Updates may be made to the information below pending the completion of university review of the Quest 2028 and Research strategic plans.
Check this out!! VCU News article highlighting the IT Career Community's amazing mentorship program!
Culture of Care and Appreciation
As VCU employees, we share a collective responsibility to create and sustain an environment in which we can be our best physical, mental, social, and emotional selves. In a culture of care and appreciation, we are all seen, heard and valued as fellow human beings who work together for the success of VCU students, patients, faculty and staff. Quest 2028 provides direction and alignment on what we do together at VCU; the culture of care and appreciation is a framework for how we do it.
What does this look like?
We all make decisions every day that sculpt the world around us and impact our colleagues. To sustain a culture of care and appreciation, there are a number of values, intentions and behaviors to keep in mind as we strive to be our best selves at work. Read more below or download the VCU Employee & Manager Profiles.
Employees are invited to:
- Demonstrating care, appreciation, and respect for others
- Understanding Great Place HR basics
- Working flexibly and transparently with self-accountability and integrity
- Assuming positive intent from others; when in conflict, asking questions, identifying the situational details, and considering the bigger picture
- Demonstrating understanding and behaviors supportive of a welcoming and nurturing environment
- Demonstrating innovation, critical thinking and continuous learning in designing and implementing new ways of supporting students, faculty & staff
- Collaborating with others in pursuit of service excellence
- Helping other employees adopt these behaviors through modeling and encouragement
Managers are also invited to:
- Creating and sustaining a culture of care, appreciation and respect
- Having a deep understanding of our human resources policy, and implementing all practices
- Guiding and supporting employees in their career development
- Being self-aware, transparent and respectfully authentic
- Leading through change, ensuring all team members are considered and included
- Creating opportunities for collaboration
- Managing flexibly and creating a sense of safety for employees, welcoming respectful disagreement and discourse
- Leaning into difficult conversations and approaching honest mistakes as learning opportunities
- Streamlining work for improved customer and employee experience and efficiencies
Ongoing Efforts
VCU HR continues to incorporate the culture of care and appreciation into our programs and services.
- We conduct surveys, manager town halls and listening sessions to hear feedback from staff at all levels.
- The career development and performance management processes include resources that support staff success, including career path frameworks for almost all job titles.
- We focus on VCU culture and building connections in a hybrid work environment through University Orientation, Manager Orientation, and quarterly in-person networking events for new employees.
- The Manager Toolkit provides an ongoing resource for managers to access important information.
- Through our HR Course Catalog, employees and managers can find training on topics such as emotional intelligence, crucial conversations, and more!
- A curated collection of resources on resilience supports employees and managers in using resilience to navigate challenging times.
- The SMART Goal Library helps staff identify goals by showing examples of how to select and write goals for each position at the university.
- A robust selection of work/life resources available on our website or the RamStrong hub mean that you always have somewhere to turn, no matter what circumstances life hands you.
Showing Appreciation
Want to learn more about how you can show appreciation for your colleagues (and receive some in return)? Here are some recommended resources on how to show appreciation in the workplace:
- Employee Recognition
- Awards
- Appreciation at Work training offered by VCU HR can help you activate your appreciation skills based on the book “5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace”. You can also learn more about workplace appreciation via this Forbes article or the full book.