The USM in 2010: 

Responding to the Challenges that Lie Ahead

Staff Development

Particularly in light of statewide labor shortages, the USM must rejuvenate its staff training and development efforts.

As an educational enterprise, the USM relies on its employees to accomplish particularly complex missions. To that end, on-going professional development and training is essential, not only to the success of any individual employee, but to the USM and, ultimately, the students and citizens of the State of Maryland. All University employees must possess the skills and knowledge necessary to help the USM achieve its goal of national eminence.

The USM is one of the largest employers in the State of Maryland, with a workforce of 15,220 staff employees with a 4% turnover rate. This low rate of turnover indicates a strong loyalty to the organization and demonstrates the importance of preventing workforce obsolescence. Currently, many USM staff are not being utilized to their full potential due to a lack of on-going training. While some USM institutions have highly developed professional development programs, others have none. In fact, the USM training budget represents less than 1% of our total operating budget, compared to a national average of at least 1%.

Particularly in light of the current record-low Maryland unemployment rate (3%), it is increasingly difficult to recruit outside candidates for many positions. Training current staff to take on new responsibilities and learn new technical skills is much more cost effective than recruiting, and has the added benefit of increasing staff retention.

USM Response

USM institutions will:

• Work with the USM Office of Human Resources to create a Systemwide Board of Regents policy for staff training and development at all levels that includes mandatory minimum amounts of training.
• Enhance their workforce through the Building Excellence through Staff Training (BEST) program, a new USM professional development program that will provide all staff with Systemwide access to timely, relevant training.
• Maximize usage of the BEST program through Systemwide collaboration, with the USM Office serving as a coordinating center. Each USM institution will be responsible for providing its own BEST program or for partnering with other USM institutions.
• Contract out design and coordination of BEST program to a consultant, and use existing resources to cover the initial cost of the BEST program implementation. Sources of funding for each institution will be discussed by the Chancellor's Council.
• Establish an oversight committee for the BEST program and allocate a budget of $3,000 to $8,000 from each institution for this function.
• Evaluate outcomes of the BEST program annually, including participation rates among all levels of employees, the fulfillment of management expectations, and any financial gains and savings from the program.