From recruiting new employees to conducting interviews, building benefits packages, providing growth and development opportunities, and encouraging employee engagement, the Human Resources (HR) team has a wide range of responsibilities at UPMC Enterprises. They also can support portfolio companies with HR needs. UPMC Enterprises offers a variety of business functions, or what we call “business services,” to our portfolio companies including Finance, Legal, HR, and Marketing. These teams can act as consultants or a fully functioning department for a startup that may not have the resources to bring those departments in-house. This model has helped numerous companies focus on building and scaling their products while leaving some of the administrative work to the experts at UPMC Enterprises.
One common misconception about HR is that employees often think HR departments are only responsible for enforcing policies and correcting those who break them. Indeed, those responsibilities fall under HR, but it’s only one of the department’s focuses. The greatest assets of a company are the people, and that’s why the Enterprises HR team acts as an advocate, support system, mentor, and strategic partner for our employees.
The team’s top priority is providing opportunities that ensure the success and well-being of our employees. They collaborate with colleagues across Enterprises on projects such as:
- Connecting with Colleagues – creating opportunities to encourage engagement and strengthen culture through events such as Demo Days, Bakery Square Connect, Lunch & Learn/Lunch & Connect series, informal team meetings, social gatherings outside of the office, and more.
- Employee Recognition Programs – awards to further recognize the talent of Enterprises’ employees, including ACES, Better Together, and Dignity & Respect Awards, as well as the ongoing “Shout-Aht” program, special team meetings to recognize promotions, and highlighting milestones like work anniversaries and birthdays.
- Internal Communications – partnering with the Marketing team on internal communication channels, such as monthly staff meetings and newsletters, which focus on the accomplishments of Enterprises’ teams as well as portfolio companies.
- Management Training and Development – ongoing training for employees to build leadership capabilities, learn together, solve problems, and reinforce Enterprises’ culture, Guiding Principles, and goals.
- Onboarding Improvements –continuous efforts that focus on the employee’s entire first-year experience at Enterprises.
- Professional Development – working with all teams at Enterprises to support and provide opportunities for professional development on an ongoing basis.
Recognizing how much has changed since the start of the pandemic, the HR team also consistently seeks feedback about HR-driven programs, ensuring employees feel their voice is heard. The team utilizes the feedback to expand and enhance the success of their programs at Enterprises.
“Our team goes the extra mile by consistently seeking feedback on our programs, ensuring that every employee feels heard. This valuable feedback enables us to expand and enhance the success of our programs, making Enterprises an even better place to work,” said Ashleigh Ketter, Manager of Human Resources at UPMC Enterprises.
As a “business service,” Enterprises HR also works with some of our portfolio companies to provide HR services based on a company’s current need. They will help build and drive HR programs, policies, and initiatives for the startups and portfolio companies, as they do internally.
The HR team doesn’t follow a one-size-fits-all approach when working with portfolio companies – each agreement is individually tailored to the company’s unique needs and environments. The team can provide a full range of core HR functions to the company, including payroll administration, compensation, benefits, employee relations, learning and development, HR Information Systems (HRIS), the Center for Engagement and Inclusion, and talent acquisition, management, and retention. Enterprises encourages portfolio companies to take advantage of business services, allowing them to concentrate on innovative solutions and breakthroughs that advance the health care industry.
Stay tuned for more spotlights on all the business services teams at UPMC Enterprises.
