Goal 1
Recruit and retain a high-quality, diverse workforce.

Actions steps include:

• Develop and implement increasingly competitive compensation and benefits.
• Continue to monitor and adjust compensation for internal equity as needed.
• Develop and communicate a comprehensive benefits plan for eligible employees.
• Develop and maintain successful recruiting and hiring practices.
• Develop and deliver an employee training program that meets the needs of the institution while promoting individual professional development.
• Analyze, create, and modify as necessary programs that recognize and celebrate employee performance.

Benchmarks:

• Faculty salaries will be at the median of our 30-member peer group for each rank.
• Staff salaries will compare to midpoints of peer groups and are at least 85% for new employees, at least 95% for those with five or more years in the position, and 100% or more of the midpoint for staff with 10 or more years in the position.
• Campus compensation strategies will be clear and well-articulated to employees.
• All search committees will be trained in the areas of legal hiring practices, ways to recruit a diverse workforce, and other related matters.
• On and off-campus relationships that foster successful recruitment efforts at all levels will be increased.
• Retention rates for faculty and staff of color and other underrepresented groups will be developed, monitored, and improved.
• Employee training needs will be assessed at various levels.
• Training will be coordinated campus-wide.
• Training programs will be evaluated for effectiveness.
• Individual training accomplishments will be recognized.
• Specific groups of employees will be identified as follows and targeted for training:
  a. New employees
  b. Campus-wide for various compliance-related topics (such as sexual harassment and nondiscrimination training; safety; blood-borne pathogens; other)
  c. Supervisors
  d. Campus "ambassadors" (all levels of employees)
  e. Employees who supervise or work with student workers
• Exit interview data will be monitored and tracked for staff employees; a process is developed for faculty exit interviews.

Goal 2
Build on a strong commitment and reputation for excellent student service.

Actions steps include:

• Maximize use of routine systems and business practices for efficiency and reliability while encouraging and allowing flexibility and innovation in delivery of service.
• Improve understanding and delivery of relevant services valued by graduate and nontraditional students and modify existing services to meet their needs more effectively.
• Consider issues of sustainability by examining employee workload and other impacts on service during periods of student growth, when expanding existing programs, or when creating new ones (examples: increased faculty advising loads, custodial services, parking).
• Identify, expand, and/or develop opportunities for employees to develop strong, supporting relationships with students.

Benchmarks:

• Graduate and nontraditional student advisory councils will provide regular feedback about the quality of student services for students in their programs.
• Staffing ratios will be developed to correspond with student enrollment; levels are monitored as changes occur.
• Exit interview data will be tracked and monitored.

Goal 3
Maintain a personable culture and an ability to act and live as a community.

Actions steps include:

• Build on, develop, and encourage participation in various campus-wide activities that promote community.
• Focus on identifying and promoting unique strategies for building community in graduate and nontraditional student programs.
• Foster development of and participation in rich social interactions in small and large ways at various levels of the campus.

Benchmarks:

• More employees will attend campus activities, including worship services, staff-development programs, and other social, intellectual, and spiritual events.
• Employees will have break rooms and other appropriate facilities where they can renew and refresh themselves during breaks and where they may build community with those in their immediate and larger work settings.
• The Best Christian Places to Work survey data will demonstrate improvements in areas that make Whitworth College a great place to work.

Goal 4
Create an environment in which employees can learn and understand their own calling in the world; promote opportunities for them to realize the inherent worth of every employee's role.

Actions steps include:

• Work with employees to recognize and value the "called"-aspect of their role, in order to develop more fully their own understanding and to model vocation and calling for students in various disciplines.
• Create opportunities for every employee to see themselves as contributing to the education of Whitworth College students.

Benchmarks:

• Increasing numbers of faculty and staff choose to mentor students through formal and informal programs.
• Workplace policies support employees in the development of their own calling both on and off the job.
• Policies are evaluated in an ongoing way to determine areas where differences in delivery may be necessary, as well as those where consistency may promote the worth of each person.