CLIMBING NEW PEAKS

A 2023-2027 STRATEGIC PLAN FOR BLACK HILLS STATE UNIVERSITY

Goal 3- Building on a Supportive Work Environment

GOAL STATEMENT: Promote a culture of excellence that will ensure pride in the institution and retain employees.

OBJECTIVES

	Objective 1: Enhance our employees’ sense of value and job satisfaction. Audit and align job descriptions with the work currently performed by each employee. Create benchmarks for future compensation adjustments based on an assessment of our salaries relative to external standards. Monitor employee satisfaction to improve policy, process, communication, and culture.
	Objective 2: Invest in our employees by strengthening orientation, professional development, and advancement opportunities. Improve the orientation process, training, and support for new employees according to their specific needs. Advance the professional development of each and every employee. Employ a process for continual evaluation and improvement of support initiatives.
	Objective 3: Recognize and honor employees for excellence. Revitalize employee awards events and create other recognitions. Implement a system of incentives for employees to support the University. Communicate campus success stories to the university community and the wider public.
	Objective 4: Cultivate effective leadership by providing supervisors with excellent training and support. Evaluate the work environment of each division or office using appropriate tools. Support supervisors with mentoring and leadership-development training for their specific needs. Generate a robust, recurring set of workshops focused on improving productivity, satisfaction, and well-being.
	Objective 5: Foster a healthy work environment. Solicit, review, and implement employee recommendations for improvement within and among campus entities. Make full use of the Young Center to promote healthy physical activity among employees. Partner with Sodexo to align initiatives for dietary health with campus food options.

MILE MARKERS

OBJECTIVE	METRIC	2028 TARGET
1	New survey of employee satisfaction	Improve the satisfied/very satisfied responses by 10% each year
2	New onboarding process for employees	Reviewed as successful by survey of new hires
3	Recognition of exemplary employee performance	Increase the number of mentions at campus events
4	Formalized training on leadership, communication, and supervisor skills	≥50% of all supervisors
5	Employee participation in the Young Center wellness opportunities	25% increase from 2023 baseline

		PROGRESS REPORT