Directions in the development of the concept of sustainable human resources management were the main topic of the 'Sustainable HR for Modern Model of Administration of HEIs' conference organised in the Staff Week formula. The event was hosted by the University of Gdańsk and attended by partners from the SEA-EU 2.0 alliance.
On October 17-19, 2023, a conference entitled 'Sustainable HR for Modern Model of Administration of HEIs' was held at the University of Gdansk within the framework of the European University of the Seas (SEA-EU 2.0) consortium cooperation.
'The main objective of the event was to present and discuss the assumptions and directions of development of the sustainable human resources management concept dedicated to the processes of improvement and motivation of administrative staff of higher education institutions in Europe,' says UG Vice-Chancellor for HR Marta Chmielewska. 'During the three-day event, several workshops and panels were held on issues such as nurturing the idea of Work-Life Balance, caring for well-being in the administrative work environment, the importance of job satisfaction, building mental resilience in times of environmental turbulence (VUCA) and a discussion on legal and managerial conditions for sustainable HRM.'
Among the participants of the Staff Week were managers and supervisors of HR units and specialists in university administration departments, as well as academics conducting research in the field of human resources management from the University of Cadiz (Spain), the University of Western Brittany (France), the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel (Germany), the University of Split (Croatia), the University of Malta in Valletta (Malta), and the University of Gdańsk.
Workshops and lectures were conducted by employees and collaborators of the UG Faculty of Management from the Chair of Organisation and Management (dr hab.Tomasz Kawka, prof. UG, dr Agata Borowska-Pietrzak, dr Ilona Modrzejewska) and the Chair of Labour Law (dr Marta Zbucka-Gargas) at the UG Faculty of Law and Administration.
Part of the conference was a panel on corporate social responsibility practices undertaken by the UG authorities and administration during the start of the war in Ukraine.
At the same time, guests from abroad had the opportunity to visit the UG Campus, Gdańsk, and Sopot.
'The main conclusion of the conference was to reinforce the position that a contemporary institution of higher education cannot, in today's times of high complexity, unpredictability and ambiguity of the environment, carry out its research or teaching mission without professional support from qualified administrative staff. The main direction for creating such activity is sustainable human resource management, focused on building committed and competence-enhancing professionals in administrative structures. Such an approach is to lay the foundations for administration teams, which can then effectively collaborate with academic staff teams - synergistically building the sustainable added value of a modern university,' explains Marta Chmielewska.
