The Eligibility Technician and Workforce Development Specialist Class Study is on track and will be completed by June 30, 2010. Over the past 3 months, we have met with Division of Personnel (DOP) staff to review and discuss some of their initial recommendations. It has been a very productive process and every meeting and conversation is an opportunity to provide additional information about the nature of our work to help inform the process. We all hope that the level of involvement we’ve had with DOP and their interest in learning about our work in public assistance will be the norm for future classification studies.
While we have opportunities to review and comment on DOP’s preliminary findings and recommendations, the material developed to date is still undergoing review and vetting within DOP and is not yet at a point where it can be broadly distributed. However, we’ll soon be able to share more substantive information. The following provides a little more detail about recent activities and the tentative timeframes for the remaining phases of the study.
- February – Director, Chief of Field Services, and Regional Managers reviewed and commented on a draft of conceptual job classes.
- March - Director, Chief of Field Services, and Regional Managers reviewed and commented on the tentative study results and provided additional, detailed documentation and clarification of staff roles, responsibilities, and competencies.
- April – Chief of Field Services and Regional Managers reviewed and revised the current class specifications and submitted them to DOP for consideration. DOP will have a final draft of the revised class structures and specifications available for formal review and comment sometime between April 30th and May 5th. The division will have 10 working days to review the draft specifications and submit comments.
- May - DOP will begin the formal review and allocation (job class placement) process between May 5th and May 14th. This part of the process entails:
- Analyzing each study position and determining its allocation using the revised or new class specifications.
- The division will have 10 working days to conduct a review of the proposed position allocations to identify positions whose allocations could be in error and to request reexamination and reconsideration of the proposed allocations.
- A second review is conducted to address any questioned position and final allocations are determined.
- June - The pending allocations will be distributed to division management on either May 31st or June 1st and any further allocation reconsiderations will need to be submitted no later than June 15th in order to allow for sufficient time to reexamine the positions.
- June - Due to changes in specifications and/or minimum qualifications, recruitment for any positions affected by the class study will be closed until the finalized class specifications are implemented. This typically requires 30 days to allow any open recruitment to close, for interviews to be completed, and job-offers made. We anticipate that recruitment will be closed from June 1st through June 30th.
- June - Recommendations for the final salary ranges should be sent to division to management sometime during the first two weeks of June and by no later than June 15th. This stage includes:
- Aggregating the job class or class series into the appropriate Occupational Group and Job Family in the Class Outline’s schematic.
- Analyzing each job class’ placement in the pay plan based on the class structure and comparison with other job classes in the same Job Family and/or Occupational Group.
- Analyzing and evaluating the resulting range structure’s comparison with other job families, if appropriate.
- Determining the appropriate salary ranges for each study job class.
- Completing the Study Memorandum and other documentation of the study process and results.
- July - DOP is contractually obligated to conclude this study no later than June 30th. All class specifications, position allocations and reconsiderations, and salary ranges must be finalized and implemented effective July 1, 2010. This stage includes:
- Publishing the study documents (study memorandum, class specifications, and position allocations).
- Entering the revised and new class specifications in Workplace Alaska.
- Completing the position allocations in OPD and AKPAY.
- Opening recruitment with the revised or new class specifications.
Because of the short turnaround time for reviewing documents from DOP and the need to quickly compile our comments and recommendation, division leadership will be responsible for these activities. However, I want everyone concerned to know and understand that while the process cannot be as inclusive as some might wish, Division leadership continues to be a staunch and tireless advocate for staff. Our goal is to ensure that this study results in the best possible outcome to sustain a workforce that will support our mission to promote self sufficiency and provide for basic living expenses to Alaskans in need now and in the future.
If you have any comments, questions, or concerns regarding the status of the class study or all portions of the remainder of this process and its potential results, please direct them to me at Ronald.kreher@alaska.gov. Questions and answers will be compiled weekly and posted on the DPAweb.