Editor’s Note: This is the second of two posts that explore the loneliness epidemic and practical ways HR can help combat it in the workplace. Social bonds are as necessary to our well-being as a healthy diet, exercise and sleep, according to the Surgeon General’s 2023 report on the loneliness epidemic. The report recommends that... View Article
Editor’s Note: This is the first of two posts that will explore the loneliness epidemic and practical ways HR can help combat it in the workplace. Loneliness can be as bad for you as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, according to a Surgeon General’s report from last year. The report identifies loneliness as a national... View Article
A full picture of neurodiversity in the workplace includes understanding how gender shapes employees’ experiences of neurodevelopmental disorders. Although they’re diagnosed at roughly the same rates as men, women with ADHD may be overlooked in conversations about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Until fairly recently, ADHD was seen as primarily affecting children, with the typical view of someone... View Article
Employers have enormous sway over employee health. That’s one of the major takeaways from the CUPA-HR webinar An Integrated Approach to Fostering Workplace Well-Being, led by Mikel LaPorte and Laura Gottlieb of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. They collected eye-opening data that helped them make the case to leadership for... View Article
The motto at Hudson County Community College is “Hudson is Home,” a saying created by their students that reflects HCCC’s commitment to community across their three New Jersey campuses. Located in one of the densest and most ethnically diverse counties in the country, HCCC uses inclusive strategies to boost employee recruitment and retention. HCCC’s focus... View Article
Even though it’s not mentioned in the job description, stress management is no doubt a daily part of your life in higher ed HR. Prioritizing well-being is also at the forefront of strategies to retain and recruit talent. CUPA-HR has found that 56% of higher ed employees are at least somewhat likely to look for... View Article
Last year brought major changes to the higher education landscape. Turnover reached a peak, prompting more attention than ever to retention and recruitment, while looming policy changes in overtime pay and Title IX regulations further complicated long-term planning. And, though it may feel like unprecedented change is the new normal, timeless HR topics like onboarding... View Article
This year’s Transgender Awareness Week (November 13-19) is an opportunity for HR pros to educate themselves about daily steps that make a more inclusive workplace. It’s also a good time to review strategies for inclusion for all employees, including those who are transgender, nonbinary, and agender, among other gender identities. Small Steps to a More... View Article
While the ongoing turnover crisis impacts all of higher ed, supervisors are among the hardest hit. In our recent study, The CUPA-HR 2023 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey, supervisors say they’re grappling with overwork and added responsibilities (especially when their staff members take other jobs), while struggling to maintain morale. Supervisor retention is especially critical... View Article
Think about a time you were recognized by a colleague for a job well done. Whether it was a grand gesture or a small act of recognition, chances are the personal shoutout put some pep in your step. Positive recognition in any form is a sure mood booster and helps move campus well-being in the... View Article
In the wake of the Great Resignation and talent recruitment challenges, heavy workloads have led to stress and burnout for some employees. One way higher ed HR pros can help identify sources of stress and mitigate burnout is by considering employees’ work environments. Are invisible pressures placed on employees, causing team members to downplay or... View Article
This blog post was contributed by Maureen De Armond, Executive Director, Human Resources at Drake University. In higher education, we must plan for many worst-case scenarios, including tornados, fires, active-shooter situations, and, as we now know, pandemics. Among this wide range of difficult scenarios that could present themselves on our campuses at any time, suicide... View Article
May is Mental Health Month. Throughout the month, be sure to join the Connect discussion in the General Discussion group to discuss challenges and successes, as well as pose questions and offer advice to higher ed HR peers on the topic of mental health. A Zoom discussion will also take place mid-May. Stay tuned for... View Article
Whether it was logging overtime behind laptops before work-from-home boundaries were put in place or turning to mobile phones and tablets for entertainment during lockdowns, many of us recognized the uptick in screen time during the height of the pandemic. Our eyes likely noticed the uptick too by feeling increasingly strained. March is Workplace Eye... View Article
Meditation is an umbrella term for achieving an intense level of focus. Humans have been meditating in various ways for thousands of years, and research suggests there’s good reason why. Meditation can increase concentration, reduce stress, reduce anxiety and depression, improve physical health and help us become more resilient in our personal and professional lives.... View Article
In a recent members-only article from the winter issue of Higher Ed HR Magazine, Britni Elder, associate vice president for human resources and risk management at the University of Central Arkansas, shared tips and resources higher ed HR practitioners can tap into to get ahead of the resignation curve and not only hold onto employees,... View Article
Throughout 2021, HR practitioners have proven their resilience time and again by positively impacting higher education not only in response to the ever-evolving pandemic, but also in building more flexible, diverse and inclusive workplaces. CUPA-HR captured many of these higher ed success stories, as well as leadership advice, helpful resources and workforce data trends in... View Article
Over the course of the pandemic, higher ed employers may have struggled with how to approach employees whose work performance has been negatively impacted by issues in their personal lives. A recent CUPA-HR webinar, “Trauma-Informed Leadership for Higher Education,” shared ways employers can open the door for disclosure and develop a leadership style that is... View Article
May is Mental Health Month, and we’re homing in on three facets of higher education that impact mental health: campus culture, resources and workplace flexibility. This blog post is Part III of the three-part series. Here, we’ll discuss how institutions can lean into flexible work arrangements and how flexible work can support more diverse, equitable... View Article
May is Mental Health Month, and we’re homing in on three facets of higher education that impact mental health: campus culture, resources, and work flexibility. Here, in Part II of the three-part series, we’ll look at some of the barriers that prevent employees from utilizing resources, and how some approaches from the corporate world can... View Article
May is Mental Health Month, and we’re homing in on three facets of higher education that impact mental health: campus culture, resources and work flexibility. This blog post is Part I of the three-part series. First, we’ll discuss the importance of creating campus cultures that prioritize and promote the mental health of students, faculty and... View Article
This post was contributed by Bryan Garey, vice president and chief human resources officer at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. A transformation of the workplace is taking place right before our eyes. From pandemic-driven urgency, workplaces are succeeding in meeting both customer expectations and employee needs through creative approaches that have redefined where, when and... View Article
When you think about how you want to grow your HR knowledge and expertise, are professional connections a part of the equation? We’re not talking about a network of names, but rather meaningful relationships that help you grow both personally and professionally. If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it has taught us just how important... View Article
The time and energy it takes to lead and move multiple projects forward at our institutions and get things done on our personal checklists takes a toll on higher ed HR pros, and at times can leave us in a low place. When we reach this point, we need helpful nudges to get us back... View Article
This blog post was contributed by Yves Salomon-Fernández, president of Greenfield Community College in Massachusetts. As a community college president, I found this past year especially hard. As we now know from the data recently released by the National Student Clearinghouse, the community college segment within higher education suffered the worst decline in enrollment. Not... View Article
For HR, most of 2020 was spent adapting to the new world of work all while taking on hefty workloads to ensure our institutions continued to run smoothly during the pandemic. This constant cycle of challenging work pushed our mental health to its limits. As we step into a new year, let’s take time to... View Article
Between pivoting with the COVID-19 pandemic, confronting racial issues, making strides toward more equitable workplaces, and managing already hectic workloads, higher ed HR has had its hands full this year. Yet in the middle of it all, resilient HR pros continue to find ways to positively impact the higher education landscape. As 2020 comes to... View Article