Orientation Program Informs and Inspires New and Old Employees
Do you remember when non-word constructions like OHR, HPM, Epi, SD, and ETOB were meaningless? When new employees come to HSPH, they are faced with a dizzying array of abbreviations, initials, and acronyms. This jargon is frequently used in school communication, and understanding this code is important to feeling at home in the school community.
Sharon Wallace gives
an overview of Harvard's top administration at a December orientation
program. Pictured on the screen is Harvey Fineberg, provost.
The Office of Human Resources (OHR) gives the keys to deciphering this code, along with a wealth of information on the history, policies, demographics, and structure of the university and the school at their orientation program for new employees.
The orientation is, in itself, an embodiment of ETOB, or "every tub on its own bottom." ETOB is used to describe the university's decentralized structure in which each school is responsible for its own hiring, admissions, fundraising, curriculum, and for setting its own tuition and fees.
The school's orientation is one of the benefits of ETOB and represents a recent innovation. Until late last year, new employees had to attend two orientation sessions--one presented by the university's OHR covering university-wide topics, and one presented by the school's OHR to present HSPH-specific information.
Now, new hires can attend a single presentation that covers both the university and the school. "We took the best parts of the university's orientation program and redesigned it with our school in mind," said Ellen Carpenter, one of two associate directors of human resources.
The HSPH presentation pairs university facts with school facts. The university was founded in 1636; HSPH was founded in 1922. The number of university graduates to receive Nobel Peace Prizes is three; the number of HSPH graduates to receive Nobel Prizes in this or other categories is three. Six presidents had Harvard degrees; five directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were HSPH graduates. The mission of the university is excellence in teaching and research; the mission of our school is to advance the public's health through learning, discovery, and communication.
Demographic and physical plant information includes numbers of employees: 10,500 at the university and 691 at HSPH; number of faculty: 2000 university-wide, of which 345 are at our school, and number of students: 18,500 throughout Harvard's undergraduate and graduate programs, including 793 at HSPH. Five-hundred buildings are owned by Harvard, four of which comprise the main HSPH campus.
After providing this fundamental background information, the orientation program then turns to "Perks and Policies." Carpenter explained, "this is our explanation of Harvard's practices for work hours, vacation and sick time, tuition assistance, parental leaves, and those kinds of human resources policies."
Because the information presented in the program is interesting, important, and somewhat dynamic, OHR encourages current employees to return for a refresher. "Our orientation program is inspirational and informative," said Sharon Wallace, the other associate director of human resources. "Some of the benefits have changed over time, so employees who have been here for a while may be helped by hearing an update on exactly what are our current benefits policies."
The school's orientation concludes with a tour of the school, showing the major offices of interest, some of the teaching and research areas, and leading through each of the four buildings.
Wallace and Carpenter believe that the school's program improves on the university's orientation. The university's session focuses on myths of Harvard and on dispelling them, while the HSPH program is geared towards providing an understanding of the history and culture of the school and the university and an explanation of it as a employer.
While the HSPH program provides an excellent overview of the institution and of workplace policies, it does not include detailed information about employee benefits like health insurance and investment/retirement savings opportunities. For this information, university benefits experts travel to the school once per month to offer an additional benefits-only orientation program.
The next general orientation program will be held on February 23 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Kresge 110, and all members of the school community are invited. (Please contact OHR at 432-1046 to let them know that you're planning on attending.) The next health and retirement benefits program will be held on February 1 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. in Kresge 439.
In addition to these programs, OHR has put an abundance of information
on policies and perks on its website at www.hsph.harvard.edu/hr
