Trinity Launches HR Service Centre

Posted on: 17 December 2015

This year has seen the introduction of a number of new developments in Trinity’s Human Resources Department to improve the delivery of its service including dedicated front-line staff dealing with personal HR queries, a new website, and online services through the Core Portal for monthly paid staff.

Looking after the personal HR queries of an entire university with some 3,000 staff members can be a demanding job. The new HR Service Centre, located in a colourfully decorated office on the ground floor of House 4, provides a one-stop shop for all employment-related queries from staff, including retired, prospective and former staff.

The establishment of this busy unit was led by Paula Kennedy-Hogan, HR Services Manager and is staffed by a team of three – Sharon Nelson, Team Leader, Shauna Powderly and Aidan Baird. It has dealt with over 6,000 separate queries since its launch in July 2015. The team aims to resolve as many queries as possible from staff and managers at the first point of contact. Should the need arise, they escalate queries to the relevant section within HR if they are not in a position to answer the query, however, this only happens occasionally.

‘Business’ is growing steadily with an average of some 1,500 queries per month since the beginning of this term. Almost half of these queries are ‘walk ins’, while over a quarter are phone queries and the remainder are email/webmail queries. Among the most common enquiries are those relating to staff ID cards, payroll, pensions and picking up and returning signed contracts.

“A key benefit of the HR Service Centre is the provision of a one-stop shop that is open through lunchtime as opposed to having to contact different areas within Human Resources. The team offers an increased level of service to resolve queries as efficiently and effectively as possible,” explained Sharon Nelson, Team Leader.

“October saw a peak in queries due to new colleagues joining Trinity at the beginning of the academic year, especially academics and research staff. We especially take international staff under our wing and provide them with a warm welcome,” Sharon continued.

“Over the past year and subsequent to the START process, HR has been working to transform the way we do business and improve the services we provide. This is in integral element of our new HR Strategy, ‘A New Era for HR’, approved by Board in June 2015. There has been much positive feedback from the college community regarding the HR Service Centre and its introduction without adding any additional headcount in HR has gone smoothly,” commented Aveen Batt, Deputy Director, Human Resources.

In addition to the Service Centre, HR’s website has been re-designed to enable staff to find the answer to many questions.  All policies and forms are located in a user-friendly HR A-Z section on the website which enables staff to easily locate the information they require. Monthly paid staff also have access to some online services through the Core Portal which is easily accessed via the website.

The HR Service Centre is located on the ground floor of House 4 and is open from 09:00-17:30 (Monday -Thursday) and 09:00-17:00 (Friday), remaining open through lunchtime.  Please contact the team by either dropping in or contacting them by phone on Tel 896 3333 or by email hr@tcd.ie