Robert A. Crouch, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources
As a result of feedback received from stakeholders across the campus, UIC Human Resources (UIC HR) convened a team of human resource professionals to analyze the Civil Service hiring process. The project team was charged with finding ways to streamline the hiring process to create a system that is more efficient and effective.
Mapping each step, the team took a critical look at the entire hiring process and identified several opportunities to make the process more efficient. One step identified as adding a significant amount of time to the process is the completion of the nepotism form. Although this is a necessary step in the process, the team discovered that the requirement for numerous signatures could add six to eight weeks to the hiring cycle.
A key contributing factor to the slowdown in the current process is the need for multiple signatures. In certain cases up to as many as 10 signatures were needed. After evaluating the form and the signature and approval processes, the team discovered an opportunity for streamlining the hiring cycle time by reducing the number of signatures required to complete the form, and received approval from the Ethics Office to make the changes.
In the new process, only the signatures of the employees involved and the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, and/or Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, and/or Head of Student Employment are required, and PDF’s, rather than a single circulated hard-copy, are acceptable. It is no longer necessary to obtain the signatures of multiple layers of supervision as in the past. In the revised process, once the necessary signatures are received, department heads and supervisors will receive an electronic copy of the completed nepotism agreement via an email from the appropriate campus unit. This will significantly shorten the entire process, allowing units to onboard new hires in a more timely fashion.
The revised forms and corresponding instruction sheets are available on the UIC HR website under ‘HR Forms’. If you have any policy questions or issues, you may direct them to Dan Harper, Associate Director of Labor & Employee Relations at djharper@uillinois.edu or 312.413.4788. Processing questions may be directed to Susan Balmes, HR Associate at balmes@uillinois.edu or 312.355.5230.
Positive feedback has already been received from colleagues regarding these process changes and within a few weeks of implementation, the usual process time has been reduced from several weeks to two days or less. Please know that UIC HR is committed to continuous process improvement and we will continue to explore opportunities to provide more timely and effective support.
