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NLPES Conference Notes

Roundtable on Workforce Issues Medium-Large Shop

The meeting room was rearranged to a more usable semicircle of chairs, and a Roundtable Topics Ballot was handed out. A show of hands was used to select topics for coverage in the roundtable. A workforce concerns summary handout from the National Association of State Auditors was passed out.

1. The consensus was that the number one workforce problem was recruiting.

Many of the participating shops are trying to compete with other organizations for "top school" employment candidates. Most shops involve professional staff in the interviewing and selection process.
2. The consensus number two problem was retention of trained and experienced staff.

Managers said they had tried raises and flex time programs, all on a marginally successful basis. Most shops lack sufficient experienced supervisors to train newly hired staff. The supervisors are leaving for easier work and higher salaries in other organizations. Several managers expressed concern with their inability to predict staff success since some new hires "just don’t work out". Responses from other managers suggested that personality conflicts may be the primary cause of turnover, with slower than expected career progress as the second most frequent cause.
3. Telecommuting as a retention strategy has proven very difficult to implement, primarily due to supervision responsibilities and necessary contact with agency personnel. Additional concerns with telecommuting agreements appeared to be raised by agency attorneys. Telecommuting agreements with selected employees typically require the employee to establish a "free-standing workplace" at home. Children are not permitted during telecommuting office hours, so employees must maintain the same child-care arrangements as for in-office work.
4. Training programs are troublesome for most shops; some shops develop inhouse training programs, and some hire outside training specialists. Some use both forms. On-the-job training for junior staff requires experienced supervisory staff for successful results, and many shops have difficulty retaining experienced staff.
5. More than one shop has instituted a "lessons learned" database to allow staff and management to profit from and possibly prevent repeats of mistakes in logic, tactics, research methodology, and presentation.