Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

College Onboarding Program

The College Onboarding Program will establish and provide training on key competencies as well as achieve college initiatives with improved onboarding to all new employees. These new processes will create a greater sense of belonging for all employees, support accountability in our leaders, faculty, and staff, and achieve college initiatives on equity, inclusion, belonging, and excellence.

When new employees are brought on board at Portland Community College, it is a community effort to onboard and train hires for their new positions. Managers, administrative assistants, faculty, as well as staff on the People-Strategy, Equity, and Culture team (previously HR), often all work together to ensure new hires are given the attention, care, tools, and information they need to succeed.

Due to the Professional Development Program project, there will be new staff, tools, processes, and events in place to help make this process more streamlined and efficient for those hiring, and more welcoming to our new hires. This project also includes a new position in the People Strategy, Equity, and Culture Division (previously HR). The New Hire Experience Coordinator will build a robust new onboarding program as part of this project.

Programs that have been successfully launched:

• New Employee Welcome Mixers: Welcome Mixers are structured social gatherings for new hires who have completed the online Onboarding course. Both in-person and virtual mixers offer employees the opportunity to network while getting an introduction to policy, culture, and professional development at the college.

Programs currently in process:

• Improving and tailoring the online Onboarding course experience for all new hires. This project is in conjunction with the Non-Credit Integration Strategic Project.
• Building a new and improved Onboarding website with easily available resources and information for both hiring departments and new employees.

Programs in the design phase:

• Onboarding training for hiring managers and departments
• Onboarding checklists for managers and others involved in the startup experience for new hires including the following:
  • customized checklists for external hires and internal hires
  • identifying the key components of implementing an Onboarding Buddy system
  • drafting up Training Competency charts
• New Employee Orientations
• Affinity Groups

Improved onboarding will create a much stronger sense of belonging, enabling new employees to be more empowered and productive in their roles and to understand how integral their role is to the mission of the college. New processes will enable a more seamless transition into the college, while simplifying tasks for those doing the hiring. New events including a Welcome Mixer and New Employee Orientations will provide opportunities to network while getting an introduction to policy, culture, training, and professional development at the college. New resources and tools will keep employees and hiring departments informed, trained, and accountable, providing a special, memorable, and effective experience for all.

The Advanced Leadership Academy is a professional development opportunity for managers through a 10-week training from the National Equity project. The training provides resources for:

1. supporting employee well-being,
2. creating a sense of belonging,
3. putting PCC’s transformational Leadership Competencies into action, and
4. strategic leadership for racial equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Areas of focus included:

• The attitudes, actions, and practices that create a sense of belonging for employees
• Effective communication tools to increase engagement and resilience
• Leading and managing change effectively
• Resilience in the face of change
• Understanding group and power dynamics as leaders of culture change
• Collaboratively creating and operationalizing a vision for your team
• Countering individual and structural racial and cultural biases
• Giving and receiving constructive feedback
• Creating accountability for change

In the 2022-23 academic year, two cohorts participated in the Advanced Leadership Academy. Due to its success, the Inclusive Learning Team and within the Culture Transformation Team will consider adding 2 additional cohorts in the 2023-24 academic year.