Dear Colleagues,

We want to update you about our ongoing efforts to support our workforce, assess the alignment of our work with our strategic priorities, and better understand how we work together and inform you of an important opportunity for you to provide direct input about your work and how you work with others across the university.  

The goals of the workforce assessment project are to: collect information, data, and community perspectives, including hearing directly from staff; to understand what workforce structures would help to advance our strategic priorities and best support our people in the work; enhance how we work together; and inform the university’s future decision-making about how to best support our people and advance our missions. 

To obtain this vital information and input, we are working with Huron Consulting Group. Huron’s expertise and validated analytical tools will help us ask effective questions, collect the most reliable data, hear perspectives from a wide range of our community, utilize comparative data from the higher education sector, and organize information.  

As an important part of this work, our partner the Huron Consulting Group will be administering the Huron Administrative Activity Study (Study) beginning on January 16. Because of your current role, you are asked to participate in this Study. The Study’s online tool allows you to detail the functions and activities you perform. Participation in this exercise is strongly encouraged and your input will provide essential insight into your responsibilities, your workload, and opportunities to advance How AU Works.  

The workforce assessment will engage staff and those faculty who supervise staff members. Faculty members who do not supervise staff will not participate in this assessment, and this project does not involve faculty work outside of staff supervision. Faculty and academic program assessment will be conducted through shared governance processes and internal review via the schools and colleges, programs, Faculty Senate Graduate Curriculum Committee, and Office of the Provost. 

The Study will be open from January 16 through January 30. 

• The Study will gather input on the amount of time spent on a variety of functions and activities. We ask that each employee use their best judgment to estimate how their time is spent across a given year. 
• The exercise is NOT intended to measure or be associated with an employee’s job performance.  
• The Study is designed to gather information about activities performed over the course of a single, full year (so your work in 2023, prior to the Workday implementation)  in any function, regardless of unit or department. (For example, if an employee in HR performs IT or Communications activities, the Study aims to capture that work.)
• Depending on your responsibilities, this exercise should take anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes to complete. Supervisors are aware of staff participation and support your participation during work hours. 
• Individual responses will not be shared with anyone at AU and will be reported only in the aggregate. 

Next Steps and Point of Contact 

You will receive an email on January 16 from HAAS@hcg.com inviting you to participate in the study. A Study participant demo and optional office hour sessions will be available to provide additional information. Please see details below.  

• HAAS Participant Demo: An optional HAAS participant demo will be held on January 11 at 4 PM ET to review the HAAS process. Register here. If you are unable to attend, a recording will be shared with all participants. 
• HAAS Optional Office Hours: Optional Office Hours will be held on January 17, January 24, and January 29 from 1PM – 2PM ET. Access Office Hours here. 

If you have questions, please reach out to the HAAS team at HAAS@hcg.com or review the FAQs.  

Thank you for your support and participation in this important initiative! 

Sincerely,

Seth Grossman 
Vice President of Administration and Chief Administrative Officer

Vicky Wilkins 
Acting Provost and Chief Academic Officer

Bronté Burleigh-Jones 
CFO, Vice President, and Treasurer 

Beth Muha 
Assistant Vice President for Human Resources