Author: Karissa Witt

Recently I was tasked with taking a few surveys that identify your life stress categories, your overall stress score, as well as whether you have a type A personality. Unfortunately for myself, I am a high stressed type A personality. The results come as no surprise to myself as I am balancing a large workload through working full-time on an important work project with tight timelines as well as taking a full course load this term. Additionally, I am a wife, mother, dog parent, daughter, friend, etc. and I tend to run out of enough time in the day to prioritize myself and my own personal care needs. This lack of availability for general stress management to help “fill my cup” if you will tends to increase my overall stress rather than having it be associated with just one thing. 

While I am actively engaged in activities such as exercise and communication with my teammates and management team, at this time, the only thing that would help reduce my overall stress would be to off-load some responsibilities which is not an option at this time. I imagine that after I graduate in June that my stress will significantly decrease as I will have more time and availability to engage in more leisure activities that allow me to relax, unwind, and fill up my cup.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mental illnesses and stress are a current concern for organizations as these conditions have led to decreased job performance, productivity concerns, reduced workplace engagement and communication, and in severe cases death (n.d.). Organizations are working to reduce stress and other health complications for their employees to reduce costs associated with reduced productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. For every $1 invested in mental health concerns and programs, organizations are seeing a $4 return on productivity gains (OSHA, n.d.). 

One example of a program that is being implemented is at United Healthcare, their Whole-Person Health Program (United Healthcare, n.d.). This approach encompasses addressing all aspects of an individual’s needs and wellbeing through offering of comprehensive care management and medical coverage plans, prioritization of pharmaceutical needs, specialty care support (dental, vision, and hearing benefits), behavioral health benefits, and financial wellness (United Healthcare, n.d.). This program provides a complete supportive structure for all components involved in one’s wellbeing to ensure that their staff are supported and cared for in a well-rounded capacity. 

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). Workplace Stress. U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/workplace-stress

United Healthcare. (n.d.). Whole-person health. https://www.uhc.com/employer/health-plan-value/whole-person-health

When I first accepted a supervisory role at my last organization I was infatuated with the idea of being in this role – especially at such a young age, over a decade younger than my counterparts. However, due to my age and inexperience within such a role, I was offered a salary that had seemed reasonable at the time, but I later found out was below the market value. Even more defeating, it was lower than the wage that individuals I was supervising with no experience within their role were making. This felt entirely unfair to myself and my perception of the distributive fairness (Oregon State University – Lecture 1, n.d.). 

The realization that I was being paid less for a significantly larger workload and extended workweeks as I was working a minimum of 55-60 hours a week was incredibly defeating. Intrinsically, this compensation discrepancy affected my connection to the company as well as with my own perception of my value to the company (Oregon State University – Lecture 1, n.d.). Through repeated underpayment and disconnection through my extrinsic and intrinsic perception of compensation, I eventually left the role. 

Compensation motivated my behavior as there were clear inequalities as displayed through the Equality Theory (Oregon State University – Lecture 1, n.d.). I felt that my input and the outputs I was receiving were not equal or fair as displayed through the inputs of those on my team both in similar roles and those of the staff that I was supervising compared to the outputs that they were receiving. I wanted to feel valued for the effort and strengths that I bring to the organization and the compensation that I was receiving did not reflect that. 

Oregon State University. (n.d.). Lecture 1: Introduction to Compensation. Oregon State University MGMT 453. 

Throughout my life – both educationally and professionally – I have taken dozens of courses and trainings. Some I have felt may not have held much value but were required and some were not required but I felt held so much value for myself and set me up for success. While each training and course was designed, developed, and implemented differently they all served a purpose in my development (Oregon State University – W6 Lecture 1 – Training, n.d.). 

One course that I felt was not beneficial to my development but was a required course as part of my baccalaureate core requirements in literature and the arts, MUS107 – Introduction to music and its literature. While I can understand the desire to create a well-rounded experience through education, I did not feel that this course was beneficial for me due to its lack of relation to my own personal interests and the importance of its correlation with my future career selection and opportunities (Oregon State University – W6 Lecture 1 – Training, n.d.). Additionally, this course is one that I had to take during the very start of COVID and distance learning at Western Oregon University so the design and the implementation of the course were difficult to adjust and learn as the professor and the students were figuring out the platform and design as the course progressed throughout the term (Oregon State University – W6 Lecture 1 – Training, n.d.).

One training that I have completed within my professional field has been a “course” at Epic Systems Corporation, or Epic for short. As a requirement to obtain access to the Epic system and module, you have to be company sponsored to attend courses at the Epic campus. The training is strategically designed to build upon each section of material to eventually allow the builder to be able to have the basic necessary skills to complete their job. After the course is finished, there is a required project as well as exam that the builder must pass before being able to obtain access to the Epic system. I felt that this training was strategically well designed, developed, and implemented (Oregon State University – W6 Lecture 1 – Training, n.d.). The Epic team also consistently evaluates the material based of off scores and passing rates of the builders in the courses (Oregon State University – W6 Lecture 1 – Training, n.d.). There are many components that go into the development of courses and training and the value that individuals experience from them. 

Oregon State University. (n.d.) W6 Lecture 1 – Training.

Being interviewed is a standard component in the hiring process. I’ve participated in interviews on both sides of the table, as the interviewee and the interviewer. In both instances, I felt that the most effective interviews were when the questions asked were centered around the job and the answers were assessed against specified criteria. Unfortunately, not all of my experiences were the most effective. I’ve often left interviews feeling unsure about the job expectations or what the day-to-day operations look like even when those are questions that I asked at the end of the interview. Another issue is that I felt that at the end of the interview I’ve been left wondering what’s next and the interviewers have kept it vague such as “we will follow up with you when we have made a decision” instead of providing a definitive date for follow up or a good contact to reach out to for any unanswered questions. 

There are a few ways that I would advise the previous employers on how to improve the effectiveness of their interviews. First, they should ensure that they have a solid understanding of the job roles and what is listed within the job description while ensuring that the job description utilizes gender neutral adjectives (Knight, 2017; Oregon State University, n.d.). Second, I would encourage them to standardize their interviews, not only through their questions, but also by assessing the answers against clearly defined criteria (Knight, 2017; Oregon State University, n.d.). Third, I would encourage them to ensure that there is a well-defined follow up process in place to ensure continued communication with the applicants after the interview has been completed to continue to keep applicable applicants engaged in the process.  

Knight, R. (2018). 7 Practical Ways to Reduce Bias in Your Hiring Processes. Society for Human Resources Management.

Oregon State University. (n.d.). W5 Lecture 4 – Increasing Interview Effectiveness. Human Resource Management – MGMT 453. 

A fundamental component in human resource management is the development of job descriptions (Tyler, 2013). Job descriptions drive the functions of HR varying from planning to recruitment through hiring and even audits and reviews, but they rarely receive the attention they deserve (Fernández-Aráoz et al., 2009, p. 79). Organizations place themselves at risk with reduced operational function and potential legal implications when they utilize outdated job descriptions (Tyler, 2013). Even with these risks, human resource management teams are typically unable to update job descriptions in a timely fashion, with the minimum recommendation being annually (Tyler, 2013). 

Personally, I have accepted two roles at different organizations in different industries in the last 10 years where the job descriptions were severely outdated and lacked critical information pertaining to the role. While I ultimately am grateful that I gained the experience that I did, and I thoroughly asked questions in my interviews to gain a better understanding of the roles, the job descriptions should have aligned with the job expectations. Had I not accepted those roles and moved forward with employment in those organizations after gaining a deeper understanding of the job role, I would have wasted not only my own time but the organization’s management and human resource personnel’s time when an updated job description could have provided me a better understanding of the expectations within the role. 

I have a few ideas on ways to mitigate the delay in developing and maintaining job descriptions that other human resource management teams could seek to implement. First, collaborate with the employees who are actually doing the work. Have them review the job descriptions annually at a minimum, but more preferably bi-annually. HR could then utilize that feedback to update the job descriptions more frequently as they would have the needed data and information straight from the source. Another idea that integrates with having the employees assist in the job description management is to create a simple checklist or template that allows for updates to be made in a timely fashion. While these solutions might not work for everyone, they are a step in the right direction!

Fernández-Aráoz, C., Groysberg, B., Nohria, N. (May 2009). The Definitive Guide to Recruiting in Good Times and Bad. Harvard Business Review. 

Tyler, Kathryn. (January 1, 2013). Job Worth Doing: Update Descriptions. SHRM. 

Welcome to blogs.oregonstate.edu. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!