Close Up
Creating a positive workplace
Kathie Frier jumped at the chance to leave an HR desk job to head up a new unit unit dedicated to improving life on campus for UB employees. Photo: NANCY J. PARISI
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“This job is a great fit for me because I try to keep a positive outlook, and that’s what our office tries to do for employees—create a more flexible, positive workplace”
“It was almost fate,” Kathie Frier says with a big grin. She beams in all directions as she talks about her new job leading UB’S Wellness and Work/Life Balance office, a Human Resources unit dedicated to improving life on campus for UB employees.
It seems as though the job was made just for her. A self-described people person, Frier has worked in various HR positions at UB for 14 years—first as a benefits administrator and acting personnel director for the Research Foundation, and then as assistant director of employee relations for the state.
Those desk jobs often brought a dose of stress that Frier found hard to switch off at the end of the day, so when the opportunity came to head the new unit as part of the UB 2020 HR Transformation initiative, she jumped at the chance. She felt ready armed with an empathetic nature, strong organizational skills and a 2003 master’s degree in higher education administration from UB.
“This job is a great fit for me because I try to keep a positive outlook, and that’s what our office tries to do for employees—create a more flexible, positive workplace,” she says.
With help from her staff, Frier develops programs that promote wellness and a better balance between work and life. She says she draws from her own life for ideas and motivation. “This job hits close to home in many ways.”
In 2007, as the HR transformation process was being developed, Frier was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now a healthy survivor, she says the ordeal forced her to take a hard look at her priorities and see how stress was affecting her mental and physical well-being. “This year, as we roll out new Resolutions wellness programs, I’m realizing I want to work harder to exercise and stay healthy. There’s always ways in which we can improve our situations—sometimes we just need a little help.”
Frier’s bubbly personality, sense of fun and deep love for all things UB, along with her skill as a hard-working facilitator, have endeared her to colleagues and campus partners alike. Last fall, she helped organize UB’s first talent contest based on her favorite TV show, “American Idol,” and showed up at the office for Halloween dressed as then vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Co-workers said she was a dead ringer, but she maintains it was all in good fun. “Without getting political, I find it interesting how Palin was held up as this superwoman who could do anything, which I didn’t think was necessarily realistic,” says Frier, also a working mom.
On a more serious note, she created and launched the employee volunteer network UB CORE and works on projects ranging from UB Athletics’ Backyard Bash and the UB Wellness Fair, to running HR’s popular wellness classes and personal finance seminars. “As the economy tightens, we’ve been doing all our programs at nearly no cost, using the resources we already have on campus,” she says proudly.
Frier says her can-do attitude helps her adapt to the constant evolution in her office as she listens to what employees want and need. The days of the desk job far behind her, she welcomes her hectic new career because it’s now more in balance with who she is and how she wants to serve the university.
“I still work just as hard, but now I’m having so much fun while I’m at it,” Frier says. “I want to find ways, both personally and professional, to connect to people on campus, and I finally am. It’s never too late to re-imagine your working life.”
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