Area Report for Board of Trustees

Summer is coming to a close and the Office of the President is busy putting the final touches on Opening Week (September 17 – 20) while also working on our upcoming all employee Professional Development Day (October 18). I would like to extend my gratitude in advance of both occasions to this year’s core planning team. Thank you Aleya Dhanji, Tarisa Matsumoto-Maxfield, Vise Leiato, Rachel Collins, Michael Hanscom, Maribel Jimenez and Melanie Lawson. Your time, dedication and partnership is beyond appreciated. We could not plan these events without you!

The Office of the President includes three departments on campus, Human Resources, Information Technology Services (ITS), and Title III Strengthening Institutions Grant. For the month of September, I invite you to learn more about the important work our Human Resources Department is currently focused on. Please continue reading for a report out from Melanie Lawson, Interim Executive Director of Human Resources.

Human Resources

The HR team recently held a retreat where we focused on reviewing many of our foundational policies and procedures to ensure they align with the overall strategies of the college. We are getting back to the basics while also pushing forward with new ways of thinking.

This includes but is not limited to:

• Reviewing our leaves of absence policies and procedures;
• Reviewing our ADA policies and procedures;
• Reviewing our onboarding and offboarding policies and procedures; and
• Updating our recruitment practices

Core Theme 1: ACCESS, Reduce Barriers and close equity gaps to access for all community members AND Core Theme 4: CULTURE & CAPACITY: Promote a campus culture which fosters equity and inclusivity supporting employee growth and development, and institutional capacity for transformation.

The Human Resources team is working towards eliminating unnecessary barriers to hiring underrepresented people at the college. This includes:

• The creation of a standard equity, diversity and transformation message and employee value proposition on all job postings;
• Relocating open job postings on the Highline website for easier access;
• Partnering with Executive Cabinet and key stakeholders to review the required steps in our current application process to eliminate barriers in our application process; and
• Reducing bias in each step of the recruitment process (job postings, resume screens, interview, offer phases)

In addition, all supervisors of full-time and part-time exempt and classified staff (non-faculty) will receive training on reactive and proactive performance coaching during the Annual Supervisor In-Service during Opening Week.

In Human Resources, we are actively empowering staff to become strategic partners in their specializations.

Division Honors and Achievements

The Human Resources team is functioning at about 70% of its capacity. We are down 2-3 headcount. I am so proud of all the hard work and multiple roles this team is covering while also working hard to backfill recently departed positions.

Cariko Brent was recently promoted to our Payroll Manager role. Christine Conner was promoted to HR Consultant Assistant 2, and we welcomed a new HR Consultant Assistant 1, Naomy Hernandez-Meraz to the team.

Thank you to Koreen Jack for taking point on the upcoming Benefits Fair!

Report submitted by Executive Director, Office of the President, Danielle K. Slota