The spring partner meeting is the cornerstone of the HRRI membership. This meeting, held in May of each year, will showcase research conducted by our world-renowned faculty. The focal points of the meeting will be announced in advance.

• A University of Minnesota research team will present a "Leading Edge Summary," relating the state of the field in a specific focal area of human resources and labor relations (such as employee engagement, HR metrics, employee onboarding, and retention). This will be a cutting edge summary of the literature on this topic.
• The research team will engage the executive partners and faculty in discussion about organizational needs and ideas in this area, creating a dynamic opportunity for the high level exchange of information on key human resources and labor relations topics.
• Last, the research team will outline a cutting edge research proposal to advance knowledge in that area of human resources and labor relations. Corporate members will have the opportunity to provide their feedback and thoughts about the proposal, and will also have the opportunity to participate in the studies.

The 2012 Spring Partner Meeting was held on Thursday, May 10, 2012 and was titled, "Improving Individual and Team Effectiveness: Lessons from Recent Research." Speakers included the following faculty members from the Department of Work and Organizations:

• Assistant Professor Sophie Leroy: "Interruptions and Task Performance: Helping the Mind Transition"
• Senior Lecturer Min Li: "Sourcing Knowledge from the Right Crowd: Project Ambiguity, Help Seeking, and Project Performance"
• Professor Jason Shaw: "Expectations, Distributions and Justice: What Science Says about Performance-Based Pay"
• Professor Avner Ben-Ner: "Work Group Diversity and Performance: Evidence from the Field, the Lab, and the Classroom"
• Associate Professor Mary Zellmer-Bruhn: "Designing and Launching High Performance Teams"

The 2011 Spring Partner Meeting was held on Thursday, May 12, 2011 and was titled, "Well-Being at Work: Fostering Employee Health and Happiness."

The meeting covered...

• creating more vitality in the workplace with employees who are physically and mentally healthy
• building and maintaining positive relationships at work
• promoting a context in which work and family lives are mutually enriching

Attendees joined CHRLS and HRRI partners in a day devoted to employee well-being where they learned about the latest research, shared best practices and heard from the experts.

The Spring Partner Meeting covered:

• Well-being at work:Much more than employee engagement.
• Flexible work practices: Good for organizations? Good for employees?
• High Quality Relationships: a powerful source of employee innovation and learning.
• Investing in Wellness: What is the return?

Organizers included:

• Professor Joyce Bono, University of Minnesota
• Professor Michelle Duffy, University of Minnesota
• Professor Theresa Glomb, University of Minnesota

The meeting included:

• State of the art knowledge about employee well-being from both a research and a practice standpoint.
• Engaging discussion with other practice leaders from Fortune 500 companies about organizational needs and ideas in this area.

The 2010 Spring Partner Meeting was held on Thursday, May 13, 2010 and was titled, "Engaging Employees in Tough Economic Times." Speakers included:

• Benjamin Schneider, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland
  
• Alan Saks, Ph.D., University of Toronto – Scarborough
• Jack W. Wiley, Ph.D., Founder and Executive Director, Kenexa Research Institute
• Professor Joyce Bono, Ph.D., University of Minnesota
• Professor John Budd, Ph.D., University of Minnesota

The 2009 Spring Partner Meeting was held on Thursday, May 28, 2009, and was titled, "Strategic Onboarding of Talent into New and Higher Level Positions and Why it Still Matters in this Tough Economy." Speakers included:

• Professor Connie Wanberg, University of Minnesota
• Author Georg Bradt, PrimeGenesis
• Associate Professor John Kammeyer-Mueller, University of Florida
• Program Director Stacy Doepner-Hove, University of Minnesota

Up to twice a year, member organizations can request a literature search on a topic related to human resources and labor relations. Our library will provide a collection of recent articles on the topic as well as any key older articles. Our library holds vast depositories of information on a wide range of topics, including recruitment, training, compensation, job satisfaction, motivation, stress, drug testing, strategic management, effects of technological change, mergers, diversity, labor relations, unions, organizational socialization, absenteeism, and turnover.

Partners who wish to be on an event email distribution list will enjoy hearing about University of Minnesota events related to business and human resources and labor relations. We hold several such events each year, including the First Tuesday Luncheon Series, the HR Tomorrow Conference, the "Inside the Boardroom" speaker series, and much more.