Memorial’s Board of Regents approved a Recruitment and Selection of Non-Academic Employees policy on Dec. 6, 2018; the policy was effective Jan. 3, 2019.

Memorial strives to attract and hire the best talent and has reviewed how the university can do this more effectively and efficiently. Under the new policy, the Department of Human Resources and units will share the responsibility for the recruitment, selection and hiring of non-academic positions.

Partnership

Stephen Dodge, director, Department of Human Resources, says the creation of this policy defines roles and responsibilities and reflects a partnership model between Human Resources and units at Memorial.

“This policy has been developed based upon client feedback that indicated there is an appetite for units and Human Resources to partner differently on the hiring of non-academic employees,” he said.

“With this new policy, Human Resources will continue to provide advice and guidance throughout the hiring process while maintaining a level of oversight on quality and key processes. Units are responsible for fostering positive relationships with candidates and will have more autonomy.”

Selection Committee Chairs

Emily Wooley, Human Resources manager of strategy, policy and planning, says units will be identifying selection committee chairs. Training will be provided to these individuals.

“Under the policy, units throughout the university are required to identify a selection committee chair,” she said. “Selection committee chairs will be provided with extensive training and resources on topics relevant to the hiring process, such as legal obligations, equity and diversity, and privacy practices. Throughout the hiring process, Human Resources will be available to partner with the selection committee chair and unit to ensure the selection of the best candidate.”

Training for selection committee chairs will commence in coming weeks. In recognition of various unit recruitment needs, training will be ongoing over a six month period.

Until a unit has a trained individual who can act as selection committee chair, Human Resources will continue to serve in the role for that unit.

Development

In developing the policy, an environmental scan of Canadian university practices was conducted and a stakeholder survey was completed. Feedback from the survey supported providing units with more authority and autonomy in making hiring decisions.

A university-wide consultation of the draft policy took place from Aug. 27-Sept. 24, 2018. At the end of the consultation period, 33 feedback submissions were received from administrators and employees. The final policy takes into consideration the feedback received.

To access the policy, please visit online.