Hiring Improvement Process

Hiring Improvement Process has made presentations to the following administrative areas:

• Human Resources Managers
• Clinical Managers
• Research Managers
• Business Managers
• Joint Chiefs Meeting

Next presentation

• Faculty Council 3/22/04

Christine DeAbreu-Henriquez, Welcome Program Administrator for Human Resources, is available to give a presentation to schools, centers, institutes and/or departments. Christine can be reached via email at ctd2103@columbia.edu.

WHAT IS HIP?

Last fall administrative staff identified areas in need of improvement, one of which was the Columbia University Medical Center hiring process. For most of this year, a dedicated 25-member panel of our Managers, the Hiring Improvement Process (HIP) team, has worked diligently to identify ways we could streamline all aspects of hiring at each stage of the process (from the time positions are advertised through the first thirty days of employment). This is an important step to offering all of our new employees and faculty a warm and efficient welcome to our world-class institution. To date, more than 700 new personnel have benefited from these improvements.

HIP focused on three main areas:

• Recruitment
• Orientation
• Setup/exit procedures

The HIP team identified problem areas, set priorities for immediate attention, made recommendations and implemented new plans. The improvements benefit new faculty and staff as well as their departments and schools.

For New Employees and Faculty: Easy Access To Useful Information About CUMC

• New web page (url) with useful links for candidates to learn about working at CUMC (links to HR, IT, the libraries, employee & faculty perks, virtual tour)



• New Welcome Program for all new CUMC personnel about our mission and values, as well as HIPAA regulations, information technology, security, fire safety and our customized benefits program. The half-day Welcome Program gives new employees and faculty the opportunity to get answers to most basic and important questions. They are also greeted by University senior Managers who serve as Ambassadors, describing their own work and emphasizing the importance of our work together.



• New pocket card for CUMC emergency numbers distributed with a CUMC lanyard

For Departments/Schools: Improved and Streamlined Processes for New Hires and for Terminations

• Online registration for the Welcome Program at http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/hr.



• Welcome folder with printed information to be sent to new personnel before they arrive at the Columbia University Medical Center. This folder will include a letter from the Dean, sample welcome/offer letter from the department, information about working in their department, invitation for the Welcome Program, Benefits in Brief, Benefits Selection Form, and the Getting Around Campus Guide.



• Direct requests for an e-mail account for new hires. Departments no longer need approval from Human Resources or the Office of Faculty Affairs.



• Enhancement of the Web-PRQ system for posting open positions; and reformat of the current online Web-PRQ system so that job postings can be cloned to avoid duplicating recurring positions.



• Developed improved web-based exit check-list specific to CUMC that is available to all departments.



• One step de-activation of UNI for terminations by calling 5-HELP.



• Identification of needed improvements to system access request procedures (DARTS, AP/CAR, WebCIS, IDX, FFE, etc.).



• Recommendations for paper and web-based check lists for all steps required to hire faculty and staff. Work groups will begin to develop plans in the coming months.

How You Can Help?

• Register new hires to participate in the Welcome Program during their first week of employment. Failure to do so may result in their not receiving benefits.



• Distribute the Welcome Folder to new personnel before they start and download/customize the templates on the CUMC Human Resources web page for inclusion in the packet.



• Direct recruits to the Working at Columbia University Medical Center web page so that they can learn more about CUMC.

The HIP team is offering to present the hiring improvements and subsequent achievements to interested Schools, Institutes, Centers and Departments. If you would like to arrange or get further information, please contact Ms. Christine Henriquez, HR Administrator for the Welcome Program @ ctd2103@columbia.edu.

Last updated 9/6/2007