Cheryl Gochis

Baylor has long been recognized as a “Great College to Work For,” earning honor roll status on this competitive list for 12 of the last 13 years. In this Baylor Connections, Cheryl Gochis, Vice President for Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer, shares how Baylor HR serves Baylor faculty and staff through initiatives that promote wellness, increased benefits offerings, employee resource groups and more.
Transcript
Derek Smith:
Hello and welcome to Baylor Connections, a conversation series with the people shaping our future. Each week we go in depth with Baylor leaders, professors, and we're discussing important topics in higher education, research and student life. I'm Derek Smith, and today we are talking about Baylor at the workplace as we visit with Cheryl Gochis. Baylor has long been recognized as a great college to work for both outside the institution and by the people who build their careers here. Specifically the university has earned Honor Roll status for 12 of the last 13 years in the Great Colleges to Work For program and it's recognized as adoption friendly workplace and so many other honors as well that we could talk about. Cheryl Gochis serves as Vice President for Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer at Baylor, a Baylor graduate. She's the parent of two Baylor graduates herself and a current Baylor student, a Baylor family through and through. Cheryl, appreciate you being with us today on the program.
Cheryl Gochis:
Well, thank you and it's good to be here with you in the studio. I think the last time we spoke we had just moved into COVID and sheltering in place and so great to be with you in person.
Derek Smith:
Four years ago, which is kind of crazy to think about, but here we are. We can talk about some different topics than we did at that juncture.
Cheryl Gochis:
That's exactly right.
Derek Smith:
But some that are similar because we mentioned a lot of these honors and programs that have been growing have been taking place for a long time.
Cheryl Gochis:
Yes.
Derek Smith:
So I'll start with a really general question. Someone says, so how's work going? What would you tell them?
Cheryl Gochis:
Well, this is actually, I would be extremely positive about our work experience this past year 2023 was great. I think mainly because we were truly past the pandemic and we were able to move forward with so many important programs and initiatives. As I look towards those and look back on those programs, one of the really surprising things that we didn't expect that really ended up enhancing our events was the Hurd Center. So in the fall we were able to have fall staff meeting, first time it wasn't virtual in a long while, and to be in that remarkable building and to share with staff, this is our building, you are here, explore, enjoy, take advantage of it. The joy that was in that room was truly incredible. And additionally, we have finally moved back to onboarding being in person versus virtual, and that has just been wonderful and we're doing it also in the Hurd Center. So I imagine a new employee, they're welcome to the Baylor family and coming in and experiencing the Hurd Center for the first time, it has really been wonderful. So all good things happening.
Derek Smith:
So the timing worked out really well. The return to in-person onboarding the Hurd Center coming together, it's just like a lot of-
Cheryl Gochis:
Truly did. It was wonderful how it all came together and just the importance of how people were able to see the things that we had shared on video and talked about online that they were able to experience that was really, really wonderful.
Derek Smith:
Well note to that end. When you talk about onboarding, we have a growing faculty. It seems like every time we turn around we've recruited a new faculty member or brought someone in and staff as well, new divisions. This is another broad question, but what stands out to you in the onboarding process about what people have to say about the experience about coming to Baylor?
Cheryl Gochis:
Yeah, we've really been challenged to, because we are a great college to work for and we want people to experience that not only when they begin, but when they're being recruited. We want them to think, "I want to work there. This is a great process." So we want to make sure we're taking very good candidate care and ensuring that these incredible people that we're looking at know what an incredible opportunity this would be. And so as we bring them on, making sure that we highlight our outstanding benefits that we have. We truly have outstanding benefits and it can range from tuition remission to our very generous retirement contribution. It's wonderful to see people come in because they are usually in awe of the things that we have. Even things we had an employee tell me the other day, "So I get to go the SLC, I can go work out?" And we're like, yes. And they never had something like that where they worked before. And so we're very fortunate for sure. We have a lot of good news to share.
Derek Smith:
Visiting with Cheryl Gochis on Baylor connections and Cheryl. So obviously you have the day-to-day things that take place, the tasks that need done, the places you serve, and then you've got some of the higher level things as well. So where are some of the places that we might find you and your team engaging these days, or what are some of the things that take your focus?
Cheryl Gochis:
Yeah. Well, the work of HR is a work that really requires that day-to-day, a lot of tactical items that we just need to get and we can do a lot of things well, but if employees aren't paid right, it's problematic. So those basic things always require our focus and we're very committed to doing all we can to make sure those basics are never a worry of our employee.
Two things that we've done this year that I think have really been a neat focus area for our group. Number one, we have created a small team within our team to focus on student employment. It's a shared responsibility really across the university, but there's never been a group that's solely dedicated to that, helping students find positions, helping students get positions as soon as we can. So it may take three weeks in our past world. Well, that's a long time for a student. I mean, when you look at the percentage of the semester that is, so this year with our student team, we had on-the-spot hiring your student, come here, we're going to hire you that day and we're going to make sure we take care of that.
Also, working with managers to ensure that the student employment experience that they are providing is actually a great investment in that student so that when they leave here, whether it's going to a job or continuing graduate school, they have received not only wonderful classroom instruction but also great work experience. And so that has been incredible. We've also done some things in the leave world, the time off world. One is spiritual well-being day, and so you'll remember the spiritual well-being task force that met last year to really encourage faculty and staff in spiritual well-being. They recommended we think we should have a spiritual well-being day. Eight hours for employees to take and dedicate to that.
So we launched it in August. To hear the stories of how people are spending that day, and that focus has been so meaningful to hear. For some, it's volunteering at their church, others, actually an employee said the other day, "I took my day to be still and know who the Lord is." That's just wonderful. Also, this is more of a word change. At the beginning of this calendar year, we changed, we've always had vacation leave and sick leave and sick leave just seemed like the wrong name. We really promote and propose well-being culture, and then we have sick days. So we changed that and we changed them to health days, hopefully encouraging employees just sometimes you have to use those days because you are sick, but use those days to proactively be well and manage your health. And so again, small word change, but I think it really reflects the intention of the university in a really positive way.
Derek Smith:
That's great. I think a lot of people, I mean as a Baylor employee myself, you have those moments where you can kind of tell you're dragging, but there's a lot that needs done and how do you navigate that? I guess that's a slight nudge, I guess, in any direction.
Cheryl Gochis:
Oh, we have employees say, "I hadn't been feeling well for a while and then I got sick and I took my sick days." We would love for you before that to go see your doctor and say, "Hey, is something going on?" Before it becomes more of a situation for you to manage, and so you truly are managing your health versus your illness.
Derek Smith:
Absolutely. Physical health, spiritual well-being at all of these things are part of it. They all kind of tie together as well.
Cheryl Gochis:
Exactly, exactly.
Derek Smith:
We talk a lot here about the Baylor Mission and certainly human resources exist to support that, but does HR have a mission of its own?
Cheryl Gochis:
Yeah, and exactly what you said. Our mission is about supporting Baylor's mission, and we do that by creating a best in class experience for our employees. We want every employee when they're here, regardless of the position they're in, to feel that they're supported, that they're heard, and that they have the opportunity every single day to contribute to that mission. And so one of our taglines that we use frequently in HR is we are HR for the university, and in many ways the university doesn't choose their HR firm every day they have us. But we want to be so good at what we do that even if our employees, our managers had a choice, they would choose us because we're that's service minded and we serve with joy. And so it's a high standard, but it is definitely one that we think our mission deserves as we're working to serve the incredible employees here.
Derek Smith:
Baylor, as we've talked about, it has that reputation and acknowledged when it's a great college to work for, and we're going to talk about that here, but I want to ask you too, I think we hear in the news, we hear about people and jobs and how competitive it is out there, and I'm curious what should, I'm sure you have a lot of things you could tell us in a lot of directions you could go, but in general, what should we know about just what it takes to be competitive to get the Baylor people that we want here at Baylor, whether they're close by or across the country to kind of be competitive and to put that foot forward that we want to?
Cheryl Gochis:
Yeah, I think number one, we have to be extremely aware of employment trends and really paying attention to what we're hearing and seeing when we learn about careers. And so I think we could read the Chronicle, we can read other journals and publications and see that for most employees, what they really want is to be part of something bigger than themselves and work with others in a way that they really are doing meaningful work. So our job is to translate our positions to that end and give them a sense of what it's really like.
Also those benefits that we talked about earlier, it's hard sometimes to imagine benefits when you're not in a position and sometimes people are very nervous about, am I overestimating the benefits of working there? So as much as we can give them tangible items to do that and assess that is really I think what brings us our very best talent. And of course, our employees are our best referral. So a faculty member who's come from a university and they've had a great experience, they contact their friends at that former university. And so that word of mouth referral is incredible as well.
Derek Smith:
This is Baylor Connections. We are visiting with Cheryl Gochis, Vice President for Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer, and let's talk about that to that Great Colleges to Work For. I think it's a headline we see thankfully, basically every year, 12 of the last 13 and Honor Roll status in so many ways. Tell us about that list a little bit, what it is and how a school gets recognized on it.
Cheryl Gochis:
Yeah, so it's really a two-part. The Great Colleges Survey is run by a group called Modern Think with the Chronicle of Higher Ed, and their process is twofold. The first is they give us a questionnaire that we answer on behalf of the institution where they do ask about our programs and benefits, and there's a lot of data that is collected there. The second part, the most important part in our minds and the most visible part to employees is that employees fill out a survey and they're asked on a wide range of topics about their experience at the university.
So then those totals are gathered, they're merged with our data responses, and then the Modern Think people really look at that and have scored, what are the best colleges to work for and what are they doing? That's how we've been on the honor roll that we really are in the top amongst our other competitive schools or competitor schools. We are always in the top on those categories that they recognize. And so I'm very appreciative of the diligence that they put in and the rigor on that because it also gives us great data that we can use as we move forward.
Derek Smith:
Well, it's got to be really helpful just to hear from the, I mean, I filled out that survey. I think probably a lot of people listening have to get that insight from your constituents, if you will.
Cheryl Gochis:
Yes. And this is maybe a good time for me to do a commercial. Every Baylor employee will be receiving a survey in the March-April timeframe, and please fill it out. We look at these surveys and we even read those qualitative remarks and we work with leadership to say, "Hey, these are some remarks from your area. What could you do to help improve this? Or how do you make sure you don't lose that special piece of it?"
Derek Smith:
Visiting with Cheryl Gochis and Baylor achieved honors in this list, so on the list, and then also achieved honors in nine categories. So thinking about just across a diversity of areas, what does it take to build that?
Cheryl Gochis:
Well, looking at the individual categories is actually extremely helpful. For example, one mission and pride. So there are some very specific components there. There's job satisfaction. One is kind of leadership support, confidence in senior leadership. So depending on the category, there's some very pointed pieces that say, "Employees will consider this a great place to work if", and we really build around those things. And if there's an environment, even if we've done incredibly well compared to our benchmark, we still go, "Well, how can we do better?" I mean, technically we want to do 100% on everything. And so really looking at those and not being satisfied with, oh, we're the best. No, we have to continually look at that. And so those are some of the categories, and that's how we really look to those.
Derek Smith:
I'm curious, Baylor is a growing institution. We've become R1 in the last couple years. Student body, faculty are all growing. Let's talk about that R1 side of things. What kind of impact does that have in human resources? Probably a lot of different ways.
Cheryl Gochis:
It really does. I mean, we were so excited about that R1 designation, and in HR, one of the things that we say is an R1 university deserves R1 HR support. And so we've really had to look at that and say, what are the things that we can do that help contribute to that R1 status and effectiveness? So we don't have the same measures of course, that the research organization does, but we've had to do a deep dive on some of our processes. One, I think hiring post-docs, that is really, really critical. Well, if we do it the same way we hire other positions, we are probably not going to hit it right. We're probably going to have a process that is not as fast as it needs to be or is encumbered by things. So we had to look at that process, work with our wonderful leaders in the research area, and also say, we're going to be open to feedback.
If you're frustrated that this is taking too long, good, let's figure out what we can do to make that better. And so really that's across the board as we look at the different research functions, how do we serve those groups in a way that is most effective for them? And there are lots of things within the infrastructure that we need to do to do that. And just like our journey to R1 never ends. Same with the HR department, but we do, we feel very proud to be part of this R1 institution and want to support it as an R1 HR organization.
Derek Smith:
Absolutely. Hey, another distinctive that we've celebrated again this past year and years before that Baylor has been recognized as an adoption-friendly workplace. So who recognizes that and how did we get there?
Cheryl Gochis:
Yes. The Dave Thomas Foundation is actually the group that recognizes adoption-friendly workplaces. They are the gold standard regarding adoption, and we absolutely love working with that organization and have been thrilled to always be a top five in the higher education group and usually one or two within that. And so how we get that is they really evaluate our programs. We in 2022 increased our adoption benefit to $10,000 for expenses that are related to foster and adoption. That makes a huge difference for families. We also worked on our parental leave, which of course will apply to adoptive parents. We've also really looked at the seminars and sessions that we offer for people considering adoption or foster. So we've had numerous seminars where people, employees that have adopted will come and talk as well as agencies in town. And so Dave Thomas Foundation looks at all of those things.
They also help us see, hey, you may have a gap here. Look at that. Let's think about that more. But we're so grateful for their recognition and we're just really grateful that the leadership at this university recognizes that as important. I think I've shared this with others before, but there are so many employees that will say to me, "I'm not going to use the adoption benefit. I am not at that point in my life, but I am so glad that the university offers it." And so that's one of those points of pride. Even if you don't use that benefit, we're very glad that we have it because it's such a reflection of our Christian mission.
Derek Smith:
Absolutely. Now, I'm about to mention something very, very trivial as it relates to this, but it kind of funny, when I heard the name Dave Thomas Foundation, when we first got that award, I thought, is it the Wendy's guy?
Cheryl Gochis:
It is the Wendy's guy.
Derek Smith:
And it is, which is really cool. He was adopted and that was very important to him. And now the organization is, like you said, it's the gold standard, which is cool, but I'll use this to segue to another question. So I felt old because we were in a staff meeting in MarCom and we were talking about this award, and some of us of a certain age very much remembered Dave Thomas from the commercials, but we had some of our younger colleagues who had no clue. How important is it, we've got a good mix, I think, in our division of young, older people who are seasoned who have just joined Baylor. That's my way of segueing into it. What does it mean to Baylor to have, as a growing institution, to have people who've been here a while, newcomers, people have all generations working together?
Cheryl Gochis:
Well, it's really important when you look at too, even in the faculty ranks. I mean, the longer you have that position, well, that's the longer you've been researching, that's the longer you've been teaching. And so having that and having all of us together, I think, and fostering a, I think a real culture of respect and appreciation is critical to everything we do. And I think there are so many things that you do in your life where you really are with people that are in that same age demographic that you are. And so having a workplace that is truly diverse from an age perspective, I think it's good for the university, but it's good for us as individuals as well.
Derek Smith:
A show talking about diversity and age groups, that's one way. What about diversity in general as we think about a student body and a faculty and staff that are representative of God's creation as a whole, what are some ways Baylor continually looks to serve and grow in that area?
Cheryl Gochis:
You mentioned the student body. We are absolutely committed as a university to ensuring that our student body has what they need when they look at faculty and staff. And across the board, we hear students say, "It's important to see someone that looks like me, that has experiences like I do." So there have been tremendous efforts in faculty hiring and staff hiring to ensure that we have a diverse workforce. There are also things you can do that from a hiring standpoint, but then if you're not supporting that, it's all for naught, really. I mean, these faculty and staff that are going to support our students, they need support as well. And so some of our ERGs, our employee resource groups, these are resource groups established by employees to support other employees are intended to do just that. Black Faculty Staff Association, to be a group, to help members of that community be part of an organization that receives support and then helps our students. The Latinx Faculty Staff Association, they are frequently reaching out to say, "Hey, can we meet with the students that are Hispanic, help them support them?"
And so the more that we have a diverse workforce, it's also important to ensure that we have support services and functions for them so they can thrive in this environment.
Derek Smith:
It sounds really like a communal effort. It's providing resources, but also recognizing that their experiences are a resource to serve and grow in the future.
Cheryl Gochis:
That's exactly right. It's exactly right. And so many organizations, again, they'll focus just on one aspect of that, and it's not enough and it's not sufficient. And so we have tried to really work to have a holistic approach to that, and we've been receiving great feedback from people to help us do that better and what gaps are out there. But you've got to listen. You've got to listen all the time, and then accept feedback when something works and make sure we do more of that. And if it's not working to adapt and adjust.
Derek Smith:
We look ahead to 2024. What are you excited about? Whether it's new businesses, I mean new resources, rather new opportunities? What's ahead you're looking forward to?
Cheryl Gochis:
Yes. Well, I think it's really looking at the fruition of some of the programs that we've invested in. One example, in the fall of '23, we added three employee resource groups, example, military families, a support employee resource group. So they got established, but in 2024, we're going to actually see a lot of their efforts come to fruition and how that impacts everyone in that area. So we're very excited about that. We also have offered a new EAP, which stands for Employee Assistance Program, an available resource for all of our employees. Our employees, like the rest of the world, are experiencing challenges in this post-COVID world. The mental health issues that people are facing and their children are facing, neighbors are facing are really significant.
And so we wanted to have a tool, a confidential tool that we knew could be effective for employees. We just started that in December one, so this year we're really going to be able to see is this working and how is it working? We'll receive feedback. It'll be confidential, but that group will tell us, you have a lot of people looking into elder care resources, so we can look at that. They're getting help from the EAP, but then we can also build additional resources to support that. So we're very excited about that. And again, a commercial, all of our employees, I hope they will look into the resource of Employee Assistance Program. It's something that we invest in for our employees, and we want them to utilize it. They deserve it, and we're very, very glad to provide it.
Derek Smith:
And if anyone would like to learn more about that or really just get in contact with you in general, what's the easiest way for them to make that initial contact if they haven't?
Cheryl Gochis:
Our Baylor HR website really has, we've tried to organize it and streamline it, and I think if they go to that, they can see just a cadre of resources that we have available. Also, we're on the second floor of Robinson Tower, and we would love to see them if they'd like to come over and see us, we are there. We will happily meet them, and they can look behind us and see the Foster Pavilion while they're at it. So that'll be fun too.
Derek Smith:
Well, Cheryl, thanks so much for your time. Thanks for all you and your team do, and it's been great to visit with you today.
Cheryl Gochis:
Yes, thank you, Derek, and thanks for the connection.
Derek Smith:
Thank you. Cheryl Gochis, Vice President for Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer, our guest today on Baylor Connections. I'm Derek Smith. A reminder, you can hear this in other programs online at connections.web.baylor.edu, or you can subscribe to the program on iTunes. Thanks for joining us here on Baylor Connections.