University Human Resources Annual Report 2024-2025
FY 2024-25
During fiscal year 2024-25, University Human Resources continued its long-standing tradition of recognizing employees for their extraordinary service and contributions to NC State. This ongoing effort and the many others supporting each of the seven goals in the university’s strategic plan, Wolfpack 2030: Powering the Extraordinary, are detailed in this report, which includes the following achievements:
- Continuing the UHR Student Internship Program
- Preparing to launch HR Academy
- Establishing the Employee Career Development unit
- Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of our electronic service platform, HRNow
UHR is proud to present the team and individual accomplishments in this report.
NC State at a Glance: FY 2024-25
10.6
Average Years of Service
104,312
Total Years of Service
2,124
New Employees Onboarded
98.5%
Enrollment Rate for the 2024 Annual Enrollment Period
164
Temporary Employees Hired into Permanent Positions
7
Executive Level Positions Filled by Executive Search Services
5,108
Employees attended 261 classes facilitated by Learning and Organizational Development and University Human Resources
697
Faculty and Staff attended Ready to Retire Workshops hosted by the Benefits Office
UHR Staff Highlights and Accolades
Two UHR employees earned Award for Excellence nominations: Ryan Bernarduci and Taylor Reynolds.
Taylor was one of the 12 universitywide winners of the Award for Excellence.
David Perryman, Director – Talent Acquisition and Employment, served as Chair of the CUPA-HR Southern Region Board of Directors.
Events and Campus Activities
BetterYou Partnership Launch
FY 2024-25 UHR Accomplishments
Categorized by NC State’s 2021-30 Strategic Plan Goals
Goal 1: Empower students for a lifetime of success and impact.
- In FY 24-25, UHR continued its annual Student Internship Program. Forty-seven NC State students applied, and four were selected and hired into paid internship positions for the fall and spring semesters. These students gained valuable on-the-job learning experience, developed career readiness competencies, and forged connections with faculty and staff on campus. This valuable experience will help them gain a competitive edge in the job market.
Goal 2: Ensure preeminence in research, scholarship, innovation and collaboration.
- In Aug. 2025, UHR will launch HR Academy, a required training curriculum for HR professionals new to NC State University. In FY 24-25, UHR collaborated with HR professionals across the university to establish a project team and develop the 35 courses that are part of the program.
- HR professionals must take 11 of these courses: seven core courses and four electives, within their first 90 days of employment in their HR role.
- HR Academy is the result of valuable feedback and requests from members of our HR community to provide crucial information, consistent best practices and improved resources that will ensure HR professionals’ success.
- In Jan. 2025, in alignment with the OneHR model, UHR expanded the use of the HRNow case management system to the Graduate School and the College of Education. This allows HR professionals in those areas to deliver HR services through the HRNow service delivery platform, which enables them to more effectively and efficiently support their employees. (Also supports strategic goal 5.)
Goal 3: Expand and advance our engagement with and service to North Carolina and beyond, defining the standard for a 21st-century land-grant university.
- University Temporary Services continues to expand the employee talent pipeline and provides prospective employees with opportunities to start and develop careers. In FY 24-25, UTS placed 833 temporary employees in positions at NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill. (Also supports strategic goal 6.)
- In Oct. 2024, UHR assisted with implementing a temporary relief effort, communicating to campus that the Office of State Human Resources would allow employees to use community service leave for Hurricane Helene recovery in Western North Carolina. UHR developed a process for using this leave along with how-to guides to instruct employees. (Also supports strategic goal 6.)
Goal 4: Champion a culture of equality, belonging and well-being in all we do.
- UHR established an Employee Career Development unit and tasked the unit with helping staff better navigate career planning at NC State. The unit’s counselors help employees better assess their strengths and gaps in experience, navigate career development opportunities, and identify professional development resources to augment their skills.
- The prototype launched with HR positions and will expand to other occupational groups over time. Informal resume writing assistance has been provided to employees facing unplanned organizational reductions.
- In Dec. 2024, UHR announced a new bereavement leave program and request process. The program allows eligible employees to take paid leave after the loss of immediate family members or colleagues. To implement this program, UHR collaborated with the Office of Information Technology on required system changes, developed a dedicated webpage and knowledge base content, and communicated the program’s status to campus.
- In March 2025, HR Wellness conducted its first campus wellness survey in an effort to learn what employees think about employee wellness initiatives at NC State and what enhancements could be made. While the survey results were largely positive, they revealed employees would like to see more flexible, inclusive, and accessible wellness opportunities. As a result, HR Wellness plans to expand its programs for the 2025-26 academic year by offering new fitness classes, app-based challenges, and enhanced programming that will reach employees on and off campus, including online options.
Goal 5: Improve university effectiveness through transformative technologies, cutting-edge processes and actionable data.
- In FY 24-25, the HR Service Center significantly enhanced its capabilities by implementing a detailed credentialing plan for all service center employees. All positions in the service center were cross-trained and reclassified as HR Specialists, enabling them to proficiently handle campus and UHR inquiries, I-9 compliance, and background checks. This comprehensive training ensures seamless service continuity during vacancies and fosters career growth within the team, leading to more effective and consistent customer service.
- In Feb. 2025, UHR transitioned all leave case management from manual processes to the HRNow case management system. This strategic shift improves processes, increases customer visibility, eliminates redundant efforts, and minimizes risks. Leveraging HRNow has enhanced status tracking and the identification of processing delays.
- UHR developed a quick reference guide for HR professionals to simplify handling data, public record, and information requests. This guide clarifies complex processes, helping staff quickly assess how to appropriately manage requests for data or employee records. It aims to increase awareness, thereby improving the effectiveness of responses and ensuring compliance with records retention guidelines.
- In 2022, the UNC System launched a strategic initiative to enhance talent recruitment and retention for EHRA non-faculty roles. Following a market assessment, the System rolled out a new EPS salary grade structure in Feb. 2025, built on standardized job classification codes (JCATs). UHR’s Classification & Compensation unit, in collaboration with HR Information Management & Analytics, reconciled 3,793 EHRA positions to align with this new EPS framework and JCAT assignments, ensuring system-wide consistency.
- In FY 24-25, UHR continued to enhance and market the HRNow service platform, modernizing and improving customer service for NC State employees.
- 1,250 new knowledge base articles were developed.
- 14,614 cases were resolved, a 16% increase from FY 2023-24. Notably, there was a 29% increase in same-day resolutions, highlighting improved response times and case handling efficiency by UHR staff.
- There were four colleges/divisions that have been onboarded to use the case management feature for HRNow – The Graduate School, College of Education, Poole College of Management and College of Veterinary Medicine.
- In FY 24-25, UHR created an Implementation Success Team to boost project success. This team developed key change management resources, including a LinkedIn Learning path and toolkits. These resources prepare PMO team members to act as change managers, helping them effectively communicate and strategize for successful project implementation for affected communities. The team is fully assembled, resources are ready, and the first change manager has been appointed to a current project.
Goal 6: Lead in developing innovative partnerships, entrepreneurial thinking and applied problem-solving.
- In May 2025, UHR celebrated 27 employees who completed the Administrative Professionals Program. This class is the second to finish the program, which equips administrative professionals at NC State with skills and knowledge to excel in their roles and advance in their careers. Eleven participants in this year’s cohort earned the Professional Administrative Certificate of Excellence (PACE) certification.
- In FY 24-25, UHR significantly improved HR data quality by addressing common errors identified through HR system data and campus user feedback. Changes were implemented within the PeopleSoft HR system to prevent future inaccuracies. While most enhancements focused on the Job Action Request (JAR) process, updates were also made to the Manage Job and Personal Information pages. These changes represent the first phase of an ongoing effort to continuously reduce errors and enhance data quality in the HR System. (Also supports strategic goal 5.)
- In FY 24-25, UHR introduced the HR Concierge Service, offering dedicated, efficient, and consistent HR support to colleges and divisions. This new service provides a specialized HR professional who delivers expert human resource transactional support, significantly reducing the burden for campus units to recruit, hire, and continuously train HR staff. The service was successfully piloted with the College of Natural Resources and the College of Design.
Goal 7: Elevate the national and global reputation and visibility of NC State.
- In Aug. 2024, UHR launched its redesigned website. The purpose of the redesign was to align UHR’s website with current university technology and branding standards, promote the university as a premier destination for prospective employees, better market UHR services to the broader university community, and fully integrate the HRNow platform. Since its launch, the website has been viewed over 500,000 times. (Also supports strategic goal 5.)
- In June 2025, to further solidify NC State’s position as an employer of choice, UHR enhanced employment postings with a new Wolfpack Perks and Benefits section. This addition allows prospective employees to easily see the university’s comprehensive offerings, all designed to enhance their personal and professional well-being and support their work-life balance.