UM System

Work Engagement: Onboarding Series

Welcome to Month Nine as a New Employee!

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This Month: Work Engagement

At this point, you may have a good sense of what your job requires and how you can accomplish your tasks. This is an excellent time to reflect on your position using questions like these:

  • What do you look forward to when you come to work each day?
  • What would you like to learn here?
  • What talents are not being used in your current role?
  • What motivates (or demotivates) you?
  • If you could change something about your job, what would it be?
  • What would make your job more satisfying?

The Job Crafting as a Career Strategy resource can help you take those answers and decide if you want to make changes in your current position. As you continue to grow, remember that even the most outstanding employees have something new to learn and develop.

If you supervise others, consider discussing these questions with them, too. Asking employees what keeps them here is known as a stay interview. It’s a simple tool that can be used on a regular basis with any and all of your direct reports. To learn more, refer to the stay interviews webpage.

Our system transforms lives by collaborating to achieve mutual success.

Each person’s job should have a connection to the UM System’s overall mission, vision and strategic priorities. As you reflect on your current role, take time to consider how your position and/or your department connects to your unit’s mission and the larger mission of the institution. Refer to the UM System’s mission and vision as you consider how your work fits in.

You are supported, valued and empowered.

The University offers a variety of voluntary retirement plans to all faculty and staff regardless of benefit eligibility. Visit the core and voluntary plans website to learn about your investing options.

Learn, discover and innovate each day.

Learn more about getting the most out of your work life by logging into Percipio with your normal university ID and password and accessing the following resources:

For Supervisors

You work in a safe, inclusive, transparent environment.

It can be difficult to speak up when hearing comments or jokes that are insensitive to or about a person or group of people. It’s natural to be concerned about damaging relationships or causing conflict, but staying quiet normalizes the unacceptable behavior. See some tips for speaking up in these situations in this article: How to Speak Up if You See Bias at Work.

Questions?

If you have any questions, contact us at learningdevelopment@umsystem.edu.

Reviewed 2021-07-01