P ublic human services agencies are struggling to help many families,children, and single adults achieve better outcomes for themselves.The job of these agencies is difficult and is made even more challeng-

ing by human resource problems such as: unwanted turnover, cumbersomehiring procedures, complaints about supervision, veteran staff retiring, newhires leaving within weeks or months, and inadequate training resources.These problems are not only costly to state and local governments, they alsohave an impact on how well the public is served. Successful community out-comes–safe children, strong families, and healthy communities–are more diffi-cult to achieve when there is constant staff turnover, vacancies are filled with theill-prepared, and supervisors lack the skills to coach and lead good practice.

Over the last decade, public human resource management (HRM) systems havereceived a good deal of attention in the drive to “reinvent” government. This hasproduced a greater focus on internal results: lower turnover, more timely hiring,and more satisfied customers of HRM services. Innovation has blossomed.

Given the challenges of human services and the innovations in human resourcemanagement, now is an opportune time for professionals and managers in thesetwo areas to forge partnerships and create HRM systems that focus specificallyon the needs and characteristics of the human services workforce.

Somewhere the Problem is SolvedMany counties and states have developed new solutions to human resourcechallenges in all types of workforces. This newsletter briefly describes success-ful strategies and offers resource tips in three areas:

Recruiting good candidates;

Faster, simpler hiring procedures; and

Keeping the best workers longer.

Some issues will require long-term change. The following articles focus onsome models of successful systemic reform. However, short-term strategies arealso important. They can create tangible, positive change quickly enough toimprove worker satisfaction and local service delivery.

HIRED GOODQuality Human Services Through Innovative Human Resource Management

VOLUME 1 • NUMBER 1 • WINTER 2002

Human Services and HumanResources: Joint Strategies HoldPromise for Practical Results

for

Also in this issue:

Building a Better Workforce: 3

Keeping Good Employees 6

Employee Development: 7

Performance Appraisals 8

Leadership and Supervision: 9

Compensation: 10

The Big picture: 12

Continued on Page 3

For more than 10 years, Annie E. Casey Foundation(AECF) has invested in analyzing, understanding, andmaking operational reforms to improve publicly fundedhuman services systems through reorganizing and decen-tralizing services, and making them more accountable,effective, and respectful. At the heart of these services arefrontline workers. AECF recognizes the strong linkbetween a skilled and supported workforce and betteroutcomes for children,families, and communities. Thisrecognition has prompted the Foundation to support anexamination of the human services workforce crisis andpossible solutions.

Through the Center for the Study of SocialPolicy (CSSP), AECF is examining innovativehuman resource management practice as ameans for improving the quality of publichuman services. CSSP, a long-time partner of AECF,works to shape new ideas for the field of Human Services,provide technical assistance to states and communities,and develop and lead networks of innovators. In this project, CSSP has been exploring best practices in publichuman resource management to better understand howthese practices can be used to improve human servicesdelivery. CSSP is working with state and local leaders topromote partnerships, identify best practices, develop toolsfor the field, and provide technical assistance for improv-ing the workforce and organizational climate in publichuman services agencies. Project products to date include:

Improving The Quality of Human ServicesThrough Results-oriented Human ResourceManagement, Center for the Study of Social Policy,June 2002. This is an argument for a strategic partner-ship between public human services administratorsand human resource management because of thepotential such a partnership has for improving out-comes for children and families.

Human Resource Management Innovation inSelected Jurisdictions, Center for the Study ofSocial Policy, June 2002. This includes seven casestudies of human resource management reform inleading jurisdictions.

HiredforGood. This semi-annual newsletter isintended to be a vehicle for sharing informationamong human services administrators and humanresource managers to encourage communication and strategic partnerships.

Human Services Workforce Improvement

Project: Designing a National AgendaA direct effort of the Foundation, this project is collecting a wealth of information about the policies,people, job requirements, pay scales, training, and chal-lenges in the human services industry, including thefields of child welfare, child care, juvenile justice, youthservices, employment and training, and teaching. For amore complete description of the effort and several whitepapers go to www.aecf.org.

In addition to compiling findings from existing research,this project is engaged in surveying: 1) college studentsabout their perspectives on public human service careers;2) frontline workers in the named fields; and 3) those whohave left jobs in those fields to obtain their perspectives onsalaries, preparation for work, opportunities for advance-ment among other things. The project is also interviewinghuman services administrators around the country toobtain information about best practices and how theseadministrators are addressing workforce concerns. All of the data will be used to raise public awareness of theissues and explore policies and practices that promoteworkforce improvement. The survey information will beavailable in the spring of 2003 as well as data highlightingbest practices in the public and nonprofit sectors.

2

The Annie E. Casey FoundationTakes on the Human Services Workforce Crisis

33

Building a BetterWorkforce: Strategiesfor Recruiting and Hiring

Anumber of states and counties have improved recruitment using twobasic strategies: expanding the pool of high–quality candidates andspeeding up the steps to hire them.

As the following examples illustrate, these gains did not come easily. Toachieve them, jurisdictions had to make substantial changes to their tradi-tional recruitment systems.

More and Better CandidatesPractical steps to increase the number of high-quality candidates include:

Expanding outreach: communicating with a larger group of people whohave relevant job experience;

Offering financial incentives: using bonuses or stipends;

Engaging students early: reaching out to students early in their studies; and

Improving matches: Screening candidates thoughtfully to improve the ‘fit’between applicants and jobs.

Pay is always a consideration when taking steps to increase the recruitmentpool. But there is an open question as to whether more people would enterthe field if the pay were better. It is hard to tell without knowing how manypotential workers cross human services off their list of career choices, or leavein mid-career, because of poor compensation. (For a fuller discussion of thisissue, see the article “Compensation: It’s Not Just About the Money”, page 10.)

Most recruitment strategies, however, do not focus on luring fence-sittersinto the field. Rather, they target people who have already indicated an inter-est by taking a first job in the field or by entering a relevant degree program.Talking to these people, recruiters are obviously in a stronger position if theyhave a credible story regarding flexible pay grades, clear opportunities foradvancement, generous tuition reimbursement, personalized career planning,and similar incentives.

Expanding OutreachMost initiatives that expand outreach are simple, but aggressive, efforts toreach more people with the experience and skills needed for public humanservices work.

New Haven, Connecticut employs ethnically diverse teams to recruit atschools and job fairs. Albuquerque, New Mexico offers staff compensatorytime for community outreach and recruitment work. Maricopa County,Arizona developed relationships with community organizations and socialservices agencies and now keeps them apprised of job openings through anautomated weekly fax system.

Continued on Page 4

These articles do highlight a fewsuch short-term changes and moreare described in recent publicationsissued by the Center for the Studyof Social Policy [refer to side bar 1]

Practical First StepsTo begin, agency leaders can identi-fy strategies that they already haveauthority to implement. Some pos-sible examples include:

Improving the retention of new hires through:• Job previewing–videos,

internships, or “job shadow-ing”; and

• Screening instruments such as skills inventories and checklists; and

Taking steps to reduce turnover by:

• Buffering staff from outsidecritics such as courts andother agencies;

• Fostering joint supervisor/employee ownership of theappraisal process;

• Building in extra supportwhen workers face toughdecisions; and

• Maximizing worker safety.

Public human service administratorsare encouraged to seek out theirhuman resource management coun-terparts in their own jurisdictionswith questions about the applica-tion of the ideas and practices con-tained here; questions such as: Arewe using this strategy? Is it workingwell for us in human services? Couldwe be using it more effectively? orWhat would it take to implement thisstrategy here?

Continued from Page 1

4

For over 30 years, Sacramento County, California has used unique classifica-tions, accompanied by extra pay, for staff who demonstrate language and cultural proficiency through written tests.

Offering Financial IncentivesSome jurisdictions augment recruitment efforts with financial incentives. For example:

Tuition stipends are possible for child welfare workers through state earningsunder Title IV-E, the federal foster care program. In addition, some states areusing funds from TANF, the federal welfare block grant, to support tuitionassistance programs.

“Bounties” of $500-$1,000 may be given to employees who refer successfulapplicants.

Pay premiums may be an incentive for people with special skills such aslanguage or cultural competency.

Signing bonuses may be offered to those who stay in the position for one year.

Engaging Students EarlyThe state of North Carolina developed a “Grow Your Own” strategy to recruitmore students for human services jobs. Working with state universities, it cre-ated the Child Welfare Educational Collaborative to help students explore theirinterests in public sector positions and develop the skills to succeed in them.The initiative includes:

Specialized Curriculum: North Carolina’s public universities created a core curriculum that focuses on skills needed for public sector jobs.

Acclimating Students to the Field: Paid internships and job shadowingexpose students to challenging areas such as child abuse investigations.Upon graduation, those who persist and do well comprise a trained, prequalified group of candidates.

Improving the MatchResearch indicates that public human services jobs require specific competen-cies, such as practical skills for assessment and problem solving. In addition,

Benchmarksfrom Other Fields

Sometimes benchmarking

against other industries or

fields can be helpful. For

example, the teaching pro-

fession also pays attention

to the personal qualities and

traits that are needed for

success in the classroom.

The Gallup Organization has

developed two screening

instruments to help school

districts and people who

are considering teaching

careers to assess their "fit"

with a job in the profession.

While the "Teacher

Perceiver" and "Urban

Teacher Perceiver" instru-

ments are proprietary,

Gallup posts on its website

a description of the cate-

gories it uses in both

instruments. They provide

an interesting comparison

with the qualities that are

associated with good

human services workers.

Go to: http://www.educa-

tion.gallup.com/select/the

meTeach.asp

Continued on Page 5

5

certain personal qualities are critical.These include good judgment, cre-ativity, flexibility, and tenacity.

Experience is the first screen for thesecompetencies, which explains thesuccess of student internships andhiring people already in the field.Some jurisdictions have developednew hiring tools:

The state of Wisconsincreates individual job classifica-tions and interviewing questionsbased on the skills and qualitiesneeded for a specific job.

Maricopa County, Arizonaestablishes candidates’ qualifica-tions by having them fill out askills inventory or checklist.

The state of Delaware pre-screens candidates using “realisticjob previews.” Potential employ-ees are shown a video depicting aday in the life of a human servic-es worker. Up to 50 percent leavebefore filling out an application.

These techniques cannot only helphuman service agencies better assessapplicants, they can also help candi-dates make an informed decision toeither accept a position or to optout before they absorb expensivetraining resources only to becomepart of a high turnover statistic.

Quicker Hiring Successful recruitment strategies bearfruit that is harvested through the hir-ing process. Hiring reforms improvethe “yield” from this harvest by sim-plifying the process for managersand applicants alike. This reducesthe time positions are vacant. It alsominimizes the number of candidateswho are lost to other offers or becomefrustrated and drop out before theagency can offer them a job.

Most reforms are based on two princi-ples: decentralization of operationsand delegation of authority:

Decentralization means moving activi-ties that involve direct contact withjob applicants to convenient, localsites. For example human servicesstaff may screen potential employeesor even administer a test at a local

department rather than referring theapplicant to a central state humanresources office.

Delegation authorizes managers inhuman services agencies to makedecisions formerly reserved for statehuman resources staff. The statehuman resources agency, for exam-ple, may allow to human servicesmanagers to design and administercertain civil service exams withoutprior HR review.

These changes make it easier tostreamline the hiring process byeliminating unnecessary steps andreducing the time allotted for theones that are left. For example:

Eliminating Unnecessary Steps

Hire on-the-spot at schools and jobfairs for critical-needs positions.

Hire any qualified candidate—eliminating internal rules thatrestrict or demand a certain

number of candidates such as the“Rule of Five.”

Eliminate tests for jobs where adegree or license indicates com-petence for a particular posi-tion–such as nurses or degreedsocial workers.

Eliminate or substantially reducepaper-and-pencil exams.

Speeding Up the Process: Replacing infrequently scheduledtests with continuous recruitment.

Shorten the time period for post-ing or advertising positions.

Provide for walk-in testing at anytime in convenient locations.

Allow online application.

Maricopa County, Arizona, forexample, used strategies such asthese to reduce its hiring process to as little as 10 days.

Some of the above strategies can beimplemented quickly, while othersrequire substantial administrativechanges. All of them, however, areproven techniques that have beenimplemented successfully in manyjurisdictions.

6

Keeping Good Employees … and Helping Them Grow

Many of the most ambitioushuman resource manage-ment (HRM) reforms have

zeroed in on the factors that employ-ees weigh most heavily when they are deciding whether to stay with orleave an organization.

Why Employees Leave. The topreasons employees leave an organi-zation include poor supervision,unmanageable workloads, unaccept-able working conditions, and lowpay–especially if it is low comparedto similar positions in other humanservices agencies. In HRM jargon,these are “hygiene factors”—itemsthat need to be cleaned up.

Why They Stay. The reasons peo-ple decide to stay, however, aresomewhat different. In HRM-talk,these are “intrinsic motivators.” They include:

Important and interesting work

Being part of a good team

Being trusted with responsibility

Recognition

Opportunities for:• Achievement• Personal growth• Advancement

Human resource managementreforms often address several ofthese positive and negative factorsin combined packages. The follow-ing articles describe how states andcounties have used such strategiesin the areas of employee develop-ment, performance appraisals,employee support, and high–qualitysupervision.

For a primer on employee

motivation check out: "One

More Time: How Do You

Motivate Employees?" by

Frederick Herzberg. This is

a true classic. First pub-

lished in 1968, it was reis-

sued by the Harvard

Business Review (HBR) in

1987 and again in 2000. It

is still cited frequently in arti-

cles and describes much of

the relevant information,

briefly and in non-technical

language.

The article can be ordered

in hardcopy or downloaded

for a reasonable fee from

the HBR website at: http://

www.harvardbusinesson-

line.hbsp.harvard.edu/. Just

type in Frederick Herzberg

in the Search option.

Hired for Good! is published

by the Center for the Study of

Social Policy and is funded by the

Annie E. Casey Foundation.

For additional copies, comments, or questions, please contact:

Center for Study of

Social Policy

1575 Eye Street, N.W., Suite 500

Washington, D.C. 20005

Tel: 202.371.1565

Fax: 202.371.1472

www.cssp.org

Developed and written:Richard Gehrman and Associates

Editor: Cynthia Anderson

Design: Xanthus Design, Washington, D.C.

7

Employee developmentreforms are aimed directly at the ‘intrinsic motivators’

that are most important to job satisfaction–such as achievement,advancement, and increased respon-sibility. Initiatives in this area have improved retention and havehelped develop internal candidatesfor leadership roles and hard-to-filljobs. Two key employee develop-ment strategies are broadbanding and strategic staff development.

BroadbandingBroadbanding is the practice of dis-tilling large numbers of pay gradesand job classifications into a smallernumber of more flexible groupings.The result is wide pay zones thatinclude a broad range of job duties.

Broadbanding enables organizationsto increase worker compensationand experience without goingthrough lengthy reclassification ortesting procedures. It also helpsworkers to build substantial careerswithin a program or a functionalarea without being forced to take asupervisory or new staff position inorder to advance.

Supervisors use wider pay bands tohire new workers above the mini-mum, often up to the midpoint of thesalary range. An unwanted side effectof this practice is “salary compres-sion”—smaller differentials betweennew and experienced workers.

Broadbanding favors small steps.With supervisory support, employ-ees can try out new tasks or userecent training on a short termbasis, for example to help cover avacancy. If the new responsibilities

work out the employee may be ableto add them permanently, and be in a position to get a job upgradequickly rather than waiting for a job reclassification or promotion to apply what they have learned.

Broadbanding has been implement-ed by a number of jurisdictions,including the states of SouthCarolina and Wisconsin, andMaricopa County, Arizona. It is notan easy reform, but it is worthdoing. Many programs that promoteemployee development are easier toimplement with it, and some are vir-tually impossible to do without it.

Strategic Staff

DevelopmentStrategic staff development pro-grams mesh agencies’ long-termworkforce needs with employees’personal career goals.

Maricopa County, Arizona andSacramento County, California offer two examples of this strategicapproach to workforce development.Both counties offer counseling tohelp employees create individualcareer development plans.Supervisors support these plans withjob rotation and other developmentalassignments and by approving train-ing, which Maricopa County reim-burses up to $5,000 per year.

Sacramento County provides onlineaccess to a software program thatallows staff to self-assess their skillsand career interests. For the longterm, the county has also imple-mented “succession planning.” This process identifies future needs

that will be hard for the county tofill in the marketplace and assessesthe potential of current staff to meetthose needs.

While many training programs focuson supervisors and managers,Phoenix, Arizona offers more than150 courses to all levels of staff.Departments can also use this inter-nal training capacity to develop customized courses for their specific needs.

A number of counties tie leadershiptraining to succession planning. ElPaso County, Colorado has a leader-ship institute that is open to all staff.Santa Barbara County, Californiaoperates an Employee University thatidentifies workers with supervisorypotential and puts them on a leader-ship track. Broward County, Floridaalso has an integrated program oftraining and succession planning.

Taken together, broadbanding andstrategic staff development create asubstantially more open and flexiblehuman resources system that supportsthe goals of human services agenciesand employees alike.

Employee Development: Growing Your Own Skilled Workforce

88

Traditional performance appraisal systems havebeen compared to law enforcement programs:they are designed to catch the small percentage

of employees who are doing something wrong! Since allof an organization’s employees are “captured” by thesesystems, they have the effect of making everyone feellike a suspect.

Accountability, of course, is an important and necessity partof human resources. But successful performance appraisalsystems give top priority to developing the talents of the 97percent or so of employees who are well motivated andhave the basic competencies for their jobs.

A well-designed appraisal process is a powerful retentiontool because it responds directly to employees’ needs forimportant work and personal growth.

The states of South Carolina and Washington haveimplemented model systems that incorporate the keyfeatures of this employee development approach. They include:

Objectivity. South Carolina developed the EmployeePerformance Measurement System (EMPS) andWashington developed two appraisal instruments–one for management and one for non-managementpositions. Both eliminate notoriously subjectivechecklists of personal traits. The states’ forms insteademphasize skills, behaviors, and results that can beeither observed or, where possible, measured.

Collaboration. Employees and supervisors developindependent lists of goals for the upcoming year, thenintegrate them into a mutually agreed-on plan.

Consistent Follow-through. Supervisors andemployees meet throughout the year and at the end of the appraisal cycle to jointly evaluate the results.

Alignment. The appraisal process is the point atwhich employees’ career goals link up with the missionof the agency. Effective appraisals are explicit abouthow this alignment occurs and how the employee andagency will support each other’s goals.

Customized. No appraisal form fits all jobs, but acommon structure is needed to make a system consis-tent and fair. Washington uses the following approachto address this dilemma:

Supervisors are trained in the objectives and principles of the system.

Together, supervisors and employees develop goalsbased on measurable or observable requirementsfor the specific job.

Rather than checklists, supervisors use‘prompts’—lists of competency statementsdesigned to facilitate the appraisal discussion.

Tied to Related HR Systems. Most modern apprais-al systems avoid a direct link between a numerical rat-ing and salary decisions, as in the statement: “You gotan 82 on your evaluation, so you only get a 2 percentraise.” Instead, the appraisal process can be used as adevelopment tool. For example, it should be the basisfor decisions on “intrinsic” rewards, such as trainingopportunities, employee recognition awards, anddevelopmental assignments—i.e., “tryouts” for newresponsibilities. It is also the basis for leadershipdevelopment and succession planning.

In addition, an objective appraisal system makes it easierto tie “extrinsic” rewards, such as salary increases,tuition reimbursement, or merit pay, to documented

Performance Appraisals:A Key to Employee Development

Continued on Page 15

In the state of Washington, employee response to the

performance appraisal process turned around from

a 93 percent disapproval rating for the old system to a

97 percent approval rating for the new one.

99

Successful human resourcesstrategies are implemented “on the ground” by agency

directors and line supervisors. Theyboth play unique roles in recruitingand retaining human services workers.

The Role of LeadersState and local human servicesdirectors are responsible for creatinga good working environment. Manyof the tasks have to do with mini-mizing the reasons people give upand leave rather than maximizingthe positive motivators that makepeople look forward to staying.

Personal safety issues contribute to employee turnover in certainhuman services jobs. Agency direc-tors can take practical steps todecrease workers’ risks. They canadvocate for and buy cell phones.They can establish a practice ofsending workers in teams wheneveran assignment carries significantrisk. As was done by agency direc-tors in a number of North Carolinacounties, they can implementarrangements with local police toaccompany workers on potentiallydangerous assignments.

Sometimes potential risk turns realfor a worker or child. New YorkCity and El Paso County, Coloradodeveloped support groups to helpworkers deal with direct or second-ary trauma.

Human services workers often haveanother risk on their minds–beingsued. For a relatively modest cost,agencies can buy workers individualprofessional liability insurance.

More importantly, real lawsuits pro-vide county leaders with a chance todemonstrate that, short of extremecircumstances such as criminal con-duct, they expect to take the bruntof legal actions rather than passingthem on to individual workers.

Basic working conditions are alsoimportant. Nothing says: “You are notvalued” louder than dingy, cramped,unsafe, or pest-infested offices.

Being subjected to disrespectfultreatment by advocates, courts, orother agencies is another importantcause of worker exodus. El PasoCounty addressed this issue byreaching out to judges and educat-ing them on what direct servicesstaff can reasonably be held account-able for and what they cannot.

Typically, county and state humanservices directors do not have directauthority over any of these issues,but they have influence over all ofthem. Wherever it is possible tohave an impact, these items deserveto be at the top of the leadership’spriority list.

The Quality of

SupervisionGood supervisors foster excitingteamwork, recognize accomplish-ments, delegate responsibility,demonstrate trust, encourage careerplanning, develop employees’ skills,and facilitate opportunities fortraining and new job experiences.These actions touch on virtually allof the positive reasons employeesare motivated to stay and developtheir careers with an agency.

In contrast, poor supervision is oftena major complaint in employee satis-faction surveys and one of the topreasons cited in exit conferences forleaving an organization.

As one leader put it, despite manyother difficulties in human servicespositions, “People leave supervisors,not jobs.”

Harder Than It LooksIt is easy to underestimate theamount of training and specificknowledge that supervisors need to implement a modern humanresources system. Unlike programexpertise, supervisors do not usual-ly acquire the necessary knowledgeand competencies over time as anatural part of their work. Instead,they often have to develop theseskills quickly at the time theybecome supervisors. Agencies needsystems to ensure that this happens,so that supervisors strengthen exist-ing skills and develop new onesneeded for their HR role.

Managers play a key role in foster-ing these skills, which includeknowing when and how much to

Continued on Page 15

Leadership and Supervision: Keys to Retention

10

Research indicates that most employees are notprimarily motivated by pay, irrespective of theindustry in which they work. This appears to

be true overall for human services as well. The questionis whether compensation in the field is so low that someof the usual rules may not apply.

It Can Hurt But It Can’t HelpUnder normal circumstances, compensation is like theplumbing in your house–you don’t think about it untilsomething goes wrong. This can happen, for example, if a worker’s pay is seriously out of line compared topeers, or if an agency’s compensation is generally lowcompared to the industry as a whole. In such cases,bringing employees up to par does not help them feelgood about the job. It just helps them to stop feeling bad.

Conversely, paying people above the norm does notincrease loyalty or make employees more enthusiasticabout the work itself. It simply creates expectations forsimilar increases in the future.

While the usual compensation theories may apply toindividuals who are already in the field, there is littleinformation about how many more people might actual-ly prefer a human services career but have been forcedto seek other options, either initially or in mid-career.

How Low Is It?While there is wide variation among regions, a family offour typically requires an income of about $17 per hour tocover the basics. This represents a true survival budget—entry-level housing, USDA Low Cost Food Plan, no savings,no entertainment, and the least expensive clothing.1

Even compared to this minimal budget, most humanservices positions start at $10.50-$11.50 per hour andmove up slowly from there.

These figures suggest that human services jobs may beviable only as a second income in a two-earner family orwhen workers reach master’s level or supervisory positions.

What Can Be Done?In the current climate, the likelihood of budget increasesranges from improbable to unthinkable. Another way toget money for salaries is to free up funds from existingallocations by increasing productivity. States such as SouthCarolina and counties such as Baltimore County, Marylandand Franklin County, Ohio have accomplished thisthrough strategies called gainsharing and job cannibalization.

Gainsharing is the practice of splitting productivityimprovements between workers and management, say on a 50-50 basis. Job cannibalization is based on a budg-et agreement to eliminate positions and use the savings to increase pay for remaining staff.

Many human services staff are familiar with a bogus ver-sion of these techniques known more accurately as “jobloading.” This involves, for example, simply increasingcaseloads and paperwork beyond the point where work-ers can be effective.

But legitimate productivity gains are possible. In privateindustry, the first step often involves a reengineeringprogram that redesigns entire work processes fromscratch. The goal is to dramatically reduce the numberof steps involved in a set of procedures. Subsequently,total quality improvement (TQI) techniques keep theproductivity gains coming, although at a slower pace,with continuous tweaking of the new procedures.

Compensation: It’s Not Just About the Money

1 For more information, see the publication "How Much is Enough?" by JaredBernstein, Chauna Brocht, and Maggie Spade-Aguilar on the Economic PolicyInstitute website at http://www.economicpolicyinstitute.org.

11

Reengineering can yield quick gainsthrough increased use of technology.Cell phones, e-mail, and laptopsallow staff to work from home orremote locations, reducing commutetimes and eliminating some tripsback to the office. Paperwork can bereduced by preprinting demographicinformation on required forms andreports. Workers can be issued limit-ed-use credit cards to avoid time-consuming expense reports.

The next level of productivityimprovements usually involves areduction in staff positions. In humanservices for example, supervisoryspans of control may be expandable if more authority is delegated to linestaff. Clinical, professional, or admin-istrative support may be decreased infavor of lower caseloads or more payfor direct service personnel.

Strategies to increase productivityare often hard to implement andeasy to abuse. Most require exten-sive training and a new mindsettoward controls of all kinds, whetherfinancial, supervisory, or technolo-gy-related. But productivity gainsare often the only real-world optionwhen budget increases are out ofthe question.

Putting Pay in ContextWorkers’ expectations are deter-mined primarily by prevailing payscales in their own industry. In thiscontext, the impact of a typicalbonus or increase in base pay isshort-lived. It does not motivatepeople to try harder, take risks, orotherwise extend themselves onbehalf of the organization. Instead,when people get an increase theythink: “Great! I deserved it!” After abrief time the feeling of elation pass-es, and the raise is taken for granted.

As a result, while tactics such as hir-ing bonuses and across-the-boardsalary increases may be an impor-tant part of an overall strategy, theyare not likely to improve recruit-ment or retention by themselves.

It’s Not at the Top

of the ListSince compensation is well down on the list of positive motivators,supervisors can offset the impact of poor pay to some degree withintrinsic rewards, such as employeesrecognition and opportunities forpersonal and career growth.

But compensation can de-motivatepeople if they decide that their long-term earning potential is limitedwith their current employer. Thisreinforces the importance of crediblecareer paths–individualized plans,backed up with training and oppor-tunities to learn new skills, that nat-urally lead to periodic increases inpay and responsibility.

…But It’s Still ImportantThere does come a point whenemployees leave for better pay. Mostexperience suggests, however, thatthe differential has to reach 10 to 15percent before many people will goto other organizations for pay alone.Of course, it is still important tomake sure that pay scales are in linewith similar agencies. But if employ-ees appear to be taking comparablejobs elsewhere for a “bump” of only$500 or $1,000, there are probablyadditional factors at work.

Finally, occasions do arise when pay is the factor that determineswhether a desirable worker leaves or stays. When an employee pres-ents a supervisor with a competingoffer in-hand, that supervisor has to have the authority to make anappropriate counteroffer quickly orto redesign the employee’s job withpay and duties sufficient to keepthat person with the organization.

Overall, compensation is a powerfulHRM tool that can be applied in a targeted way. Agencies that usetheir limited resources to fund a few focused compensation strategieswill likely get better results thanthose who rely primarily on tacticssuch as across-the-board increasesor signing bonuses.

As a follow-up to the FrederickHerzberg article mentioned on page 6, Jeffrey Pfeffer produced a more in-depth analysis of employee compensation:

"Six Dangerous Myths About Pay",Jeffrey Pfeffer, Harvard BusinessReview, May-June 1998.

"Rethinking Rewards" by Alfie Kohn,HBR November-December 1993.

As part of its HR strategy develop-ment, Sacramento County,California established a policyresearch and development teamthat conducted an extensive bestpractices search. The team discovered (or rediscovered) several "universal truths," includ-ing this one:

"Throwing money at workers

doesn’t make them happy;

those with the highest reten-

tion rates are not those with

the best-paying jobs. Those

who stay are the ones who

feel valued."

12

The Big Picture:Is Reform for Everyone?

M any of the individual successes described in this newsletter werepart of long campaigns for reform. Were they worth the effort?

Unfortunately, implementing a few HR improvements is not like climbing thefirst flight of stairs in a tall building. One step at a time will not eventually lead to the “top level” of a dramatically improved system. Reform is more like a path in the forest that leads to the base of a cliff! Getting to the next levelrequires a major leap rather than incremental steps.

This is not to diminish the role ofquick successes. As discussed below,they help to build momentum. But astrategy that is limited to gradual improve-ments makes sense only if existing systemsare already doing the right things. As thisnewsletter shows, most successfuljurisdictions concluded that they werenot. To renew their focus on appro-priate results, they reinvented theirhuman resources systems in threemajor areas:

Wholesale Redesigns of Administrative Systems—such as broad-banding, eliminating constraining hiring steps, continuous recruitment,discretionary pay, and eliminating or minimizing paper-and-pencil exams.

Deep and Broad Changes in Organizational Culture—including del-egating authority to program managers, decentralizing traditional HRfunctions, improving labor/management cooperation, and using feedbackmechanisms such as exit interviews to reframe supervisory and manage-ment accountability.

“Grow Your Own” Employee Development Strategies— beginningwith aggressive recruitment, continuing through supervisory and managementtraining, and culminating in leadership development and succession planning.

It’s All or NothingLike scaling a cliff, accomplishments in these three areas have little impactuntil they reach a certain level. Once they get past this threshold, however,they start to reinforce one another; momentum builds and reform takes on a life of its own.

This threshold effect happens because these reforms depend on each other.For example, delegating authority to human services managers is unlikely to produce results if the managers have nothing significant to decide. Theyneed tools such as broadbanding and discretionary pay to make delegatedauthority meaningful.

Major systemicreform paid offfor a number of states and counties.

In Wisconsin, it took threelegislative sessions just toabolish the "Rule of Five."But when combined withother major changes suchas broadbanding and dis-cretionary pay, the resultswere dramatic:

95 percent of stateagency HR directorsbelieve the new flexibility of the compensation systemmade them morecompetitive in thelabor market;Turnover in informa-tion technology jobswent down from 17percent to 3 percent; 75 percent to 85 per-cent of supervisorswere "satisfied" or"very satisfied" withthe new system.

Maricopa County, Arizonareduced turnover by 33percent overall and by 50percent in some hard to filljobs. They also reducedgrievances by 25 percent.

Over the past decade, thecity of Phoenix, Arizonahas gradually reducedturnover to 5 percent.

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On the Human Resources side, bet-ter recruitment and testing will notyield better applicants and faster hir-ing if central HR managers hold onto all of their traditional functions.

Finally, new start-up training andstaff development programs are nec-essary because employees will neednew skills for the roles that go alongwith decentralized HR managementsuch as delegated decisionmaking,continual tweaking of job duties andstaffing patterns, and career mobility.

Can Everyone Replicate?How realistic is it to replicate themodel reforms described in thisnewsletter? Perhaps jurisdictionssuch as Wisconsin, Washingtonstate, and Maricopa and Sacramentocounties were favored by special cir-cumstances. They had leaders whostuck with a reform vision longenough to see it through. Theyeither had no unions or enoughtime to build support from them.They had elected officials who, inthe end, were willing to allocateresources to training and staff devel-opment. Is it worth starting reformwhen long-term prospects for theseconditions are uncertain?

In some jurisdictions the answermight be “no,” or at least “not yet.”

If the current political climate isespecially unfavorable, agency direc-tors may not have a reasonablechance for success. In many circum-stances, however, it may be worththe effort to begin even if the initia-tives might not be completed duringthe current administration. Here aresome reasons to get started:

It’s Already Been Done The fact that the innovationsdescribed in this newsletterhave already been accom-plished elsewhere makes themeasier to sell.

It Enhances LeadershipAchievement motivates leaders.The opportunity to make lastingimprovements in large systemswill interest leaders at all levels ofthe organization and bring outthe best in them.

The Work ItselfAs described elsewhere, mostpeople want to do important andmeaningful work. Many employ-ees would jump at the chance tohelp design a better system—provided they see a reasonablechance that it will not be com-promised into mediocrity bypolitical considerations or specialinterests.

Getting There:

The Dynamics of the

Change ProcessPart of leadership is starting initiativesthat might be finished on someoneelse’s watch. No amount of planningcan guarantee the wisdom of one’ssuccessors, but leaders can improvethe odds for eventual success byemploying the principles of organiza-tional change.

One helpful model for change management has its roots in KurtLewin’s early work on groupdynamics, as expressed in the following formula:

C = D + V + F > R

Change occurs when:

Dissatisfaction with the status quo combined with a

Vision of a desired future state plus practical

First Steps is greater than

Resistance to change.

Applied to human resource reformsin human services, this model yieldsthe following insights:

Dissatisfaction. In the public sectornumerous constituencies are oftendissatisfied about many things. Thechallenge is to focus this dissatisfac-tion so it helps drive improvements.

This means that a key strategic taskis finding common ground by iden-tifying a manageable set of problemsthat carry weight with as manystakeholder groups as possible—elected officials, employees, unions,job candidates, the media, and thegeneral public.

Once this is done, human resourcesand human services partners canhammer away at the message“Whatever else happens, thesethings must change.”

When Sacramento County, California

began its HR reform, it created a poli-

cy research and development team

to do the research and development

work. More than 50 people applied

for four positions. The team conduct-

ed extensive best practices research

and developed recommendations that

formed the basis for a comprehensive

change strategy.

Continued on Page 14

14

Vision. The next step is to decideon the “must have” features of theproposed system, including changesin all three strategic areas: adminis-trative systems, organizational cul-ture, and staff development. Thevision focuses attention on the posi-tive reasons for continuing to moveforward. It defines a message thatleaders can reinforce throughout thecampaign in all forms of communi-cations, including presentations,problem-solving meetings, reports,and newsletters.

First Steps. First steps get reformstarted quickly without major reor-ganization, new legislation, or sig-nificant funding changes. Thisnewsletter includes a number ofexamples of good first steps, such as improved recruitment throughexpanded outreach to communityorganizations, short-term internshipsand job shadowing for students, andemployee satisfaction surveys.

Well-chosen first steps make reformreal. They capitalize on the

consensus about what is wrong withthe existing system. They give heartto supporters. They make doubtersworry that they will miss the trainthat is leaving the station. All of thesefactors build initial momentum.

From a strategic point of view, firststeps should respond directly to thecommon causes of dissatisfaction, as well as reinforce the “thresholdstrategy” by being designed to workin the new system.

Volumes have been written aboutthe organizational change process.The sidebar shown here includesreferences that are particularly pop-ular and helpful. The bottom linefor this formula is: a strategy thataddresses all three elements of thechange process—dissatisfaction,vision, and first steps—will signifi-cantly improve the chances of com-pleting the reform process.

Footprints in the Sand?A question that gnaws at reformersis whether future events will wash

away their accomplishments likefootprints in the sand.

Unfortunately, current trends offer noreassurance. Steve Hays, Professor ofPublic Administration at the Universityof South Carolina, states that hard-won gains in salary administration,broadbanding, skill-based pay, andother relatively costly initiatives havebeen put on the back burner in manyjurisdictions due to bleak long-termrevenue projections. Hays suggeststhat reforms are never permanently“won,” but are preserved onlythrough ongoing vigilance.

Institutionalizing ChangeReforms are almost always started bya leader who gets fed up with the status quo and decides to lead aneffort to fix the system. Once changesare well under way, the challengebecomes institutionalizing them sothey do not remain dependent on asingle person. Here the key task isembedding reforms in agencies’ day-to-day operations. While this is noguarantee of permanence, it makesthem much harder to dismantle.

No doubt some HR reforms will beundone by the current revenue crisis.Leaders who are pondering whetherto champion reform will have todecide if the risk of backsliding out-weighs the potential to make stable,lasting improvements. Over time,advances in public administrationhave been made by those who acceptsuch challenges even though theyunderstand the risks.

Two popular approaches to organizational change are:

The Balanced Scorecard, Robert Kaplan and David Norton, HarvardBusiness School Press, 1996, ISBN 0-87584-651-3

The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, Peter Senge et. al., Doubleday CurrencyPress, 1994, ISBN 0-385-47256-0.

Reform In-depthThose interested in exploringpublic sector HR reform in moredepth may find the followingresources useful:

Lloyd Nigro, "The Reform Agenda:Where Do We Go From Here?"in Steven Hays and RichardKearney, Public PersonnelAdministration: Problems andProspects, Fourth Edition. UpperSaddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall:2003, pp. 367-378.

Samantha Durst and CharldeanNewell, "Better, Faster, Stronger:Government Reinvention."American Review of PublicAdministration 29 (1999): 61-76.

Montgomery Van Wart, ChangingPublic Sector Values. New York:Garland Publishers, 1998.

15

accomplishments rather than togeneral (and therefore subjective)employee rating categories such as“excellent” or “exceeds expecta-tions.” Some caution is requiredhowever. Some HRM experts believethat extrinsic rewards only motivateemployees for a brief time and caneven increase job dissatisfaction ifnot administered well. (For a morein-depth discussion about the roleof compensation in motivatingemployees see the papers referencedin the articles “Keeping GoodEmployees… And Helping Them

Grow” and “Compensation: It’s NotJust About the Money”).”.

These features of a modern perform-ance appraisal system are not easyto implement. Many require changesin law. Most require extensive HRM

development, a well-executed‘change management’ program, and ongoing training.

But a good appraisal system cangive human services departments amuch-needed edge. In a field whereagencies can seldom use high com-pensation or job status to competefor employees, this tool can signifi-cantly boost retention and help todevelop people from within forhard-to-fill jobs.

Continued From Page 8

delegate, avoiding favoritism, andconsistently following- through onprograms that are personally impor-tant to staff–such as training oppor-tunities, recognition events, and performance appraisals.

Managers who are responsible forsupervisors must identify whichcompetencies need to be developedand ensure that they are addressedthrough personal coaching, perform-ance appraisals, feedback from subordinates, and training.

Supervisors should also be knowl-edgeable about the factors that createextreme job dissatisfaction and takethe actions within their discretion toaddress them. These include imple-menting personal safety procedureswhenever needed and acting as abuffer with outside entities such as courts, advocates, other human services agencies.

Supervisors can also ease the bur-den of decisions that weigh heavilyon staff. In some South Carolinacounties, for example, supervisorsenlist the entire team to participatein making tough decisions such asremoving children from their homes,rather than putting the onus entirelyon individual workers.

Closing the Feedback LoopAmong others, the MaricopaCounty, Arizona and SacramentoCounty, California central HRMagencies conduct annual employee

satisfaction surveys. The results are used to develop more responsiveHRM policies and procedures. InMaricopa County, when feedbackindicates a high degree of employeeconcern with a specific supervisor,the county follows up with anappropriate training and develop-ment plan. Given the frequencywith which employees leave anagency due to poor supervision, aprocess such as this for identifyingpatterns and taking appropriateaction is critical to retention.

Overall, consistent, high-qualitysupervision results from applyingthe same principles of employeedevelopment to the supervisorystaff. When this effort succeeds withsupervisors, however, the payoff tothe agency is multiplied through itsimpact on direct service staff.

Continued From Page 9

In a recent fiscal year, South Carolina

granted more than 40,000 discretionary

pay adjustments and other compensa-

tion increases based on the Employee

Performance Measurement System.

Leadership and Supervision:

Performance Appraisals

What Do You Need?We want future issues ofHiredforGood to focus on issues that are important to you.

To help us with this goal, please takea few moments to fill out this survey.It takes less than one minute to com-plete — Just tear it out and mail it inor fax it to the Center for the Studyof Social Policy, 202-371-1472.

I. Which articles did you findmost useful in this newsletter?Recruitment and Hiring

Keeping/Growing GoodEmployees

Performance Appraisals

Leadership and Supervision

Compensation

The Big Picture: HR/HS Reform

II. What was missing or whatyou would like to know moreabout?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

III. Of the best practicesdescribed in these articles,which ones have been implemented or are beingdone in your area? (Check all that apply)

Recruitment and Hiring

Aggressive Outreach

Tuition Stipends

Internships/Job Shadowing

Other

Retention

Better Performance Appraisal

Individual Career Planning

Discretionary/Merit Pay

Other

Systemic Reform

Delegated decision-making

Broadbanding

Reduce/eliminate written exams

Other

IV. What do you consider to be the major HR problems in your area? (Check all that apply.)Vacancy rate

Turnover rate

Personal safety

Quality of supervision

Compensation

New hires lack skills for job

Labor/Management conflict

Not enough applicants

Working conditions

Hiring takes too long

Few opportunities to advance

Agency policies/procedures

Not given responsibility

Employee morale

High level of grievances

V. Do you consider yourself a Human Resource orHuman Services professional?Human Resources

Human Services

Both (sometimes or all the time)

VI. What type of job do you have?Direct service

Supervisor

Administrative support

Manager

Policy/Program staff

Agency Director

Thank you for your time!

Centerfor the

Studyof

PolicySocial

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