Rady Faculty launches innovative talent management plan to recruit, retain and promote support staff

The Rady Faculty of Health Sciences recently launched a talent management program to provide support staff with opportunities for development, training and career advancement. 

“Historically, whenever we posted support staff positions at the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, we had no trouble filling them. But I noticed that during and after COVID, we had fewer applicants applying to our jobs,” said Raman Dhaliwal, executive director, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and associate vice-president (administration). 

Dhaliwal said that even though the plan was formalized this summer, it has been evolving over many years.  

“One of the things that I noticed was there were no entry level supervisory positions for support staff in Rady. We went from unionized positions at an AA2 level and then the next level in the organization was an EMAPS Level G or business manager role,” she said.  

“This was a large jump for staff to make. Most of our business manager positions were being filled by external candidates due to the additional experience required. Therefore, Rady created middle management positions of EMAPS Level E and F to allow support staff opportunities to progress in the faculty.” 

Dhaliwal said many individuals have moved into these middle management positions and then into the business manager role. For example, Kim Le is a support staff in Rady Faculty of Health Sciences who has moved from an assistant position on the Rady IT team to an education manager role and most recently to a business manager role in the Max Rady College of Medicine.  

“I am very grateful for the support and mentorship I received from my supervisors, directors, department heads, vice deans, associate deans, dean, my team members, my colleagues, as well as the students and residents. You learn from all these people, and the university also offers helpful resources, courses and programs that you can utilize,” Le said. 

Jisselle Buan is among the staff in Rady who has also benefitted from progression in the faculty. She joined UM as a caretaking supervisor with physical plant in 2013, and the next year moved into an operations coordinator position in the Rady Faculty, assisting Dhaliwal, then director of operations and administration in Rady.  

“I am thankful for the support I’ve received to advance my career in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences,” Baun said. 

To ensure there are opportunities for staff not wanting to move into the business manager stream, Rady has also created pathways into systems management and leadership in the Dean’s Office.  

Genelee Celestial-Dela Cruz began on the Rady IT team and is now an Entrada analyst. Similarly, Karen Soares started as a program administrator in the department of surgery and is now the executive coordinator in the dean’s office.  

There are a diverse range of options for staff to progress should they aspire to do so. Penny Nanayakkara is another example of someone who started as an OA4 and is now a business manager for postgraduate medical education in the Max Rady College of Medicine. 

The goal of the talent management plan is to support career paths at UM. This year, the Rady dean’s office has allocated $30,000 for professional development (PD) of full-time continuing staff who have been with the faculty for at least one year. This is in addition to what units or departments might also approve for staff PD. The deadline for applications is Dec. 13, 2024. 

The criteria for the program includes support from management, a commitment to continuous development and learning, and a request that aligns with both the individual’s career goals and needs of the unit and faculty. Course work is to be completed within a year, but multi-year requests may also be considered. 

Dhaliwal said she is proud of helping create a culture in Rady that fosters mentorship, professional development and career progression and believes the diversity within the faculty support staff is to be celebrated. 

“We created the talent management plan because of many factors. One, because we wanted to ensure that people saw this as a place where they could grow their career. Another was just to recognize the support staff in general. I find we do a really good job when it comes to faculty and students, but sometimes support staff get forgotten,” she said. 

“Support staff members are critical to the organization. They’re the ones that make everything happen behind the scenes … we needed to create some sort of career trajectory to keep these very important skills here at the University of Manitoba, and particularly in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.” 

Rady Communications Staff