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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 08-31-2004-1ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: August 31, 2004 Action Agenda Item No. SUBJECT: Budget Follow Up -Proposed New Personnel Position DEPARTMENT: Personnel PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): 1 -Major Job Functions 2 -Outcomes INFORMATION CONTACT: Elaine Holmes, Personnel Director, Extension 2550 TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Chapel Hill 968-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To consider approving the proposed new Human Resources Technician position in the Personnel Department for which the Board reserved funding effective October 1, 2004 in the 2004-05 approved budget. BACKGROUND: The Manager's Recommended Budget for 2004.05 included a recommended new Human Resources Technician position in the Personnel Department to address growth in the workload, including a 41 percent increase in the permanent employee workforce since Personnel last added a position, and to support Personnel's ability to provide quality service to employees and supervisors. In the June Budget Work session discussions, the Board set aside the proposed funding for the position in a reserve and asked staff to bring the position request back with additional information. County Overtime Pay and Temporary Wages One of the areas the Board discussed in June was the general County budget and expenditures far overtime pay and how these expenditures related to the Personnel position request. As part of the planned October 25 work session discussion on budget issues, staff will provide a detailed report on County overtime including budget and expenditures (with analysis department by department), issues leading to the overtime, how overtime is justified and approved, how costs for overtime compare to other approaches to addressing staffing needs and the like. With this information, staff also will provide a similar detailed report and analysis on County temporary wages. The Personnel position request does not relate directly to the County overtime or temporary wages budget or expenditures. The reason for the position request is to address growth in the employee workforce and workload as noted below. Needs Addressed In the 10 years since staff last was added in the Personnel Department, the County's workforce, programs and policy initiatives have grown significantly. Examples include: Workforce Growth It was noted in the June budget work session Commissioners' discussion that workforce growth has had a major impact on the Personnel Department. In the 10-year period, the number of permanent employees has grown by 41 percent (from 575 to 810) along with the increase in temporary employees (previously ranging from100 to 150 and now ranging from 250 to 300). The workforce growth coupled with the new programs and policy initiatives (examples below) has more than doubled Personnel's encounters, inquiries and transactions involving employees. Examples of New Programs/Policy Initiatives Added • Organization - Transfer to the County of Chapel Hill's Solid Waste department (now made up of 38 permanent and 19 temporary employees), the Orange County Rescue Squad emergency transportation function (to be made up of 27 permanent employees and about 75 temporary employees) and the Animal Shelter (made up of 15 permanent and 4 temporary employees) • Training -Cultural Diversity, Spanish Language, Computer Skills • Recruuitment - Bi-lingual recruitment, Hispanic/Latino recruitment • Policy -Work Place Violence Prevention, Drug and Alcohol Testing • Pay -Pay and Benefits Work Sessions and associated analyses, Living Wage, Housing Wage, Classification and Pay Study • Benefits -Family and Medical Leave Act, Personal Leave Days, Shared Leave, 401(k) Employer Contribution, Benefits and Wellness Fairs • Other Current Initiatives -Animal Services, Mental Health reform, Benefits for Domestic Partners Job Functions Attachment 1 lists the major job functions planned for the Human Resources Technician. Outcomes Attachment 2 shows in more detail outcomes to be achieved with the additional position. In summary, Personnel provides three tiers of service - to individuals, to the employee group as a whole and to the department heads, Manager and County Commissioners, The requested position is necessary to respond to the service needs and maintain quality outcomes for those at all levels of service. • Service tc individuals is critical yet requires many hours of staff time. Needs may be straightforward or extremely demanding and complex. For example, in the past year Benefits Manager Mike Edmonds has made home visits and spent many hours with several terminally ill employees and their families to provide support, be sure that they understand their benefits and receive the benefits to which they are entitled, Employment Officer Katherine Cathey presently is helping six employees with immigration issues which are complex but support the County's workforce diversity objective. Employee Relations Officer Kathleen Goodhand spends many hours helping individual employees and their supervisors work through performance or conduct issues, seeking a successful outcome far both the employee and the County, Classification and Pay Manager Elgin Lane spent many hours individually with employees and supervisors working through the Classification and Pay Study results, At the same time, the employee group as a whole has major service needs. Examples of these are reflected in many of the new programs and initiatives added such as the Classification and Pay Study and implementation of the Family and Medical Leave Act. Beyond this, Personnel provides support to the department heads, Manager and County Gommissioners in the needs, programs and initiatives that are identified, A sampling of these include development of pay and benefits analyses and recommendations, Spanish Language training, bi-lingual recruitment, 401 (k) County contribution, transition of organizations into the County such as the Animal Shelter and like, The Personnel Department needs the proposed position to sustain the levels of service required and expected by those we serve, Offsetting Funding For the Position The projected annual cost of the position is 45 687 (salary and benefits), To offset the cost of the position, Personnel reduced its current budget by 26 032, Of this $26,032, $7,500 was comprised of funds that had been budgeted in Personnel's contract personnel services and $18, 532 was funds that had been budgeted in the Personnel Department's temporary wages. These are finds that have existed in the Personnel budget for about five years, To the extent possible, Personnel had used these temporary and contract personnel funds to try to help address workload through use of MPA interns, some temporary staff and some small contracts for services. This has not been a successful approach in addressing the workload because it does not provide far the continuity, knowledge and skill needed to effectively serve employees and supervisors. FINANCIAL IMPACT: Based an the proposed start date of October 1, 2004, the Manager's Recommended Budget requested a net amount of $14,741 to fund the position for 2004••05, With the adoption of the approved budget for 2004-05, the Board of Commissioners set aside this amount ($14,741) along with the amount ($19,524) for the position from the existing Personnel budget in reserve pending the Board's further consideration of the position request. If the position is not approved and the Board wishes to retain Personnel Department support at least at the level the department had prior to making the permanent position request, the Board would need to release the $19,524 in existing funds used to offset the position cost to the Personnel Department far use as temporary and contract personnel funding. RECOMMENDATION(S): The County Manager recommends that the Board approve the proposed new Human Resources Technician position effective October 1, 2004, Attachment 1 Human Resources Technician Major Job Functions • Counsel with and respond to employees and supervisors on a wide range of questions as to benefits (such as retirement, disability, health, leaves), and personnel policies/issues. • Work with employees and supervisors to monitor and manage extended employee leave, disability and workers compensation situations, including assuring that follow up with employees, supervisors and service providers occurs at appropriate times. • Administer assigned personnel programs including implementation of the County's in house training calendar (employee registration, communication, follow up) and drug/alcohol testing. • Complete research, data gathering, drafting and related assignments for policy and program development assignments as noted in outcomes. • Complete pay and benefit analyses, surveys and related studies as directed. • Develop Munis business system applications for the use of employees, supervisors and department heads so they can access needed information and initiate changes. • Provide critically needed back up for payroll and benefits functions. Attachment 2 Outcomes Benefits • Will let the Benefits Manager focus time on one-on-one assistance, follow up and counseling with employees, particularly those with more complex needs and issues such as disability, major illness, retirement, health insurance problems and the like. • Will permit the Benefits Manager to address needed updates on benefits programs such as voluntary insurance programs and life insurance, Leave • Will improve monitoring and follow up with employees and supervisors dealing with extended leave, disability and workers compensation situations, better addressing both department and employee needs. Recruitment • Will allow more time to recruit Hispanic/Latino candidates and individuals with disabilities for County employment through more aggressive outreach and recruitment, Employee Relations • Will let the Employee Relations Officer focus time on working one on one with supervisors in assessing and addressing specific employee and work unit issues to improve employee and work team effectiveness. • Will be able to assess and make recommendations to the Manager and the Board on family friendly work policies, • Will allow updating of personnel policies to take account of changes in federal and state requirements and the County's needs. This includes needed revisions far disciplinary procedure, sexual/workplace harassment, workers compensation, military leave, wage hour, workplace violence and comprehensive updating of leave policies, Training • Will allow follow through on Commissioners' and Manager training initiatives such as customer service and building cultural awareness skills to bring these into day-to-day application in the work environment. General Operations • Will allow timely, quality follow up and response to employees and supervisors on personnel issues, needs and questions, assuring most day to day questions are addressed within 24 hours or less. • Will provide critical back up for payroll and benefits functions and assure payroll and benefits transactions are implemented on time and accurately in case of illness or other staff emergency. • Will allow use of new MIJNIS technology to address employee and department needs, such as through development and deployment of the Munis employee service module. Organizational Initiatives • Will allow the Personnel Director to provide greater focus to Commissioners' and management initiatives such as the animal services process, mental health reform/transition and organizational needs such as capacity building/succession planning.