Director's Message

Welcome to Northern Michigan University Human Resources! 

Human resources, in any organization, serves three constituencies: the employees, the leaders and the organization as a whole. In service to these three groups, a Human Resources department fulfills four roles, which can be placed within two dimensions.  The first dimension ranges from an individual to the collective.  The second dimension runs from a very tactical approach to a more strategic view. 

These two dimensions form a two-by-two grid and each of the four HR roles fit into one of the four quadrants. The first role is that of administrative excellence, which emphasizes the recurring daily tasks that need to be done well: staffing, payroll, training administration and compliance. 

The second role, employee advocate, also has a tactical emphasis, but is focused on the needs of individual employees. Things that are addressed by this role include employee status changes (marriage, divorce, children, etc.), various types of leaves, a variety of benefit issues and employee work issues.

On the more strategic side, HR has an obligation to serve as a leadership partner. In fulfilling this role, we provide coaching and guidance to leaders regarding job and organizational design, employee selection and development, performance management, team-building, communications and change. 

The final quadrant, that of change leader, requires a very proactive approach to forecasting workforce demographics, productivity improvements, trends in various processes and employee offerings, labor and employee relations and regulatory updates.

Our human resources team is structured to ensure coverage in all four roles, including back up for absences and fluctuating workload. Our team goals are to make our processes more efficient and effective, to leverage technology and to continually improve customer service. 

We welcome your constructive suggestions and invite you to contact us with ideas for consideration. 

Ann Sherman
NMU Director of Human Resources