Streamlining HR Processes through Lean/Six Sigma

Methodology:

A Success Story

Presented by:

Annie Crawford, MBA, SPHR, SHRM-CP

Xenia Lampley, MSM

Lauren Rubitz, MPS, SPHR

New Jersey Institute of Technology

October 6, 2017

About NJIT

• Newark, NJ

• 6 Colleges and 16 Academic Departments

• Over 11,000 students

• Approximately 1400 full time employees

• Human Resources Department- 15 employees

Higher Education HR Challenges

How to:

• Overcome resistance to change when moving processes

from paper based to technology enabled

• Gain the support of faculty and administration for this

process change initiative by applying Lean / Six Sigma

concepts and tools in Higher Education

• Ensure that the HR departments resources and existing

priorities are balanced and met

• Create the right metrics and determine return on

investment

• What is Lean / Six Sigma

• Concepts and Tools used to Streamline Processes

• What is Batching and the areas of Waste

• Identifying areas of non-value added time in a process using Value

Stream Mapping

• Ways to eliminate or reduce non-value added process time utilizing

Lean / Six Sigma Techniques

• Implementation of new processes

Overview

Learning Objectives

After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:

• Understand important points of the lean/six sigma process

• Articulate the individual and institutional benefits of process

improvement

• Identify areas of waste within their own university where Lean/Six

Sigma might be beneficial

Involuntary Separations

• Timely process

• Each step done separately

• Total time to separate an employee: 22 business days

New Adjunct Onboarding

• Fully onboard before start of the semester

• Batching in the process

• Total time to onboard a new adjunct: 67 business days

Processes for Improvement

Lean/Six Sigma

Lean

• Focuses on continuous

improvement through the

elimination of waste

Six Sigma

• Focuses on improving quality

by eliminating variability in the

process

Four Main Components of

Lean

• Identify and Eliminate Waste

• Continuous Improvement

• Flow

• The Pursuit of Perfection

8 Areas of Waste -

“DOWNTIME”• Defects

• Overproduction

• Waiting

• Non-Value Added Processing

• Transportation

• Inventory

• Motion

• Employee Under-Utilization

Waste Walk

Thinking about a particular

process, can you identify areas of

waste within your university?

The Six Sigma

Methodology:

DMAIC• Define the System

• Measure the Current State

• Analyze the Data

• Improve the Current Process

• Control the new Process

Tools used to Discover Improvement

Opportunities

• Value Stream Mapping

• SIPOC

• ICE Prioritization Tool

Value Stream Map

A tool used to help an organization see

“what is” and create a vision of “what can

be.”

SUPPLIERS INPUTS PROCESS OUTPUTS CUSTOMER

(As above)

Adjunct Grades, Course Information Education Students

Instruction Credits

Personal Information

Department Contract Information Pay and benefits Adjuncts

Access to the system

Dean's Office Insure class is scheduled Email & Moodle

ID & Parking

Provost's Office Review of Adjunct Budget

Fully ready Adjunct Department

Budget Office Position Number

Human Resources NJIT ID Revenue NJIT

Card for Parking and ID

Benefits Pension Eligibility

UIS Access to Moodle

Access to Email

Payroll Payroll Processing

Deductions

SIPOC

Ice Prioritization Tool

Impact Cost Effort Total (add columns)

High 2 0 0

Low 0 1 1

The higher the Point Total, the higher the priority (4 max, 0 min)

4 Extraordinary Opportunity , needs immediate action

3 Strong Opportunity , act upon as soon as possible

2 Opportunity , act upon as resources are available

1 Minor Opportunity , placed in "future" status

0 No Opportunity , should not be pursued

ICE Prioritization Tool

4

Batching vs. Single Piece

Flow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr67i5SdXiM

Streamlined Processes

• Involuntary Separation Process

• Adjunct Onboarding Process

Involuntary Separation Process

Objectives

• Reduce the time elapsed to separate an employee off

campus by 50%

• Standardize operational documentation 100% of the time

• The value stream map revealed

that the entire process could

take up to 33 separate steps-

22 business days

• Focus- Separation Initiation by

manager, until employee

leaves campus: 12.2 days

22 Days

Notification to employee off campus

9.8 Days 12.2

Current State

Analysis of Current State: 12.2 Days

Process time, included the following significant steps, totaling

1.5 days:

• Full investigation

• Research of current law

• Review by Legal Affairs

• Holding due process meeting

• Operational documentation (PAF, letter, etc.)

Analysis of Current State:

12.2 Days

Elapsed Time: Totaling 10.7 days:

Waste Identified:

• Waiting

• Non-Value-Added (Over) Processing

• Transportation

Improvements

Eliminate:

• Redundant VP approval

• Authorization Change

Yield: ½ day

Conduct Concurrently:

• Investigation

• Schedule due process meeting

• Draft and approve PAF

Yield: 4 days

Future State

Continuous Improvement

• Room for Further Technological Improvement

Onboarding Process for

New Adjunct Faculty

Project Objective

• To streamline the adjunct onboarding process so that a new

adjunct is on boarded at least one week prior to the start of

a new semester in 95%* of the cases

Customer’s(Adjunct) Requirements

• Have access to all NJIT teaching resources at start of

semester

• Be paid without any lag

Current State Observations

• Current state process mapping shows that it requires 35 steps

to complete the new adjunct onboarding – 18 Steps are

currently performed by HR

• Adjunct contract process is batch oriented

• The current processing time to onboard a new adjunct is 16.5

days

• There is a total of 50.7 days of elapsed time in the process

Overall Total Time to Onboard New Adjunct = 67.2

Days

Current State Observations

Elapsed time distribution (in days):

Total Elapsed Time: 50.7 days

Value added/non-value added time distribution:

• 21 steps that are value added and have an average elapsed time of

44.2 days and a processing time of 15.4 days

Of the 44.2 days, on an average

–12 days of elapsed time is attributable to recruitment

process.

–11 days of elapsed time is attributable to completion of

new hire paperwork by Adjunct (6)

–5 days of elapsed time is attributable to UCID creation(3)

–5 days of elapsed time is attributable to HR input (1.25)

• 14 steps that are non-value added and have an average elapse time

of 6.5 days and a processing time of 1.1 days

Current State Observations

Risks in Current

Process• Customer dissatisfaction

• Student rosters are not available to adjunct unless a

UCID has been created/allocated

• Adjuncts cannot communicate with students through

standard NJIT resources

• Not remain in compliance with State and Federal wage

law

Future State

Recommendations & Projected Outcomes

• No batching in the process

• Combine certain steps to eliminate

waste

• Departments hand out “New Hire

Packets”

• HR – late hours prior to & during

semester start

• Let all new adjuncts know that

access to their roster is dependent

upon creation of their UCID

• Contracts are processed as they

come in

• Elapsed time will be reduced since

steps are note being done

separately

• Adjuncts come to HR prepared with

proper identifications and

completed paperwork

• No unenrolled adjuncts, lag in pay

or back deductions

• Customer Satisfaction

High Level Future Process Map

Implementation Plans

Help you stay on track!

Conduct frequent meetings to review progress

• Evaluate resources needed

• Re-prioritize and modify dates, if necessary

Identify room for improvement

• There may be a 2nd

phase of improvements

Questions?

Thank You!

Annie Crawford, MBA, SPHR, SHRM-CP: annie.crawford@njit.edu

Xenia Lampley, MSM: xenia.thomas@njit.edu

Lauren A. Rubitz, MPS, SPHR: lauren.a.rubitz@njit.edu