A Clearer Picture of Staffing at UC Davis Health

Position records have not always kept pace with staffing changes at UC Davis Health. 

A position record can remain active even after a position is no longer needed, making it difficult to distinguish vacancies planned for recruitment from outdated unfilled positions simply “sitting on the books.”

UC Davis Health (excluding the Schools of Medicine and Nursing) is improving how it tracks staff positions to provide an accurate, up-to-date view of how many people it employs, which vacant positions are in active recruitment and how many approved positions are expected to be filled.

Connecting this information with the budget will help leaders and budgeting teams forecast staffing costs, plan for future needs and more confidently approve departmental hiring.

Scheduled to launch later this calendar year, the Position Control project, co-led by Human Resources and Finance, will establish ongoing processes to keep UCPath position records aligned with approved staffing decisions and the annual budget.

What Is Changing?

The updated approach will:

• Establish new positions approved through the annual budget process in UCPath before recruitment begins.
• Introduce consistent reviews to keep position records aligned with approved staffing plans over time.
• Give managers a more accurate list of the employees who report to them in UCPath, reflecting their teams as they exist today.

What Hiring Managers Should Know About Vacant Positions

As records are reviewed, some long-vacant positions may no longer appear as active positions in UCPath. This work will help ensure position records reflect current recruitment approvals and staffing needs.

As part of implementing the Position Control project, Talent Acquisition will work directly with individual hiring managers to review long-vacant or hard-to-fill positions and determine whether those positions should remain open. 

Guidance and Support

Most changes will happen behind the scenes, primarily affecting HR’s Talent Acquisition, Compensation and Shared Services teams, and Finance. Affected hiring managers will receive guidance when it is relevant to their hiring activities; broad training is not expected.

Following implementation, managers who notice missing team members or incorrect team information in UCPath, should submit an AggieService ticket for assistance.

In 2027, Finance will provide additional guidance as the updated approach is incorporated into the annual budget submission and approval process.