Division of Student Affairs

Perspectives 2002: Skills - Success for New Employees

Reflecting on their own experiences, many of the newer employees interviewed praised their departments for the initial respect their contributions had been given even though they were new and still learning the ropes. Interviewees also consistently praised their departments for the welcoming and supportive atmosphere they had perceived upon starting their new positions. The ability of the Compact to be used as an introductory mechanism for new employees was mentioned by the interviewees, many of who hoped it would be used more for this ability in the future.

"As a newcomer I was introduced into my working environment in a way that said 'you have a voice, you are going to be heard, and what you say matters,' was an amazing experience. It let me know that I was valued and I was though of as an intelligent being that would bring value to the department. As a working class woman that is a remarkable gift. Often women, particularly in support roles are not encouraged to speak... The responsibility that is expected of me towards my coworkers and my environment gives me a sense that my actions matter. That responsibility makes me get up in the morning knowing that if I didn't show up for work I would be missed... As an introduction to a work environment the Campus Compact is a powerful tool."

"The initial part of the Compact that I was introduced to was the encouragement for finding new ways to do things and to take risks. If you do speak up, people don't question how long you have been here, they want to know your perspective considering the time that you have been here. One of the first things that I was able to do and felt comfortable doing was at my first staff meeting, I shared my first impressions of things that I had observed both while applying and my first week or so here. In many of my other jobs at different agencies ,that has never been the case. If you hadn't been there twenty years or more you really had no say."

It was consistently mentioned that more newer employees have been recognizing the value of the Campus Compact and embracing its ideals.

"Overall I think that we have increased the number of people that do buy into this and do believe in the process and what we are doing."

A frequently mentioned struggle mentioned by newer employees has been how the Campus Compact was presented to them when they were hired. There seems to be a struggle with consistency in the presentation of the document across the division, because while some employees are very knowledgeable of it, others neglected to even notice it in their interview materials. A very important point mentioned by several interviewees was the lack of information regarding the context of the document that they were given. Some were informed that the ideals outlined in the Campus Compact were aspirations, while others were lead to believe that the commitments of the document represented the current state of the workplace that they were being hired in to.

"In my reading of the Compact, I got the idea that this was the place that I'm walking into. I understand that we need to aspire towards things, but to get there we need to walk the talk."

Another concern expressed by employees that have been with the Division of Student Affairs for some time was that there has been a problem engaging newer employees into the processes necessary to perpetuate the commitments of the Campus Compact. Many expressed a concern that it is difficult to engage people into the ideals of a document that they were not a part of creating. Others felt that the different, more hierarchal management styles and attributes of previous workplace structures that the influx of newer employees have been bringing into their positions with Student Affairs has also contributed to this.

"A lot of new people have come into the department that were not part of creating it. Several members of our leadership are new within the last two years. We haven't referred to this document in the past two or three years and new people coming in are not following it, they may have been given it when they were hired but we are not referring to it. .... You can't hand it to them and say 'this is something that we all have agreed to live by, so you must do it too.' You have to engage people in some conversation about why is this important to those of us in Student Affairs, how did it come about... what can we do to make it better."

"There are a lot of different people here now that were not involved with formulating the Compact. Even if they are familiar with it, if they haven't had an opportunity to engage in a meaningful way in implementing some aspect of it, they might not feel that they are a part of it the same way as those who were in on the grass roots level. So classified staff (and others) that are new in the last few years that may know about this may not have had the same opportunities to contribute."

Another expressed challenge of being a successful new employee was the concern that growth and learning for newer employees has not been nurtured to the extent to which it needs to be.

"People that make mistakes in higher level positions don't have the same approach as newer or less established employees. The opportunity to improve needs to filter down to people at all levels... There should be more mentoring of younger employees. We need to take the time to teach newer employees skills to benefit our university."