A new look at Staff Development Day

by Janice Phillips

Since its creation 10 years ago, Staff Development Day has been among the University's most well received employee events. Throughout this time, the program has evolved and improved to reflect the helpful evaluations, suggestions and ideas received from many of the 8,000 employees who have attended this event. Moreover, employee feedback from Brown's recent administrative review has suggested that a fresh look may now be appropriate for Staff Development Day.

Toward that end, the Human Resources Department has decided to suspend Staff Development Day this year to provide for sufficient time for a thorough University-wide study of this event. This would include a comprehensive needs assessment, which could include a survey of the Brown community through questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups, in addition to meeting with the Staff Advisory Committee. We will also solicit opinions about Staff Development Day and other training programs and employee events in order to have a clearer picture of employee needs and desires.

We look forward to your participation in these discussions. Input from all staff is a source of information that keeps the University up-to-date on the needs and desires of all members of our community, helping us to attract, retain and motivate the type and quality of staff we need to carry out our mission of academic excellence.