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Juletta Toliver, IUPUI’s senior director of human resources, started at the school as an undergraduate in the late 1980s, fully intending to become a computer programmer. She also needed a part-time job, which she got on campus in human resources. Before long, she had transferred into a program called Supervision that offered HR and management courses.
Then, as she was graduating, someone in the university’s HR department was retiring. And except for a 10-year stretch when she worked as IUPUI’s director of financial services, Toliver has spent her 35-year career in university HR.
She moved back to HR in 2015 just as HR was going through a transformation across Indiana University.
“Until that time, each campus functioned in a silo when it came to HR,” Toliver said. “We got a new vice president who said, ‘We’re one HR, and we’re going to work to make it that way.’”
She was tapped to be the interim HR director at that time. Eighteen months later, the interim tag was removed.
Toliver said she’s proud of the HR work she’s done. Two programs stand out for her: the mentorship program for staff and the Institute for Supervising Excellence.
Toliver proposed the mentorship program when IUPUI was going through a campus-wide review to make sure the university was welcoming in all aspects. The staff counsel had done the same, so they joined forces. In the program, staff can be mentors or mentees.
The program is in its seventh year, and Toliver called it “a great success.”
“A lot of people have gone beyond the imposter syndrome, where individuals never saw themselves as a mentor, but they have plenty they can contribute to others in terms of providing others with information, guiding them and letting them know what experiences they have gone through,” she said. “That could be beneficial to someone who’s on the same professional track that they’re on.”
The Institute for Supervising Excellence helps staff members who are new to their supervision role or need to hone their skills.
“Often, an individual may become a supervisor just by seniority,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that we were providing tools for those who were becoming supervisors for the first time so they could manage and lead others and not just have the responsibility of making sure someone showed up on time or showed them a task but also pouring into that individual some kind of development for them.”
Toliver said the biggest challenge she faces these days is recruiting and retaining a talented,
diverse workforce.
“A lot of things play into retention: remote work, hybrid work, competing with other organizations and salary,” she said. “We need to make sure we have a welcoming environment where people can thrive and people care about you. If you have those things, a lot of times people will stay even though they may be able to earn a higher income somewhere else. If we have that complete package, I think we can do well attracting and retaining staff.”•
Check out more HR Impact award honorees.
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