WE CARE Welcomes

Onboarding New Staff with Our Values, Tours & Food 

When Housing, Dining & Auxiliary Enterprises (HDAE) came together and blended cultures and values from across the units, we saw the need for a unified set of values that could serve as guideposts for our work. A committee was formed to identify both who we are as an organization and what we represent to those we serve. It was from here that WE CARE was born. We are Welcoming, Ethical, Collaborative, Agile, Respectful, and Excellent. The WE CARE Welcome onboarding program incorporates these values and shares with new employees how we live out the values during one of their first experiences as a member of HDAE. 

The WE CARE Welcome program aims to capture new staff in their first two months of work and introduce them to the units that make up HDAE. A tour is incorporated as part of the program and each tour is slightly different, based upon the number of attendees and locations able to participate. For the very first WE CARE Welcome we had 15 new employees join us for two half-day sessions in August 2019. 

The day started with getting to know each other, as well as being introduced to the values that make up WE CARE. After introductions, we hit the road to see the values in action at the Campus Store, in a residence hall, and outside along the way to each stop. Each piece of the program is intended to show attendees how HDAE units are living each value authentically and in their own ways. Frank Ramirez at the Campus Store showed us how they are staying Agile in the face of changing times by placing a greater focus on merchandise over textbooks. Desk Attendants (DAs) in Santa Rosa residence hall spoke about Respect. Working in someone’s home raises the stakes and the DAs practice respecting and understanding our differences on a daily basis to create a Welcoming environment for everyone. 

Day two of the program gives everyone a chance to eat in one of our dining commons and see Dining’s Ethical practices in sustainability. After breakfast and the tour of the dining commons, everyone hops in a van rented from Transportation & Parking Services (TPS) for a visit to the other side of campus. Some stops include the Events Center, Family Student Housing, and TPS. Because we are all creatures of habit, it is not often that people get to see the entirety of space HDAE occupies and the folks that work there. This is the goal of the program, to expose everyone to spaces they wouldn’t normally go and show HDAE employees at work, truly bringing our values to life. 

When our new staff walk away from this program, they are empowered to recognize fellow staff when they see them embodying the values. Through the WE CARE Thank You Note program, every HDAE staff member has the opportunity to show others how much they appreciate the work of a fellow HDAE employee by writing a WE CARE Thank You Note. When writing the note, the sender describes specifically what the receiver did that they’re thankful for or how they are living out one of our values, there is a place on the back of the Thank You Note to indicate which value or values the act displayed. The receiver then brings the Thank You Note to the HDAE-wide Town Hall meetings where they are placed in boxes to be used for a prize drawing. 

During our first WE CARE Welcome, Isheeta Rahman of Residential & Community Living spoke to about strengths when she said, “Jill Hurd, the Director for R&CL, always says that ‘Human connection is the heart of our work.’ As someone who values relationship building, I really resonated with this statement both when I interviewed for my position and when I started working for UCSB. I feel that it speaks volumes about not only why we do what we do (the why: to continually create positive, impactful, and innovative experiences for anyone that interacts with us, regardless of whether they are a student, parent, faculty, staff, or community member), but also how we do it (the how: through empathy, listening, innovative practices, excellent service, etc.).” These are just some of the ways we incorporate our values into our culture, through all of our staff as team members. We are always open to new ideas to better live out our values and to help the university and each other thrive!