One Good Thing
When having too many balls in the air becomes our ordinary state of work, what happens when the extraordinary hits? This week we talked with UCSF Campus Human Resources about how an already stretched department stepped up during the COVID-19 crisis to support people leaders and their employees.
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Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Times
Replacing a 40-year old payroll and human resources system would have been enough. Preparing to move an entire dispersed workforce to a new space in a new part of the city would have been enough. Throw in a pandemic, and what do you get? One inspiring department working together around a critical need. We talked with Jenny Schreiber, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Campus Human Resources, about how HR took quick action when UCSF needed them most.
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Six ways HR responded to COVID
- Standing up policies, guidelines and programs such as the Manager’s Guide to help navigate the pandemic and the impact on employees.
- Guiding and informing top leaders from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to the Campus Control Points, ensuring leaders and managers are getting information on HR-related people impacts such as new leave policies to the hiring freeze.
- Redeploying campus staff to help support urgent clinical and research needs. HR helps bridge the gap by assessing the need, finding out who is available (people who may not be able to work from home and/or whose work might have reduced) and matching skill sets.
- Developing the Emergency Catastrophic Leave Donation Program (EVCLSP) just for COVID within a week, in partnership with payroll, benefits, transaction services and Labor and Employee Relations (LER).
- Adjusting new employee onboarding for new academic and staff hires, and planning for the first remote onboarding of the next incoming class of residents and fellows.
- Increasing employees’ support. Both Disability Management and Faculty Staff Assistance Program have worked with Occupational Health and others to address the increased need for support and guidance around medical leave and accommodations.
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And then, there’s UCPath
What makes these extraordinary efforts even more admirable is that they happened on top of the “ordinary” work of launching UCPath on June 1, which is already a monumental feat. So much work is happening to get ready for UCPath—the cutover, dress rehearsal, training an entire workforce and many other activities - and it’s not over yet.
Keeping teams feeling engaged and supported
How are these teams managing work/life balance when you can’t leave your home? During shelter-in-place, HR added more huddles and staff meetings to keep everyone informed. Like many other “newly remote” teams, they are trying optional coffee breaks and social hours. They learned a lot from a recent internal staff survey, including that the majority like working from home, but they do miss seeing each other in person. Not many are sad to lose their commute, yet they do have concerns about ergonomics and childcare.
Looking for silver linings
Jenny credits “the ability and agility” of the HR staff for their resiliency. One big “a ha” moment was the realization that HR can do remote work well. There are types of work that everyone assumed couldn't be done remotely, but has been done remotely with no hitch in productivity. (Sometimes you don’t learn those lessons until you are forced to).
Groups that have been historically unable to telecommute will have more options once we return to the office. The other silver lining is catching a personal glimpse into coworkers’ home life—spouses, dogs, cats and Zoom rooms. It’s an intimacy we usually don’t see that brings us closer together when we have to be apart.
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WFH Pet Challenge
Hint, hint: next week will be ONE GOOD week for ou WFH pet showcase!
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But wait...there's more!
COPE: A UCSF Coping and Resilience Program
UCSF has designed COPE, a new program for UCSF faculty, staff, and trainees to provide additional support to our valued colleagues who are experiencing anxiety, stress and distress related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on their work and family life. After completing a brief online screening, you will receive information about web-based resilience self-tools which include online resources, self-care apps and webinars. If you request person-to-person contact through the tool, you will be provided with information on how to schedule an appointment. These services are available to all UCSF employees, regardless of their personal health insurance carrier or status. Go to tiny.ucsf.edu/cope or text COPE to 83973.
Teams & Mobile Added to Office 365
UCSF IT is excited to announce the release of Microsoft Teams and Office 365 Mobile applications to support UCSF’s distributed workforce, no matter where you are. With Teams, you can instant message, launch online meetings, and collaborate in real-time from seamlessly-integrated Office 365 applications. The Office 365 mobile applications allow you to use the same Office 365 tools on your mobile device that you have been using online. Learn at your own pace by visiting the Office 365 web page for training, FAQs, and more information.
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About One Good Thing
You like good news and we want to share more of what’s good with our FAS community. One Good Thing is the “cookie jar” of emails: open it up for a quick, sweet break in your week!
See last week's One Good Thing Working Together, Apart and the One Good Thing web for all stories.
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