‘European Case study:HRM at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel’Tempus Regional Seminar on Human Resource Management

in Higher Education in Southern Mediterranean, Nicosia, June 19 & 20th, 2013

Jan Den Haese, HR Manager, VUB

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Content

Intro HRM@VUB: a micro Tempus study HRM in Europe and in Flanders: trends and challenges Case: 3 initiatives at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel

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About us

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10 universities 50 other HEI

12.000 students 8 faculties on 2 campuses university hospital + 3.000 staff

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HRM@VUB

Domain Topic Status

Responsibility for HRM university

Academic staff Recruitment open and transparent competition organised by the institution

Career management • evaluations are mandatory• training: certain initiatives, but no coherent policy yet

Salaries • fixed salary scales• < private sector

Working conditions • professors are civil servants• benefits• often multiple positions

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HRM@VUB

Domain Topic Status

Administrative and technicalstaff

Recruitment • open and transparent competition organised by the institution• strong employer brand

Career management • evaluations every 2 years• training: priority needsaddressed, T&D strategy byend of 2012• career paths to be furtheraligned

Salaries • fixed salary scales• < private sector

Working conditions • benefits• good work-life balance• flexibility

Management staff Recruitment elected at institutional level

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Strategic challenges for VUB

The 5 most important challenges for Higher Education in Europe afterBologna (EUA) Management and strategy Globalisation / internationalisation Quality Relevance for society Diversity

State funding decreasing Market share in education and research to be further increased ‘Brand’ to be developed more proactively More focus on internationalisation Alumni networking less effective

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HRM in Europe: 2 major trends

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Personeladministration

StrategicHRM

Socialpartnership

Business partnership

UKSpain

Netherlands

France

Belgium

Italy

Turkey

Poland

Czech Republic

Germany

HungaryDenmark

Latvia

Austria

Cost control

‘Passive’ role of HR departments

HC Management and value creation

‘(Pro)active’ role of HR departments

Source: Christian Scholz & Hans Böhm, Human Resoource Management in Europe, 2008

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HRM challenges for universities in Flanders:

enable institutions to better cope with competition and internationalisation

become a more strategic partner build more HRM awareness with ‘middle’ management academic staff major challenges:

work overload for junior professors improve business acumen and skills for governance positions increase employability towards non-academic careers

administrative and technical staff challenges: sourcing issues increase functional and career flexibility

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Our definition of Human Resource Management

Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organisation'smost valued assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business.

(Armstrong, Michael, 2006)

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And so…

…like other critical ‘assets’, human capital needs to bemanaged in a strategic, integrated and proactive way.

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Macro structure for HRM

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strategic

organisation (culture –motivation – human capital)

systems (management –information)

processes

key elements

What?

Basics

How well?

How?

Why?

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Case: 3 initiatives at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel

1. HRM audit2. HR Strategy development3. Recruitment

– administrative and technical staff– academic staff

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1 – HRM audit(‘Benchmark yourself’)

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strategic

organisation (culture –motivation – human capital)

systems (management –information)

processes

key elements

What?

Basics

How well?

How?

Why?

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HRM audit: outcomes 2009

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Implementation level> 65% 35% > 65% < 35%

(Translation)

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2 – ‘Design and implement your HRM Strategy’

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Critical factors: “Best fit" and “Best practice“ close collaboration between HR and top management monitoring

2 dimensions: Human capital strategy HR function strategy

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VUB Overall Strategic Plan

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HRM Strategy:Human capital strategy elements

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HRM Strategy: HR function elements

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1. Deploy HR Development team

13. Install HR Information

Systems function

3

2. Install Personelplanning function

2

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3 – ‘Invest in finding and attracting the right new hires for the future’

Strategy -> Demand & Succession Planning -> Resource requirements

Function / Job descriptions Competency profile

Technical Behavioral

Organisational fit Norms and values Culture

Compensation and benefits package

Sourcing

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In former days…

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…evolving into:

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…while today: for administrative, technical and…

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… academic vacancies

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Tomorrow: shifting from reactive to proactive hiring

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Targeted onlinemedia

Social media Active search Events …

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Questions?

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Thank you

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References

- Armstrong, Michael (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (10th ed.). London: Kogan Page.

- Ulrich, Dave (1996). Human Resource Champions. The next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

- Smit, Martin E.J.H. (2006). HR, Show me the money; Presenting an exploratory model that can measure if HR adds value.

- Scholz, Christian & Böhm, Hans (2008). Human Resource Management in Europe- Estermann, Thomas & Nokkala, Terhi (2009). University Autonomy in Europe 1

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‘European Case study:HRM at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel’Tempus Regional Seminar on Human Resource Management

in Higher Education in Southern Mediterranean, Nicosia, June 19 & 20th, 2013

Jan Den Haese, HR Manager, VUB

26-6-2013 28