Dear FAS Community,
I’m writing to update you on the FAS FY25 action planning goal and deadline decisions and remind you of the four recommendations Gallup shared with us. Please note that those reporting to Health have an earlier deadline to submit action plans. Check with your manager or contact us if you have any questions.
FAS FY25 action planning goals
Increase accountability for engagement action planning and making meaningful progress:
- 90% of people leaders* will submit an engagement action plan into HR Umbrella by October 15, 2024.
- Please note that those reporting to Health should upload action plans to HR Umbrella by this Friday, September 13 (the technical deadline is Sunday, September 15).
- 75% of action plans submitted have at least 1 completed tactic marked in HR Umbrella by February 1, 2025.
All action plans should include:
- At least one tactic focused on increasing participation in the 2025 Gallup Engagement Survey.
- At least one tactic specific to the department leader’s 2024 Gallup results where improvement can be made. (Leaders of small units who do not get individual results should use the next highest reporting group results to select a tactic.)
*FAS encourages ALL people leaders to have a plan or ladder into a plan. People leaders = anyone with a direct report in UCPath. To align with Health and EVCP, the FY25 goal measurement is S1 and above (Supervisor 1 and above).
4 additional Gallup recommendations
Additionally, Gallup recommends focusing on these four areas to "move the needle" in our current results plateau (see slides 41 and 42 of our 2024 final report).
1. For FAS Overall, Focus on Expectations
Why: The most important and foundational employee need is question one, clear expectations. What we know: FAS results fall at the 33rd percentile.
- Review the job families where expectations is low. Conduct an assessment of the roles, performance objectives, prioritization and workload.
- Conduct a webinar for all people leaders on Expectations. Provide job aids, quick tips, share best practices.
- Start every day with a quick start huddle. Review priorities, what will be done today and what can/will wait till tomorrow.
2. Support People Leader’s Personal Engagement
Why: Gallup finds that 70% of employee engagement can be explained by manager’s behaviors. What we know: 40% of FAS managers are not personally engaged.
- Focus on the needs of people leaders. Examine training needs across the organization. Develop all people leaders’ competencies, especially supervisors.
- Hire only the most naturally talented people leaders for upcoming roles, especially talented in managing others. The best managers have a rare talent.
- Address burnout by being open to talk about workload, friction, work-life balance matters.
3. Action Plan Quality to Boost Team Engagement – Especially Bottom Quartile Teams
Why: Teams have better engagement when they have effectively action plan. What we know: Employees who strongly agree their teams are making progress on their action plans have engagement at the 89th percentile.
- Role model action planning at the top; conduct a senior leader (direct team) action planning session.
- Refresh training on how to action plan for people leaders, in an efficient way, customized to FAS.
- Share good-better-best examples of action plans. Many teams should be planning on Expectations and Do Best.
- Set an expectation for all people leaders that they conduct a session, document a plan, and hold the team to account on the plan.
- Inspect the quality of the plans for the 17 teams where results have been in the bottom quartile for two years.
- Remind all people leaders to refresh plans through the year.
4. Embrace Wellbeing as Part of the UCSF Employee Value Proposition
Why: Career well-being is the biggest contributor to a thriving life. What we know: While 54% of employees are engaged at work, only 37% are thriving – both engaged at work and thriving in their lives.
- Examine workloads, inefficient processes, and other barriers; try to simplify complexity.
- Build shared connections on balancing work-life; share best practices for all work models from fully remote to fully onsite, in order to support each individual with new ideas.
- Connect all employees to the UCSF benefits that support well-being.
Next steps
- Continue action planning discussions with your teams in preparation for the October 15 submission deadline (September 13 for Health), and ensure your plans include a tactic that occurs before February 1, 2025.
- The Senior Vice Chancellor’s Office is updating the FAS action planning guide, including instructions for uploading and exporting action plans in HR Umbrella and accessing the user-friendly People Analytics dashboard to see goal status.
- We will distribute the guide through your area's FAS Action Plan Lead.
Stay tuned for a new program launching next week, FAS Shines, designed to shine a spotlight on recognition each quarter.
Thank you for your part in creating a workplace that works for everyone.
Erin S. Gore
Senior Vice Chancellor
Finance and Administration