From Ron Kreher, Chief of Field Services
The first stage of the Eligibility Technician class study should be completed by the end of December or early January at the latest. This initial phase was research and data collection entailing a review of the position descriptions and interviews with the Subject Matter Experts representing each job class in the ET and WDS series in DPA and OCS. Staff from the Division of Personnel’s Classification Section interviewed over 40 staff. While a number of the interviews had to be done telephonically, the classifiers also had many opportunities to have in person interviews that provided a chance to observe our work environment in offices across the state. Several of the SMEs may still be contacted via email with additional questions that will help to further clarify specific roles and duties. As noted by the lead classifier the interviewees were all “admirable representatives of their jobs and agencies”.
In addition to the interviews (sample of the questions), classification staff also sat in on portions of Food Stamp and Family Medicaid training (my thanks to the trainees and our crack team of trainers for making them welcome). So between the agency overview they received in September, the updated PD’s, the brief exposure to training, and the interviews, we have provided Classification with a pretty in-depth look at the nature of the work done by ETs and WDSes across the state.
The classification team is now moving into the discovery and design phase of the study. This next phase largely entails an analysis of the information collected from interviews and PDs. Classifiers will compare duties across and between job classes and series to assess the job class structure and consider what ,if any, changes are needed to either the structure of the job class or the class specifications to better represent the current work conducted by staff. For example it might be recommended that obsolete specification language is removed or updated, additional job classes be added to a series, or that the minimum qualifications be changed in specifications for a job class in a series.
I anticipate that by the end of January or early February we will have the Division of Personnel’s draft recommendations for changes to the class structure and the class specifications. We will have an opportunity to review and comment on the initial recommendations and provide our own suggestions. Depending on the amount of time we have to respond to the draft recommendations, every effort will be made to share this information.
In addition to the staff who participated in the interviews, those who covered for people being interviewed, and our team at SDT, I want to thank the DOP staff. A classification study, especially for job series like ours entails an enormous body of work. The classifiers have made a concerted effort to learn as much as possible about what we do and have a much better understanding of the importance and critical nature of our jobs that will certainly help inform their analysis and recommendations.
I look to the New Year with every expectation that it will bring some positive changes to how these critical jobs in our division are describe and structured. Thanks again to everyone for their contributions to this effort and you patience and understanding as we move forward with the class study.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me. Thanks again!
Ron Kreher