Today@Dal

The Human Resources department is undergoing some structural changes that will include some new positions and faces, and the renaming of some existing teams. These changes are intended to better meet the needs of Dal employees, help recruit faculty and staff efficiently and address Provincial government legislation on accessibility.

Executive Recruiter

A review of the university’s use of executive search firms, recommended by the Dal Board of Governors, led to the addition of an in-house Executive Recruiter position to the HR team. This position is designed to improve the overall recruitment process at the university, particularly director and managerial searches. It will also reduce the cost of hiring external search firms, create a more streamlined approach when working with search firms for senior leader positions, and allow for more opportunities for proactive recruitment.

Laura Godsoe assumed the role as Executive Recruiter in January. She comes from KBRS (Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette), a local human-resource consultancy firm. She is a senior leader in the recruitment and talent-management field with client experience across the academic, government, non-profit and public sector. Godsoe is also a certified diversity and inclusion professional, recognized by the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. Her office is located in Room 150, Henry Hicks Building.

Employee Experience

As part of the department’s restructuring, the Talent Management and Employee Relations teams will now fall under a renamed unit called Employee Experience. Employee Experience was chosen to better reflect the services provided to employees throughout their careers at Dalhousie – from recruitment, orientation and onboarding, to helping shape employees’ careers through professional development, mentoring and internal advancement opportunities, to preparing for succession and beyond. Employee Experience is also responsible for non-academic labour relations as well as job design. 

Chris Hattie (formerly Director, Employee Relations) will lead the Employee Experience team as the Director. Employee Experience will include Talent Management (Recruitment & Retention, Learning & Development and Organizational Health) as well as Employee Relations & Job Design (formerly Job Evaluation).  Sundari Pashupathi will be joining Employee Experience as Manager, Employee Relations on February 18.

Accessible Employment

The province is expected to roll-out accessibility standards in 2022 with a goal to be fully accessible by 2030 in accordance to its new Accessibility Act. At Dalhousie, a committee was struck last year to develop a university-wide approach to meet the standards of the Act, including accessible employment.

As a result, the HR unit known as Disability Administration will become Accessible Employment and will focus on developing an employment accessibility standard, review the university’s Accommodation policy, structures and processes, and provide education and outreach to the Dal community to ensure employment at Dalhousie is accessible to all. Orla McDevitt will now become Director, Accessible Employment.

Total Compensation

In 2018, Human Resources added the position of Director, Total Compensation, to its leadership team to provide a more coordinated approach for employees with respect to payroll, benefits, and their pension plan. Total compensation outlines all of the additional benefits there are to working at Dalhousie that go beyond the pay that an employee receives.

Ken MacDermid is Director, Total Compensation, and manages a combined team of 22. He came to Dal from the Nova Scotia Health Authority where he managed payroll and accounts payable for several years. To learn more about total compensation at Dal, visit the HR website.

To help explain these structural changes, the HR department has updated its organizational chart and made it available on its Contact Us webpage.