The Segal Group issued their findings from a University of Connecticut operations review to UConn leaders during a virtual meeting on April 13, identifying four areas of focus: low morale, burdensome processes, fragmented organizational structure and strategic direction refresh, according to a UConn Today press release.
The Segal Group has reviewed UConn’s operations since August 2025. In the UConn Today release, UConn President Radenka Maric and Interim Provost Pamir Alpay said that Segal did not recommend eliminating positions or reducing the size of the university’s workforce.
“[Segal] recommends designing new models within the business and administrative areas that were assessed, which may include shared services or hybrid models that utilize both embedded and shared service functions,” Maric and Alpay said in the release.
Scott Nostaja, senior vice president and national organizational effectiveness practice leader at Segal, said in a NewsTimes article that UConn has taken the approach of doing more with less, leading to “high risk of errors, workflow, confusion, prolonged turnaround times [and] employee burnout.”
The Segal Group recommended an organizational redesign with clearer roles and standardized processes, according to NewsTimes. Their main goal would be to focus first on the HR department,making sure that tasks are within a shared system.
The second concern highlighted in the findings was a lack of connection between systems. This has led to the “confusions, delays and heavy workloads and errors,” according to Segal.
The third point of low morale stems from the uncertainty of the future at UConn, Nostaja said.
“UConn must make an intentional effort to improve culture and morale, and work to increase transparency and elevate communication,” said Nostaja.
The goal of the project is to gather insight that will guide the university’s future planning, according to UConn’s website. The project will also help with “decisions on the organizational design of both business and administrative support functions and marketing and communications functions.”
The assessment data finding area of the study was done with the collection of organizational charts and job descriptions, as well as “one-on-one and group interview with university leaders and staff” according to the HR website.
The interviewees were selected to “represent a cross-section of our campus community in terms of level, experience, department and roles.”
There will be feedback sessions on May 4-6 as well as two in-person feedback sessions on May 12 in the Homer Babbidge Library, according to a statement the university sent out to employees on April 14.
More information can be found on the Organizational Needs Assessment website, including livestream recording and information on how to attend the sessions.
The Segal Group is an HR consulting firm based in New York City. The firm “benefits, compensation, and human resources consulting firm that helps organizations and their people prosper,”according to the Segal Group website.