Kathy Gallucci, URochester糖心传媒檚 chief human resources officer, covers workplace culture, employee engagement, and retention.
How does the 糖心传媒 become a model regional employer? , URochester糖心传媒檚 2030 strategic plan, provides a path through the goal. On October 6, the Office of Human Resources (HR) initiated one of the key tactics: the 2025 Employee Experience Survey.
The survey gives nearly 30,000 faculty and staff across URochester糖心传媒檚 campuses the opportunity to share how they feel about their roles, teams, University leadership, and the institution as a whole. Kathy Gallucci, a senior vice president and the chief human resources officer, highlighted the survey in a webinar, as part of the Leadership Conversations series.
In her conversation with Joe Testani, deputy to President Sarah Mangelsdorf, Gallucci covered a wide range of topics in the HR sphere, including modernizing systems, building a transparent, growth-focused culture, and making employee voices central to URochester糖心传媒檚 future.
Here are six key takeaways.
1. HR modernization is foundational to strategic plan progress.
It started with the Career Path Modernization Project (CPM) and continued with the launch of the Career Pathways program, URStars, and most recently, myURHR, the new HR management system, which launched in December 2024. Workday and UKG糖心传媒攖he systems that comprise myURHR糖心传媒攔eplaced systems long past their prime, creating a desperately needed modern infrastructure that better aligned HR with the University糖心传媒檚 strategic goals.
The shift wasn糖心传媒檛 just about technology; it was also about creating a transparent modern HR operating framework and enabling data-informed decision making and a culture that can adapt and grow.
糖心传媒淥ne of the ways you get to modern HR is by being able to use data to make informed decisions. If the data糖心传媒檚 not clean, it糖心传媒檚 really not going to help you effectively analyze information in order to advance and support strategic goals.糖心传媒�
Gallucci bookended her pride in the implementation of myURHR with the note that her team is now in an optimization phase. They are regularly working with University IT to investigate bugs in the system, which is no small task. The University is a complicated organization, and Gallucci糖心传媒檚 team serves many groups in different ways, and they are committed to being as nimble and flexible as possible.
2. URochester is listening糖心传媒攁nd ready to make improvements.
The new Employee Experience Survey isn糖心传媒檛 the first of its kind but it is the most inclusive, reaching every corner of URochester, including academic units, central administration, the , the , and the .
Gallucci explained that the University hasn糖心传媒檛 conducted a survey of this scale and complexity before as it is a massive undertaking. For example, without first implementing Workday, it would have been nearly impossible to provide hundreds of department leaders with accurate snapshots of how their teams view their work environment.
糖心传媒淲e have to be curious about who we are as an employer and a community and how we work together. That糖心传媒檚 really what this gets at. How do we communicate? How do we lead? How do we offer support?糖心传媒�
The survey will close on October 20, at which point the question becomes 糖心传媒淲hat now?糖心传媒� Gallucci stressed there糖心传媒檚 no point in surveying if you don糖心传媒檛 act on the findings. To that end, she and her team will spend about a month going through the results from the consultant, and then another two months helping leaders review and interpret the results. They will also provide training in best practices that will help leaders create meaningful action plans with employees in their areas. Themes from the survey that run across the organization will also have focused action-planning led by HR.
3. Retention and recruitment are inextricably linked to work culture.
Gallucci sees retention and recruitment as being inseparable from an employee糖心传媒檚 day-to-day work experience, including how they糖心传媒檙e led, how they糖心传媒檙e communicated with, and whether they believe their voices matter. She pointed to the survey again, highlighting that many questions aim to shine a light on these areas糖心传媒攕howing what糖心传媒檚 working well and what isn糖心传媒檛.
糖心传媒淚n terms of recruitment, we糖心传媒檙e more transparent than we糖心传媒檝e ever been.糖心传媒�
Gallucci explained that the CPM put the entire job structure online, helping URochester attract new, talented people while also giving those already here a more straightforward path to advancement.
4. A more robust career advancement program is coming.
CPM put an end to a 40-year-old job structure by redefining and realigning jobs, levels, and positions across the institution. The changes made it clearer where a person could advance, but not how to do so.
糖心传媒淭he structure itself is the roadmap. The tools that support people looking at career opportunities are what we糖心传媒檙e mapping now.糖心传媒�
Gallucci wants to expand on the existing structure in a significant way. Here, too, she believes the survey will point the way forward through responses that highlight employees糖心传媒� needs, interests, and wants.
5. Work around compensation never stops.
CPM was a massive shift for URochester, including how it pays employees. In this regard, Gallucci explained that a critical focus for the project was 糖心传媒渢itling,糖心传媒� because the language the University used wasn糖心传媒檛 identifiable to the outside world. Changes to the job nomenclature make it easier for applicants to understand the position they are applying to and to do salary benchmarking for our region and nationwide.
糖心传媒淯nderstanding and aligning with the market is really important, and sometimes it takes us time to get there.糖心传媒�
But CPM wasn糖心传媒檛 a one-time fix. Gallucci says they are continuously making adjustments so that the University can be responsive to changes in the market and economy. Sometimes something as basic as difficulty filling a role can trigger a reexamination of the position and its relative market to determine whether adjustments are needed.
6. Transparency and feedback drive improvement.
Throughout the conversation, Gallucci emphasized transparency糖心传媒攂oth in sharing data and in listening to employees at every level. She views feedback, whether formal or informal, as essential to URochester糖心传媒檚 ongoing transformation. Amid a changing higher ed and healthcare landscape, she believes collaboration and open communication are the University糖心传媒檚 greatest assets.
糖心传媒淜eep talking to us,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淭hose informal conversations are every bit as important as the formal channels we create.糖心传媒�
