Fall semester is here, and the campus HR community is fully engaged in an array of efforts and initiatives. FLSA, ACA, eBenefits, TREMS… the alphabet soup of our work is coming at us at a dizzying pace. The HR CoP Office continues to discover ways to be a partner in service to these efforts: Sarah has been an integral part of the FLSA Working Group and has made huge strides developing our HR Competencies structure, while Josh has now taken leadership on courses and learning communities and will soon be working with the TREMS Team to build online training elements. I have been engaged in various groups and committees seeking ways to be sure opportunities for learning and partnering can occur where they are needed. As we move ahead this fall, we will be refining the HR Competencies (with the dedicated efforts of our Visioning Team) and partnering with others to launch a new program for “Welcoming New HR Professionals” to campus. In addition, we are bolstering our offerings in HR Technology-related workshops and courses, including development of new online modules you will see later this year. And we are all excited about the new “HR@UW–Madison Conference” on December 5th – this promises to be a great learning and networking opportunity for the campus community.
One year ago, we started this HR Communities of Practice Office with the intention of building such a program, all done in partnership with the campus HR community. As I reflect on that year, I realize that we have all learned a lot about the challenge: I am grateful to many of you for reaching out and offering your time and expertise to this innovative effort. There is much to be done, but I feel confident we are on a good path towards building a program of which we can be proud.