Fostering an Engaged Workforce Through Staff-Led Programming at Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH)

Two staff engagement programs have been implemented over the past year at Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH). The first is “SPH Bridge”, a program that provides a meaningful onboarding experience for new staff at the School. The mission of the program is to contribute to a friendly office culture, ease the transition for new staff members, and facilitate community-building. New staff members are matched to current colleagues and are offered three opportunities to connect over the first three months of their employment. This program provides a welcome to the BUSPH community and a foundation for colleagues to reach out to one another as resources.

The “Lunch & Learn” program is a monthly brown bag series that capitalizes on the wealth of BUSPH talent, through sharing knowledge and skills related to professional development. The goal of this program is to provide a venue for support and encouragement among staff, and to provide additional opportunities for the professional growth and development of BUSPH employees. The program is intended to model a “for staff, by staff” approach to professional development. The content of the sessions fall into four distinct categories: “Get to Know Yourself”, “Get to Know Your School”, “Get to Know Your Field”, and “Fill Your Gaps”.

These programs are essential to building a strong and knowledgable workforce, and fosters commitment of employees to BUSPH. Relevance and quality of these programs is assessed by continuous evaluation of participants. Over the past year feedback from staff and administration has been overwhelmingly positive. Both programs have excellent participation, show continued improvement and growth, and are now cornerstones of our community.