In early 2021, the Segal Consulting Team conducted a wide range of interviews, focus group discussions and more with key University stakeholders representing a variety of campus offices, organizations and employees to assess HR’s strengths. The assessment provided a comprehensive analysis for enhancement in HR support relative to best practices and the needs of Stony Brook and its workforce.

As noted in the final report from the Segal Consulting Team, HR has not only been under-funded for quite some time, but it’s been a deeply defunded department as well, operating with limited resources.

1. While Stony Brook features many best practices in HR, resources supporting HR across the campus are uneven, and our decentralized HR structure results in inconsistent levels of support and services for our leaders, faculty, and staff across the university.
2. Dated systems and complex, manual HR processes also impact the delivery of an efficient and seamless HR experience.
3. Key findings suggest that in order to maintain a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining faculty and staff, we need to invest in more employee training and development programs.

In this first phase of work, we also provided our ideas for addressing the findings, and a road map for designing our new solutions, structures, programs and services:

1. CREATE A STEERING COMMITTEE
   
   Create a steering committee to review the inconsistency and gaps with decentralized HR support across the campus and develop a new approach for providing consistently high levels of dedicated HR service and expertise for all areas of the university.
2. INVEST IN TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
   
   The university is already making significant investment in new and expanded technology solutions. For example, Central HR, in partnership with the Division of Information Technology, will be implementing a new Time and Attendance reporting system within WolfieOne, which will replace SOLAR and paper timesheets.
3. REDESIGN HR PROCESSES
   
   Streamline and redesign many of the core HR processes such as Central HR moving from a traditional recruitment format to a talent acquisition model to make hiring top talent, especially for hard-to-fill roles, more efficient and more enduring.
4. DEVELOP NEW AND EXPANDED SERVICES
   
   Develop several new and expanded services in Central HR such as adding an employee engagement unit and reintroducing training and professional development to the West Campus, SOM and HSC.

UPDATE: Completed

A steering committee was organized to determine the best approach for modernizing the HR service delivery model for the faculty and staff of tomorrow, with input and guidance from the Segal Consulting Team. The team represented a variety of campus offices, organizations and employees — all working in a transparent, collaborative and inclusive way. These meetings concluded in June of 2023.

Central HR, in partnership with the Division of Information Technology, will be implementing a new Time and Attendance reporting system within WolfieOne, which will replace SOLAR and paper timesheets. For more information on WolfieOne, visit stonybrook.edu/erp.

The staff recruiting and hiring processes were mapped and documented, and a detailed set of recommendations and plans were developed for streamlining these processes and making them more efficient. These meetings concluded in November 2022, making way for the next process redesign.

Central HR filled two new Assistant Vice President positions to provide leadership to the new and expanded areas of HR, including Training and Organizational Development, Culture and Engagement, Recruitment and Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards and even an HR Service Center for questions.

As the process improvement work is ongoing, after concluding the staff recruiting and hiring process redesign, the recruiting and hiring processes for faculty is currently being worked on, and the mapping and redesign for the next set of HR processes are underway. For more detailed information on our next steps for rolling out the business partner model and continued expansion of Central HR support in addition to the process work, visit this IMPLEMENTATION DASHBOARD.