Central Carolina Community College's human resources department has received the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) 2019 HR Excellence Award. This award honors transformative HR work in higher education, recognizing teams or individuals who have provided HR leadership resulting in significant and ongoing organizational change within their institutions. Thanks to the generous support of AIG, CUPA-HR is pleased to offer a $3,000 contribution to Central Carolina Community College's scholarship fund.

Over the past three years, the newly organized and energized human resources department at Central Carolina Community College has led several efforts to make HR processes, and the institution, more effective. Outcomes of their efforts include:

• The implementation of a new user-friendly software management system and hiring procedures that have decreased the amount of time to fill positions at the college from an average of 90 days to an average of 25 days.
• The creation of a salary method and classification plan that ensures that a fair, equitable and legally defensible pay system is in place. Within the salary administration process, all positions were reviewed to ensure appropriate salary range, and job descriptions were updated.
• The implementation of an improved electronic performance appraisal method.
• The promotion of the employee assistance program, which has doubled usage in recent years, as well as the expansion of the existing employee wellness program.

The HR department's changes resulted in significantly improved employee satisfaction ratings, increasing from 69 percent of college faculty and staff reporting to be satisfied with HR in 2012 to 91 percent in 2017. Employee relations have improved, and HR is now actively involved in conflict resolution and intervention related to performance misconduct.

About CUPA-HR

CUPA-HR is higher ed HR. We serve higher education by providing the knowledge, resources, advocacy and connections to achieve organizational and workforce excellence. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, and serving over 31,000 HR professionals and other campus leaders at more than 2,000 member institutions and organizations around the country and abroad, the association offers learning and professional development programs, higher education salary and benefits data, extensive online resources and just-in-time regulatory and legislative information.