Having only been on the job for a week and a half, new Director of Human Resources Arthur McCombs is looking forward to the challenge that his new position presents.
McCombs plans to implement a baseline program before assessing and creating changes to existing services.
"Whenever you think about change in management or improving services or what we call 'continuing improvement' you try to adopt a specific formula or plan based on the needs of that organization," McCombs said.
The methods used for assessment include staff interviews within the human resources department as well as interviews with Hopkins faculty and staff, along with surveys for evaluating customer satisfaction.
"I will be able to come up with some conclusions ... and potentially specific recommendations about where we can go in terms of redesigning our services," McCombs said.
In response to recent health care cuts for faculty and staff, McCombs said that his current job is to "assist staff and faculty to maximize the benefits available to them."
"I don't have any data to tell me that they [the faculty and staff members] are dissatisfied ... In my opinion the benefits are attractive and competitive," he said.
The role of human resources at Homewood is to give assistance to staff and managers in order to maintain positive labor relations. The department works to ensure that both sides involved in labor relations have accurate information regarding what their rights are.
McCombs has most recently served as vice president for human resources at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y. He also has been a senior human resources consultant at Martin Luther King/Charles Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles and the principal and owner of a human resources consulting firm, AMC Consulting.
He brings to Homewood human resources over 20 years of experience from working at institutions like the Duke University Medical Center and Yale-New Haven Health System as well as the Institute for Genomic Research.
McCombs succeeds interim director Patricia Day, who is the senior director of employee and labor relations.
