UMSI New Staff Buddy Program

UMSI New Staff Buddy Program Overview

In 2025 UMSI launched a refreshed approach to peer to peer support for incoming UMSI staff members. The UMSI New Staff Buddy Program involves a team of staff members who are serving on the UMSI Staff Buddy Team for this year. In fall we were developing the new program, so it’s just starting now, and you are among the first new staff members to participate! As new staff members join UMSI, a member of the UMSI Staff Buddy Team is assigned as their staff buddy. The goals and activities involved in the UMSI New Staff Buddy Program are as follows (this information will be added to the UMSI Staff Handbook soon as well). 

The UMSI Buddy Program - is evidence-based in that it:

• Builds on current practice - and includes ideas and input from our HR team, UMSI management team, supervisors and past peer guides

• Continues alignment with best practices for employee engagement along with benchmarking from other campus units 

• Includes an assessment plan to evaluate the program and make improvements based on what we learn from feedback and ideas

What are the goals of the UMSI Staff Buddy Program?

• Provide new UMSI Staff Members with support and guidance (in addition to their supervisor, work team and human resources team)

• Foster a sense of connection and belonging at UMSI in the first 6 months of employment

• Provide information and insights on “unwritten rules” and norms, ways to engage etc.

• Help new staff members connect with one another and with others across UMSI

• Contribute to providing an exceptional experience for each new UMSI staff member

What does serving on the UMSI Staff Buddy Team involve?

• A commitment of 1-2 hours per week as a UMSI service assignment

• Attending a UMSI Staff Buddy Team orientation meeting

• Participating on the Buddy Team for a year (this year, December 1 - July 1)

• Supporting 3-4 new UMSI employees as staff buddies during the year

• A few Buddy Team members will hopefully renew for a second year so that we can start to stagger membership with new and returning team members

What does a staff buddy team member do once they are assigned a staff buddy?

1. Meets with the staff buddy once a week for the first month of employment and then once a month for the next 5 months of employment

   1. Takes the staff buddy out to lunch at UMSI’s expense twice, once in the first two weeks of employment and again in months 3-4.

   2. Covers a set of information items and activities with their buddy including

      1. Get to know you meeting and check in on onboarding meeting plans

      2. Tour of UMSI spaces with informal meet & greet along the way

      3. UMSI and UM (if new to UM) acronyms (acronym guide will be provided)

      4. UMSI events, traditions, norms, etc (initial list will be provided)

      5. Walk through UMSI handbook together

      6. Walk through Jira request system, how to seek help otherwise

      7. Communication channels and norms: Email / email groups, Gchat, Slack, Staff meetings, in person, phone etc.

2. Responds to questions via email (or Gchat or Slack) that arise between meetings

3. Attends two group gatherings for buddy pairs during the year (one fall, one winter term)

4. Does one or two fun things with their buddy/buddies on campus during the workday such as visit a campus museum, attend a campus event, take a walk through the Diag, etc.

How much time will it require?

• Each buddy assignment is expected to involve 1-2 hours per week 

• Each buddy team member will have no more than 2 buddy assignments at a time

• There may be periods when buddy team members do not have a buddy assignment 

• Buddy Team Members’ assignments will consider peak work times or other constraints

Who can serve on the UMSI Staff Buddy Team?

Staff buddy team volunteers need to have:

• Has typically worked at UMSI for at least 2 years (exceptions might be someone who has worked at U-M for several years and UMSI for 18 months)

• Approval from their supervisor including agreement to modify workload to fulfill  this service assignment of 1-2 hours/week for a 1 year period (this year, November 1-July 1) but typically July 1 - June 30

• A positive and encouraging approach to guiding and supporting new staff members

• Interest in helping further develop and improve the program through ideas and input

The goal is to contribute to creating an exceptional onboarding experience for each new staff member. Research indicates that effective onboarding increases productivity and retention while contributing to a positive work culture.