HR department supports four auxiliary departments that have their own HR staffs within: the Kansas Athletic Department, Endowment, the Kansas Union and the Alumni Association.

Each auxiliary HR unit has limited services and considers the KU HR department a “parent” department should one or more require assistance or guidance with a project or process.

For example, the Kansas Athletic Department is an affiliate organization of KU, separate and distinct from the University as a whole. It’s a smaller organization, but, by and large, the same processes apply.

“There’s perhaps a bit more opportunity to really zero in on our employees,” says Frank Reeb, director of human resources for Kansas Athletics the last nine years.

The athletic department’s HR staff has just three full-time employees: Reeb, an HR generalist and a payroll/internal systems coordinator. Reeb says a bulk of his responsibilities center around making sure all job descriptions are correct and current, and making certain all timelines for hiring new positions are followed to make hiring as efficient as possible.

Depending on the job, KU Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger delegates many of the hiring responsibilities to Reeb.

“I work closely with the hiring manager for all hires with the exception of head coaches,” he says.

Many of the challenges Reeb and his staff deal with are similar to what Faucher and her crew face. Competition for top talent is stiff. The timing of a hire can be as crucial as the hire itself.

“Just the pace of hiring is one of the challenges,” Reeb says. “Making sure people are the right fit is hugely important. KU has a strong reputation athletics-wise. That Jayhawk is really recognized and really important to a lot of people.

“We get a lot of applicants,” he continues. “We want to make sure we’re diligent in getting the right people.”

Jessica Boyle, director of human resources for the Kansas Union, oversees a staff of three full-time and four part-time employees. Her small staff has a monumental task in staffing all the food-service workers for all the student union outlets across the Lawrence campus, as well as at satellite campuses such as the Edwards Campus in Overland Park and the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas-15 facilities in all.

The seasonal workforce can vary anywhere from 250 to 1,000-many of them students-depending on the time of year.

“We hire about 500 from mid-August to the first of September for the start of school,” Boyle says.

She explains her department has unique challenges from other affiliate HR staffs because of the nature of the workforce. She has to deal with attendance issues because of the student/part-time nature of hires. There is a very high turnover rate. Because of the varied demographics of the employee base, communications can be an issue.

“The big issue we’ve been dealing with is upgrading our technology,” Boyle says.

Angie Loving (Associate Director of HR for recruiting & compensa¬tion)

Rewards Outweigh Headaches

Despite the hassles and “messiness” of supporting a huge workforce and dealing with employees’ satisfaction, those involved with KU human resources insist it’s one of the greatest jobs around.

“The things that are the challenges are also rewards,” Reeb says. “I enjoy helping people. I enjoy the challenges and the pace. Seeing teams compete and succeed is really gratifying. Knowing we put the right people in place to help those teams and athletes be successful is even more gratifying.”

Faucher says working in human resources at a university enhances the role even more.

“Our product is the learning and development of people,” she says. “That’s HR’s entire role, supporting people in attaining their personal and professional goals.”

As Rounds says, no employee anywhere ever wakes up in the morning thinking, “I love my HR department.” In an attempt to make employees at KU feel at least a bit closer to their HR department, Rounds has initiated a public-relations campaign called People Fuel, which tries to humanize HR in the eyes of the employees.

“I’ve worked in a lot of areas of human resources,” Rounds says. “And, taking care of all the employees at a large public university is as challenging an area as I’ve ever worked. There are so many moving parts, especially with a public research university.

“This is very much a people business,” he explains. “What are we doing to grow and help the workforce here every day? It’s our responsibility to help employees accomplish their goals in their professional journeys.

“It’s an exciting challenge, and I think we’re up for it,” Rounds says.