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Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges (2009)

Chapter: Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges

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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Part A - A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2009. Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14247.
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Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

A New Tool for Meeting Workforce Challenges P A R T A

1.1 Research Objectives The objective of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 20-72 was to “produce a guide to selection and application of practical management tools that state DOT leadership, managers, and HR staff can use to address workforce challenges in the following areas: • Characterizing and assessing core competencies of the agency’s personnel, which are likely to be influenced by changing demographics, staff turnover, attrition, and competition from other employers. • Characterizing and assessing the need to preserve institutional history and other mission-critical knowledge held by current personnel. • Recruiting diverse staff to ensure needed competencies are in place to meet future demands. • Educating, training, and developing staff to attain needed competencies, institutional history, and other mission-critical knowledge. • Succession planning to ensure availability of highly competent and qualified personnel to fill key management and leadership roles at all levels of the organization. • Retaining staff to maintain productivity. • Ensuring an adequate and diverse supply of qualified entry-level personnel to meet mission- critical requirements in the future.” The research objective recognized the wide range of goals and activities that are necessary for successful workforce management. It also recognized the existence of numerous useful manage- ment methodologies and resources available in the marketplace and the need for a practical guide for DOTs to match available resources to specific needs. The recent research projects that have explored these issues address a variety of strategies for recruitment, retention, succession planning, training, and change management. In addition to research reports available from the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), there are web sites for peer exchange of information related to work- force challenges, resources available from organizations outside of the transportation sector on techniques to improve government agency management, and a wide range of methodologies and tools developed by private companies. However, there is no integrated tool available to state DOTs for matching workforce-related needs to available and appropriate resources. Because a static guide would quickly become outdated, the research team elected to fulfill this objective by building a Web-based resource that DOT managers can easily use to meet workforce challenges. Specific challenges involved (1) targeting the content of the toolkit to the needs that DOT managers are (and will be) facing and (2) organizing the toolkit so that users can easily find relevant resources and determine applicability of a given resource to their particular situation. 5 C H A P T E R 1 Introduction

1.2 Study Context State DOTs face ongoing and evolving challenges of doing the job that the public expects of them. Many forces, including legislative requirements, reduced financial capacity, and technology advances are requiring DOTs to re-examine their mission and role. Changes in mission and role have important implications for workforce requirements. For example, DOTs that are pursuing flatter organizational structures that push greater responsibility to field offices require a larger pool of field personnel with technical, leadership, and customer service skills, as well as mechanisms at the central office to effectively provide management and support to the field. DOTs that are moving toward greater outsourcing of maintenance and design require stronger contract develop- ment, negotiation, and oversight capabilities. DOTs that are aggressively pursuing operational improvements to make best use of available capacity need staff that can plan for and manage increas- ingly sophisticated technology. They also require shifts in organizational culture given the traditional plan-design-build orientation of the DOT. Increased emphasis on partnerships across state, regional and local agencies means that DOTs need staff with top-notch negotiation and communication skills and the ability to work effectively in the networked environment these partnerships require. At the same time as workforce requirements are shifting, economic upheaval is causing major changes in the size and composition of the DOT workforce. Historically DOT employees stayed with the organization for their entire careers. This is not likely to be the case for the 21st century. DOTs will face stiffer competition from the private and academic sectors while simultaneously being confronted with a shrinking pool of qualified transportation professionals. Interest in engineering programs at colleges and universities has continued to decline, which means the historical feeder pipeline into DOTs has been declining. In a study conducted by Karen Philbrick and Patrick Sherry of the University of Denver in 2004, only 18% of college students said they would consider transportation careers. When students were given a list of 14 careers to choose from, only 2.6% expressed interest in transportation. 1.2.1 Resources for Success To be successful, DOTs must have a broad set of resources to assess, diagnose, and address workforce issues. These resources must be helpful at both strategic and operational levels. In addition, the organizational infrastructure for implementation and use of these resources must be explicitly planned for and provided. Strategic Resources. DOT management need guidance on how to assemble a holistic approach to building the workforce they need to fulfill their mission—getting the right people in the right jobs at the right time, while simultaneously, if required, letting go of the right people without negatively affecting services or mission. Resources are needed to develop and use performance metrics to track progress, pinpoint areas for improvement, and support benchmarking against peer agencies; for strategic assessment of current and likely future gaps in the workforce (skills, experience, diversity); and for review of current policies, programs, and procedures that impact workforce composition and capabilities. Once the gaps are identified, easy access to successful models utilized in other organizations can be invaluable for developing an effective plan of action. Operational Resources. At the operational level, a need exists for practical resources for both information gathering and program implementation. Information gathering tools include those for tracking key statistics from human resources systems on recruitment and retention, as well as specialized survey instruments for competency assessment, exit interviews, employee satisfaction monitoring, and applicant debriefs on the recruiting process. Implementation resources span a wide range of functions—recruitment, employee performance reviews, supervisor training, employee orientation, in-service training, employee mentoring, and career counseling, benefits program design, incentive and advancement programs, succession planning, and knowledge management. 6 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges

Organizational Models for Tool Application. In addition to providing a toolkit to access available resources, a mechanism is needed to explicitly identify the audience(s) within the DOT for each resource and to suggest realistic approaches for how they would be applied. One issue to be addressed is that relatively few DOTs have involved their human resources functions at the strategic level of decision making. The human resources function is often focused on adminis- trative and compliance-related tasks. This may be a key factor limiting DOTs’ potential to develop and implement truly effective workforce strategies that have strong linkages with operational program components. Integrating human resources functions into strategic decision making is particularly critical during reductions in force, when ensuring optimal results from a stream- lined organization is crucial. Therefore, resources were identified and documented that provide organizational models involving human resources as a more strategic player in the DOT, and describe kinds of human resources competencies and internal partnerships that are required to make these models successful. 1.2.2 Targeting Needs While some common trends impact workforce concerns across the entire DOT (outsourcing, downsizing, decentralizing, retirements, turnover, and mismatch of skills to needs), the research team believes the impact of the toolkit is maximized by designing it to address the needs and responsibilities of specific users within the DOT. Therefore, they began the project by defining audiences or user classes for the toolkit and identifying both the key concerns of each class and the activities that are within their purview to effect change. For the prototype included with this report, the perspectives of top agency executives (CEOs), senior managers (division chiefs and district administrators), human resources managers, and line managers/workgroup supervisors were considered. The next step involved matching available resources to needs and target audiences. There is a diverse set of resources—documented methodologies or models, survey instruments, case studies, policies and procedures, organizational models, and software—that may be helpful to DOTs seeking to address workforce challenges. The team identified the key challenges of each class and defined these as workforce needs. The need types currently included in the Workforce Toolkit are strategic planning, organizational development, human resources information systems, retention, compensation and benefits, downsizing/reductions in force, retirement, workforce planning and development, organizational change, leadership development, human resources planning, orga- nizational performance, human resources function, employee conflict, competencies, recruitment, succession planning, outsourcing/contract management, training and development, knowledge management, and performance management. These needs are defined in section 2.3.1. The Workforce Toolkit links these needs to the relevant audience and to the appropriate resources. This approach reinforces a holistic approach to addressing workforce issues while pro- viding an easily understood topical organization of the resources. 1.2.3 Recent Research A wide body of research was used to develop this tool. Listed below are the key NCHRP sources reviewed for this project. • NCHRP Project 20-24(40), “Analysis and Benchmarking of State DOT Recruitment and Hiring Practices.” • NCHRP Project 20-24(48), “Analysis and Benchmarking of State DOT Human Resource Activities.” • NCHRP Project 20-24(50), “In-Service Training Needs for State DOTs.” • TRB Special Report 275: The Workforce Challenge. Introduction 7

• NCHRP Project 20-24 (14), “Managing Change In State Departments of Transportation.” • NCHRP Synthesis 323: Recruiting and Retaining Individuals in State Transportation Agencies. • NCHRP Synthesis 349: Developing Transportation Agency Leaders: A Synthesis of Highway Practice. • NCHRP Synthesis 362: Training Programs, Policies, and Practices. In addition to these NCHRP/TRB resources, an extensive literature review was conducted on workforce issues from FHWA, AASHTO, the National Academy of Public Administration, the Government Accountability Office, CPS Human Resource Services, the National Association of State Personnel Executives, the International Public Management Association, the IBM Center for the Business of Government, the Partnership for Public Service and others. A full review of existing resources is available in Chapter 6. 1.3 Overview of Research Approach The initial 6-month phase of the research effort reviewed the literature and practices related to workforce challenges; identified, prioritized, and recommended a set of resources for inclusion in the Toolkit; and developed an organizing framework for the Toolkit. The specific tasks for this phase included: Task 1—Review of Literature and Practice. This task comprised a review of research and materials available from the transportation field, public sector, professional organizations and trade associations, academia, the military, the private sector and labor unions, and then identifying and applying those that can be utilized by DOTs to meet current and future workforce challenges. The review emphasized DOT-specific organizational and workforce research including NCHRP studies, DOT model programs such as those posted on the FHWA web site, and successful practices from organizations such as the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), and the Conference Board. Task 2—Existing Resources Evaluation and Assessment. The purpose of this task was to assess the adequacy and value of current resources to address current and likely future DOT workforce challenges. This allowed the research team to identify resources which were strong candidates for inclusion in the Toolkit. It also allowed for the identification of gaps or areas where there are unmet needs for resources. As part of this task, the team compiled a list of available resources organized by workforce need and type of resource. Additionally, they developed a list of key workforce needs to be addressed over the next 5–10 years. The list is based on an analysis of general issues and trends and how they impact workforce needs, as well as an analysis of the particular needs of specific DOT user groups. Task 3—Toolkit Framework. Developing a framework for the tool began with the recog- nition that it must be flexible and dynamic to meet the differing needs of state DOTs and the variable nature of those needs. Rather than creating a static guide, which would become quickly outdated, the research team focused their efforts on a Web-based tool that allowed varied approaches to searching resources, that streamlined the matching of needs to resources, and that could be easily expanded and updated. Task 4—Phase 1 Interim Report. In addition to drafting a report of progress to date, the research team met with the panel to discuss comments. In response to this feedback, the research team created a database to collect and keep resources and decided to continue adding relevant resources to the database throughout the duration of the project. This approach was used to enable the entity that ultimately becomes the Toolkit’s steward to continue updating and populating the database with useful resource information. Once panel approval was obtained, 8 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges

the team proceeded with Phase 2, a 17-month effort to develop the Toolkit. This phase focused on identification of additional resources to fill gaps identified in Phase 1, classifying the resources to be included in the Toolkit, building and testing the Toolkit, and documenting the research effort. Task 5—Workforce Resources Database. During this phase, the research team and research panel continued adding resources to the database. A set of standard resource descriptions was developed, including the following: • Detailed descriptions oriented toward a DOT audience. • Identification of the type of resource (methodology or model, measurement or assessment tool, case study, policy or procedure, organization, software application, consulting service). • Identification of the source of the information (TRB/NCHRP/TCRP, journal or publisher, NAPA, USDOT, state DOT, other state agency, university research center, national association— transportation, national association—public administration, national association—human resources). • Identification of the intended audience for the resource (state DOT, transportation profes- sionals, public sector, private sector, human resources, training and development). Task 6—Develop Toolkit. The team designed and developed an electronic, hyperlinked site that includes a Web portal for easy access to documents or resources that will be of additional use in addressing workforce challenges within state DOTs. The Workforce Toolkit was built within the following parameters: • Intended scope and audience: The Toolkit is intended to respond to workforce challenges faced by high-level and mid-level managers within a transportation agency. • The Toolkit emphasizes basic, practical approaches to applying resources to different situations and to responding to unforeseen or changed circumstances. It is not meant to provide specific solutions to problems. • The Toolkit is designed to account for basic differences in agency organizational and institutional settings and to provide alternate approaches for agencies to use where appropriate. It is intended to inform management decision making, not supersede it. • To accommodate the skills and needs of different users in a variety of settings, the research team decided to make database information accessible through a variety of views. Five of these views—Top Ten DOT Needs, Frequently Asked Questions, Functional View, Faceted Search, and Text Search—are linked to the database containing resources summarized in Table 6.1. The other views contained in the Workforce Toolkit are explained in Chapter 2. Task 7—Final Report. Introduction 9

10 2.1 Overview The challenge of this project was to build a flexible, user-friendly tool that encompassed a wide variety of subjects while focusing on common workforce issues experienced by DOTs. Because the tool needed to be publicly available and easily updated, the researchers chose to develop a Web-based knowledge portal with 10 views. These views accommodate diverse searches to make accessing information intuitive for a wide range of users in a variety of workplace settings and scenarios. The site connects users to external sites where additional resources are available. Following an extensive search of available literature to identify resources of interest, the research team assembled a database of over 200 resources. These resources were linked to search features, or facets, to ensure that the most relevant resources were retrieved for each search. A “facet” is a dimension on which a subject may be classified—for example, a vacation can be classified based on destination, cost, length of time, and suitability for families. Similarly, a workforce information resource can be classified based on topic area, source, or target audience. Using a companion administration site, which is password protected, additional resources can be added to the data- base, search parameters can be modified, or outdated resources can be deleted. These resources are not intended to provide exhaustive coverage of workforce issues. They do however include the most directly relevant resources for state DOTs. The research panel at the end of Phase 1 directed the research team to focus Phase 2 efforts on developing the software capabilities of the Toolkit rather than expanding the breadth of resources. The panel felt that the AASHTO Subcommittee on Human Resources would be able to add to the resource base after the project was completed. The Workforce Toolkit is located at: http://146.115.18.166/Workforce10a/NCHRP.aspx. The web site was developed as part of the work under NCHRP Project 20-72. The site is being provided as a demonstration by the research team. At the completion of the research project and publication of this report, discussions were continuing among AASHTO, NCHRP, the research team and others, regarding the long-term maintenance of the web site and the Workforce Toolkit but no firm plans had been developed. 2.2 Accessing Information This toolkit provides nine options for finding resources. Five of the views access a database containing resources selected from web sites, books, publications, university research centers, state DOT practices, and other educational resources selected for their usefulness and relevancy. Two options, Geographic View and State Practices, link to separate databases containing responses to surveys, statistical data or contact information. Resource searches cannot be performed from C H A P T E R 2 Workforce Toolkit

these views. This is a capability that the research team suggests be developed in the future. Additional options include a full text search (of resource abstracts), access to the FHWA Community of Practice forum, and access to the AASHTO YouTube site. Each of the Toolkit’s views is briefly described in the following sections. View 1 in Figure 2.1 accesses resources relevant to needs identified by the research team as priority issues facing DOT workforce managers. The needs are displayed as row names in the table, and the column heads further define what the DOT needs to know about these areas: (A) understand issues and trends; (B) learn about peer agencies; (C) assess our situation; or (D) implement programs, policies, and procedures. Each topic is explained in an overview, and available resources are retrieved by clicking the blue “resource list” link. The initial information retrieved includes a short description of the resource. Clicking on a title retrieves detailed infor- mation, including author, organization, contract information, and URL. The top 10 issues, which were identified by the research team and reviewed by the research panel are the following: • Strategic workforce planning, • Attracting and retaining talent, • Developing the next generation of leaders, • Downsizing and reduction in force, • Employee conflicts and performance issues, • Improving HR efficiency and effectiveness, • Outsourcing, • Organizational change—reengineering and reorganizing, • Preserving institutional knowledge, and • Retooling the workforce to meet evolving business needs. The view allows for a further refining of the search by combining the priority issues with needs. The needs, which appear as column headers, are: understand issues and trends; learn about peer Workforce Toolkit 11 Figure 2.1. View 1—Top ten DOT workforce needs.

agencies; assess our situation; and implement programs, policies, and procedures. Selecting “resource list” from the desired column and row retrieves relevant information from the data- base that is relevant to the selected topic (row) and would be useful to address the specific need (column.) For example, the resources listed in 1B accesses information on how peer agencies are approaching strategic workforce planning. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) view in Figure 2.2 lists the questions identified by the research team as addressing priority issues for state DOTs, including inquiries regarding retirement, recruitment, turnover, downsizing, reorganizing, performance metrics, strategic planning, outsourcing, and data management resources. Clicking on a question retrieves an alphabetical list of relevant resources by title, as well as a short description of each resource. Clicking on the work’s title leads to additional information, including a link to the source document and contact information (if available). FAQs can be edited or updated as work- force priorities evolve. Currently the questions are the following: • What resources are available to help me with reductions in force? • A large percentage of our organization’s workforce is due to retire over the next five years. How can we address this situation? • We are having a tough time filling open positions for engineers, and can’t match consultant salaries. How can we find and attract good engineers? • There is a large gap in experience between our service managers and engineers and the next tier of staff. How do we fill that gap before the senior folks all retire? • Our turnover rates are increasing, especially in our urban districts. How can we deal with this? • We have a key career manager planning to retire in two years. How can we make sure there is a smooth transition to a new person? • We are about to go through downsizing of our field units. How do we make the transition as smooth as possible? 12 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges Figure 2.2. View 2—Frequently asked questions.

• We have several “problem” managers who need to build their supervisory skills. What resources are available for us to draw upon? • After many years of stability, we have undergone several reorganizations in the past two years. Morale is low and there is confusion about roles and responsibilities. How do we get on a better track? • Our mission has shifted and we are relying more on outsourced services. Our staff capabilities do not match our needs for good collaboration, oversight, and negotiation skills. What is the most efficient way to address this mismatch? • We need to improve our ability to measure the performance of our HR function and bench- mark it against other agencies. What are there to help us get started? • We need to replace our ancient Human Resources Information System (HRIS). How can we learn about new products and their capabilities? How do we influence when a statewide decision is being made by the state HR group? How do we implement a new HRIS and still have access to legacy data? • Our HR function does not currently play any significant role in strategic planning for our agency, yet everyone realizes how important workforce issues are to our ability to achieve our mission. Are there examples of agencies that perform good strategic HR planning? This view searches the database based on specific workforce needs and functions (strategic workforce planning, organizational human resources, compensating and rewarding employees, managing employee performance, and human resources services). Selecting a topic displays a definition of the function. Selecting the resources option retrieves an alphabetical list of resource titles and a short description of each title. Clicking on the title brings the user to more detailed information, including the URL and contact information (if available). The five human resources functions are further refined in View 3 in Figure 2.3. In the context of this project, human capital planning refers to all policies, programs, and procedures (e.g., recruitment, hiring, promotion, rewards, training, education, development, work life program Workforce Toolkit 13 Figure 2.3. View 3—Functional view of workforce needs.

and benefits) which are used to attract, retain, and manage the workforce of an organization. The process involves carrying out a skills analysis of the existing workforce, carrying out manpower forecasting, and taking action to ensure that supply meets demand. This may include the devel- opment of training and retraining strategies. Refining the subject also refines the search, retrieving more specifically targeted resources. 1. Strategic Workforce Planning 1. Human Capital Planning 2. Workforce Planning 1. Succession Planning 2. Operational Human Resources 1. Organizing Work 1. Tasks and Priorities 2. Career Ladders and Paths 3. Position Prioritization 2. Recruiting and Retaining Talent 1. Needs Identification 2. Competencies and Education 3. Recruitment Planning and Process 3. Compensating and Rewarding Employees 1. Compensation Philosophies 2. Compensation Systems 3. Reward Programs 4. Benefits Administration 5. Benefits Planning 6. Workmen’s Compensation 4. Managing Employee Performance 1. Performance Appraisal 2. Performance Metrics 3. Career Development 4. Mentoring 5. Coaching 6. Employee and Labor Relations 7. Discipline 5. Human Resources Services 1. Processing Personnel Actions 2. Processing Pay Actions 3. Other Backroom Operations View 4 in Figure 2.4 allows the user to narrow the search parameters using the facets described in section 2.3 to produce matching resources. Five facets are available from the menu: need type, audience, source, DOT role, and resource type. Each option contains a drop-down menu that allows the user to further refine searches. Resources matching the selected facets are retrieved from the database, and the title and short description are displayed. Selecting a title retrieves detailed information described in Views 1–3. The Geographic View in Figure 2.5 provides a visual representation of the United States and allows users to find information by state. This view is linked to tables that will contain infor- mation from state DOTs regarding knowledge systems and human resources information sys- tems, contact information, links to state DOT web sites, statistics on number of state DOT employees, and information on which states outsource human resources functions and which have labor unions. Much of this data is not yet available. The AASHTO Subcommittee on 14 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges

Workforce Toolkit 15 Figure 2.4. View 4—Faceted search. Figure 2.5. View 5—Geographic view. Human Resources will populate this data base when possible. Source documents are not avail- able from this view. The Text Search shown in Figure 2.6 allows state DOT personnel to search by keyword(s) of their own choosing. Using words entered in the textbox, the Workforce Toolkit searches titles and descriptions to locate relevant sources. As with the views described above, selecting a title retrieves detailed information.

The State Practices view in Figure 2.7 is linked to a third database that provides access to 62 web pages that display state-level data derived from the State Practices Excel spreadsheet developed in Phase 1 of this project. This view summarizes, by state, findings from NCHRP studies on recruitment, retention, succession planning, training, and change management. Additional surveys can be added in the future. 16 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges Figure 2.6. View 6—Text search. Figure 2.7. View 7—State practices.

Currently, this view contains information from surveys conducted for the following NCHRP projects and synthesis: • NCHRP Project 20-24(40), “Analysis and Benchmarking of Recruitment and Hiring Practices of State Departments of Transportation;” • NCHRP Project 20-24(48), “Analysis and Benchmarking of State Departments of Transporta- tion Human Resource Activities;” • NCHRP Synthesis 323: Recruiting and Retaining Individuals In State Transportation Agencies; • NCHRP Synthesis 349: Developing Transportation Agency Leaders; and • NCHRP Synthesis 362: Training Programs, Policies, and Practices. Clicking on the individual studies retrieves a menu of subject options. These options, in turn, connect the user to the tables which cover the following subjects: • Agency leadership; • Crisis management; • Critical skills identification; • Communication resources; • Education level of professionals; • Employee demographics and work profile, including age, classification and gender of profes- sionals; number of employees by division; years in state employment; years in current position; years to retirement; average number of hours worked per week, and the percentage of employees taking work home; • Employee perceptions regarding pay raises, promotions, morale, and personal pride; • Funding sources and methods; • Human Resources, including competencies, outsourcing, and software usage; • Knowledge management; • Partnerships with other agencies, private sector organizations, non-profit entities, public sector agencies, and universities; • Professional certification, registration, continuing education and certification programs; • Recruiting, including attracting engineers, technicians, IT, and other professionals; • Retention, including employee turnover rates, factors influencing the decision to leave state service, and the likelihood of leaving for the private sector; • Retirement; • Strategic Planning; • Succession Planning; and • Training and Development. Selecting the “Home” option returns users to the home page of the Workforce Toolkit web site shown in Figure 2.8. The Forum option in Figure 2.9 connects users to the FHWA’s Knowledge Sharing web Site. From this site, users can access Communities of Practice, which are virtual home bases providing members with access to information, discussion, and collaboration on specific subject areas of interest to the highway community. This link is included to illustrate the concept of user forums. The Toolkit steward can choose to use another social networking mechanism for user exchange for developing a forum focused solely on state DOT workforce issues. Users can also access FHWA online presentations called “Knowledge On-Demand.” These multimedia presentations are self-contained packages that combine textual, audio, and video elements to create the learning experience of attending a presentation. Selecting the “Video” option connects users to a YouTube site containing videos from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). AASHTO is Workforce Toolkit 17

18 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges Figure 2.8. View 8—Home. Figure 2.9. View 9—Sample forum view.

currently developing a video portal that will allow viewing of videos without having to go through YouTube. This will allow video content to be accessible to all state DOT staff without filters blocking access to sites such as YouTube. 2.3 Design Components The Toolkit has been designed to be useful in at least three situations: (1) a user wishing to understand an overall approach to identifying and addressing workforce issues, (2) a user searching for a range of solutions for addressing a specific problem, and (3) a user charged with implementing a particular program or initiative who is looking for useful models or soft- ware resources. The Toolkit is dynamic, allowing new resources to be added over time through the Adminis- tration site. It also provides a mechanism for informal sharing of ideas within the community of DOT human resources practitioners. While it was not within the scope of this project to develop a fully automated search tool or portal, the research team designed the toolkit to address these needs. As the Toolkit evolves, the portal will accommodate additional resources. To support a variety of needs and use scenarios and to maintain flexibility and extensibility, the research team identified a series of facets, or features, for identifying and categorizing the assembled resources. Each of these facets—need, role, source, type of resource, and audience type—are further refined with additional facets: 22 for workforce need type, 5 for role played within the DOT, 11 for information source type, 9 for the type of resource, and 8 for audience type. Combinations of these facets have been linked to the available resources to form the basis for searches. This reinforces a holistic approach to addressing workforce issues, while providing an easily understood topical organization of the resources. 2.3.1 Workforce Need Type A list of workforce needs was developed to include the most pressing current and future issues and trends facing state DOTs. Categories can be added and/or eliminated as priorities change. Workforce needs are listed below. Compensation and Benefits. This includes information, policies and practices relating to wage programs, insurance, retirement benefits, and other workplace compensation. Competencies. This includes the knowledge, skills, experiences and behaviors required to perform successfully in jobs within the workplace. Downsizing/Reductions in Force. This covers issues and trends relating to reductions in force resulting from terminations, layoffs, or retirements. These include the following: • Forecasting, • Advance planning, • Mitigating fallout, and • Costs and benefits of alternative approaches. Employee Conflict. This covers issues of employee performance and issues of conflict within the workforce between employee and supervisor and employees with each other. Human Resource Function. This refers to any of the basic functional areas of human resources including recruitment, hiring, placement, promotion, performance management, rewards, discipline, labor relations and work life quality. Workforce Toolkit 19

Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS). This is a stand alone or integrated system designed to provide information used in HR decision-making, programs and functions. These include: • Enterprise-wide systems for capturing workforce demographics and for processing personnel and payroll actions and activities, • Learning management systems, and • A wide variety of stand alone systems that support individual human resources programs and functions. Human Resources Planning. This refers to information and methodologies used to ensure future staff is appropriate for future needs. Knowledge Management. This is the set of policies, programs, procedures and other resources used to capture, organize, transfer, and store knowledge and experiences of individual workers and groups within an organization and making this information available to others in the organization when it is needed. Most organizations consider an information technology tool essential to a successful knowledge management program. Leadership Development. This is an organization’s policies, programs, and procedures for assuring that the organization has and will continue to have an adequate supply of well-developed talent from which to select its current and future leaders. Workforce development includes some of the following examples: • Rotating assignments to assure future leaders have a variety of work experience within the organization, • Mentoring and coaching, • Special development assignments, • Formal training in leadership tasks and competencies. Organizational Change. This refers to an organization’s policies, process, and methods for developing its internal capacities to help assure its current and future success in accomplishing its strategic goals and objectives. This category includes activities which support an organization’s problem solving and renewal capabilities and capacities including assuring the following: • Work is organized efficiently and effectively into jobs and career paths, with associated authority, responsibility, and accountability. • The organization’s values and culture are clearly aligned with its mission. • Mechanisms (e.g., periodic reviews of program and/or resource allocations) exist to assess whether subordinate units within the organization are meeting agreed upon programmatic and employee performance requirements. • Periodic examination and evaluation of programs, policies and procedures occur to reinforce the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency. Organizational Development. This includes planned and managed organization-wide effort to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Organizational Performance. This includes the policies, programs, and procedures for comparing results achieved to organizational objectives or goals. Outsourcing and Contract Management. This includes formal agreements with third par- ties to perform services for an organization. Initially, many organizations thought of outsourcing as contracting with a private sector organization to perform certain tasks. The definition is evolving to include any defined relationship with a third party to provide goods and services to the organization. 20 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges

Performance Management. This includes the laws, policies, programs, processes, and other resources used to define a mission and desired outcomes, to set performance standards, to link budget to performance, to report results, and to hold public officials accountable for those results. Performance management concepts and practices are applied to both organizations and employees in organizations. Recruitment. This includes the laws, policies, programs, and procedures used to attract well-qualified candidates to fill vacancies within an organization. Recruitment includes the following activities: • Defining the policies and procedures that apply to recruitment activities. • Defining the competencies and capabilities candidates must possess to function successfully in the organization. • Developing an annual recruitment plan which identifies and links needs, sources to fill those needs, and the financial resources for recruitment activities. • Defining roles and individuals in the organization who are responsible for recruitment, e.g., human resources department, line managers. • Developing and applying methods to assess candidate credentials. • Evaluating the results of recruitment efforts and using those results to refine the recruitment program and processes. • Identifying sources for candidates and targeting marketing of positions to the candidate pool interests. Retention. This includes the laws, policies, programs, and procedures used to retain the talent that is recruited into the organization. Retention includes the following activities: • Defining the policies and procedures that apply to retention activities. • Identifying the strategies and tactics to retain needed talent, e.g., financial incentives, work assignment incentives, work-life incentives such as flexible work hours, developmental incentives such as training or special assignments, etc. • Defining roles and individuals in the organization who are responsible for retention of talent, e.g., human resources department, line managers, agency executives. • Developing methods to assess the degree to which the organization is able to retain the tal- ent it needs and wants to retain, e.g., employee satisfaction surveys, turnover statistics, exit interviews. • Evaluating the results of retention efforts and using those results to refine the retention pro- gram and processes. Retirement. This includes the laws, policies, programs, and procedures associated with assuring employees have appropriate retirement benefits, as well as research pertaining to an aging workforce. Strategic Planning. This includes an organization’s policies, process, and methods for defining its future direction by identifying the organization’s programmatic goals and the out- comes that must occur if those goals are to be achieved. This analytical process also includes the allocation of financial and human resources to achieve the goals and outcomes agreed upon. The product of the strategic planning process is a strategic plan. Strategic plans usually focus on 5-year increments. The programmatic and resource allocation results of the strategic plan are reflected in the annual business or operating plans of subordinate units and in employee performance requirements. Organizations that use strategic plans to assure alignment between strategic goals and outcomes and the specific areas of responsibility and accountability of organizations and individuals tend to be more successful than those which do not have a structured process and methods. Workforce Toolkit 21

Succession Planning. This is an organization’s analytical methodology for assessing the workforce competencies and capabilities needed to meet future requirements. It includes the following activities: • Identifying the current and future work of the organization. • Identifying the competencies and capabilities required to accomplish that work. • Analyzing the degree to which those competencies and capabilities are present within the workforce. • Describing the gap between what is available vs. what is needed. • Developing strategies, e.g., recruitment, reassignment, training, contracting out, and closing the identified gaps. • Repeating this process periodically (usually every 2–5 years) to assure that the workforce required will be available when it is needed. Succession planning is most often focused on the identification of leadership needs. However, organizations are learning that succession planning should be focused on any mission critical occupational category. Training and Development. This includes the range of activities and programs that organizations provide to help assure that employees at every level of the organization have the competencies and capabilities required to carry out the work of the organization effectively and efficiently. Workforce Planning and Development. This includes the set of policies, programs, and activities related to developing and maintaining a talented and capable workforce consistent with and in support of the mission and goals of the organization. Other. This category is used for resources that do not fit under any of the above categories. 2.3.2 DOT Role While there are some common trends impacting workforce concerns across the entire DOT (outsourcing, downsizing, decentralization, retirements, turnover, mismatch of skills to needs), specific information needs vary based on the user’s role within the DOT. Each role may have specific concerns based on the scope of their responsibilities. The perspectives of top agency executives (CEOs), senior managers (division chiefs and district administrators), human resources managers, and line managers/workgroup super- visors were considered. For senior managers and line managers, the researchers considered differences in concerns across functional areas (planning, engineering/design, construction, maintenance, operations, IT, administration, and finance), and across central office vs. field offices. 2.3.3 Information Source Type Users searching for information on a specific challenge will also consider the information’s source, since source may indicate credibility and applicability to the user’s workplace. Ten source categories most relevant to the workforce challenges faced by DOTs were identified: TRB/ NCHRP/TCRP; Journal/Publisher; National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA); the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT); state DOT; Other State Agency; University Research Center; National Association—Transportation; National Association— Public Administration; and National Association—Human Resources. 22 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges

2.3.4 Resource Type The type of resource was also deemed significant since some users may seek background infor- mation while others are looking for specific methodologies or survey instruments. Resource types include the following: General Resource. Resources that fall outside the item types below, or that span multiple item types, e.g., reports, articles. Methodology/Guide/Model. Resources that provide “how-to” knowledge, or step-by-step guides to addressing a workforce need. Measurement/Assessment Tool. Resources that measure or assess the state of an organiza- tion’s existing situation with respect to a given workforce topic. Case. Resources that collect specific organizations’ experiences. Policy/Procedure. Resources related to official organization workforce policies or procedures. Organization. Organizations that provide access to a useful body of workforce resources. Software Application. Information technology resources. Other. Resources that fall outside of these item types. Consulting Services. Specialized services that provide information or recommendations from outside a company. 2.3.5 Audience Type While all of the resources selected are relevant to the state DOT audience, an additional facet was added to classify resources based on their intended audience. For example, there are a large number of general resources that are targeted to human resources professionals across the spectrum of agency types. A state DOT toolkit user may want to distinguish these general resources from those that are specific to the DOT community. The audience types were defined as state DOT; Transportation Professionals; Other Industry; General Private Sector; General Public Sector; Human Resources; and Training and Development. Building on these facets to direct searches, the team designed views of the information that support particular modes of use. The views, which are shown in section 2.2, are examples; views can be changed or added in the future. Workforce Toolkit 23

3.1 User Site In designing this tool, the researchers recognized that different agencies will have different workforce needs given varying situations, and that combinations of resources will need to be used in an integrated way to take advantage of synergistic efforts. For example, succes- sion planning indicates that integrated human capital programs and resources tend to be more effective at achieving organization outcomes than those which are used and viewed as separate entities. A variety of approaches to searching the Toolkit were created to address these needs. Although views 1-4 shown in figures 3.1–3.4 each have a different structure for finding resources, all utilize the same pool of resources and draw upon the same faceted classification for those resources as shown in Figure 3.1. For Top Ten DOT Needs (view 1), Frequently Asked Questions (view 2), and Functional View (view 3), the facets have been preselected by the research team. The Top Ten DOT Needs view combines the 10 priority issues defined by the rows with the needs defined in the column headings. Selecting “resource list” from the desired column and row retrieves relevant information from the database based on preprogrammed facets. For example, 1A, “I am seeking resources to help me understand issues and trends in strategic workforce planning,” searches for resources with the facets General Resource and Workforce Planning/Development. The Frequently Asked Questions view is preprogrammed to retrieve information from the database that includes relevant workforce or need type and item or resource type. The program allows for multiple “or” commands within need type and multiple “or” com- mands within resource type to refine the search. For example, resources for question 1, “A large percentage of our organization’s workforce is due to retire over the next five years. How can we address this situation?” are culled from resources that address recruitment, succession planning, leadership development, retirement, or knowledge management. The database allows for one preprogrammed “and” clause in this view, similar to that imple- mented in View 1. As with views 1 and 2, the Functional View search contains preprogrammed facets. However, this view allows users to drill down on a particular topic to find more focused resources. Retrieved information for function 1(Strategic Workforce Planning), for example, is culled from resources containing information on workforce planning/development, succession planning, and knowledge management. The more specific issues under the general functions narrow the search by need type to eliminate irrelevant topics. Workforce planning (issue 1.2) searches only resources tagged as containing workforce planning/development material or succession planning information. Some functions are further refined (e.g., function 1.2.1, succession planning), which correlates 24 C H A P T E R 3 Workforce Toolkit Use

to a further refining of the search. In this example, resources retrieved are only those tagged with succession planning. The database allows for a single preprogrammed “and” clause in this view, similar to that implemented in View 1. Faceted Search (View 4) allows state DOT personnel to select the desired combination of any of the 54 facets. There is no restriction on the number of facets that can be selected in this view. Any combination of boxes (e.g., any combination of the 54 facets) within these can be checked, which allows for highly customized searches. Text Search (View 6) likewise affords the user the opportunity to search based on individual needs; in this instance, the search is based on keywords. Two additional screens Geographic View (View 5), and State Practices (View 7) access sepa- rate databases that do not contain resource listings. Presently, there is no data in the Geographic View table. View 7 accesses the state practices table as shown in Figure 3.2. Home, Forum, and Video (Views 8, 9, and 10) are not linked to a database and contain no search functions. User Guide (View 11) connects the user to a PDF of the user guide for the Workforce Toolkit site. Workforce Toolkit Use 25 Figure 3.1. Data structure for faceted classification.

3.2 Administration Site The Workforce Toolkit Administration site is an easy-to-use tool for site data management, including data entry, editing, and deletion. This site requires login with a username and password to make any changes to resources. Changes to the database can only be made through this site. The login automatically expires after 30 min of inactivity. After logging in, the user can navigate to the Edit Resources or Edit Resource Facet pages. The site also contains a logout page and a home page. 3.2.1 Edit Resources The Edit Resources page allows the site administrator to add, delete, or edit resources in the database. Resources can be quickly accessed by sorting them according to title or Resource ID. Once the desired resource is selected, a text box displays Resource ID, Resource title, and the option to edit or delete. The edit option opens a screen displaying the resource’s ID, title, short description, long description, author, and other relevant information including reference, organization, contact information, web site, resource cost and format, resource application, and other resource users (if known). Once the desired change has been made, the user selects “update” to accept the changes or “cancel” to discard them. The delete option removes the resource from the database. The database allows a resource to be deleted even if it has facets. 26 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges Figure 3.2. Data structure for state practices.

Selecting “add a resource,” located above the table, opens a screen with fields for the resource ID, resource title, short description, long description, author, reference, organization, contact information, web site, resource cost and format, resource application, and other resource users (if known). Resource ID numbers must be manually entered; the system will not allow resources with duplicate ID numbers. To determine the next sequential resource ID number, the admin- istrative user must navigate to the last page of the existing resources list. Once the new resource information is entered, the administrative user can add the resource to the database by clicking on “accept” or discard the entry by selecting “cancel.” 3.2.2 Edit Resource Facets The Edit Resource Facet page allows the administrative user to add or delete facet types or values associated with a document. Chapter 2.3 of this report explains facets in more detail. Resources can be sorted by title or Resource ID. Selecting the desired resource displays the existing facets for the resource. “Insert” adds the facet; “cancel” discards the new facet and returns the user to the prior screen. Facets can be deleted by selecting “delete” next to the facet to be eliminated for that resource. 3.3 Workforce Toolkit Scenarios The scenarios in this chapter present examples of how the Workforce Toolkit might be used to respond to a typical workforce issue. 3.3.1 Scenario 1—Planning for Loss of Experienced Staff Problem. The Legislature has passed a retirement incentive bill that gives a 6-month window for eligible employees to retire. The state personnel office estimates that about 5% of the highest paid employees will be eligible. Based on their employees’ tenure, the DOT knows that up to 19% of their experienced employees could retire. To complicate matters, a major layoff several years earlier due to budget cuts has left the DOT with few employees experienced enough to take the retirees’ place if they leave. The DOT’s human resources director has been tasked with ensuring the workforce remains sufficient to meet the agency’s mission despite these factors. Solution. Assuming that other DOTs must face a similar challenge, the HR director selects Top Ten DOT Needs from the Home view of the Workforce Toolkit (Figure 3.3). After reviewing overviews of the options, she decides to retrieve resources from columns A–D (understand issues and trends; learn about peer agencies; asses our situation; and implement programs, policies, and procedures) relating to the following issues: • Strategic workforce planning, • Attracting and retaining talent, • Preparing the next generation of leaders, and • Preserving institutional knowledge. Next, the HR director checks the Frequently Asked Question page for additional resources and discovers the question, “A large percentage of our workforce is due to retire over the next 5 years. How do we address this situation?” Selecting that question retrieves titles and short descriptions of useful resources as shown in Figure 3.4. Meanwhile, the human resources director has asked her assistant to find resources using another view in the Workforce Toolkit. The assistant decides to use Faceted Search view. From the main Faceted Search page, the assistant clicks on the drop-down menu for need types and checks recruitment, retention, retirement, knowledge management, training, succession planning, and compensation and benefits as shown in Figure 3.5. Workforce Toolkit Use 27

28 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges Figure 3.3. Finding resources from Top Ten DOT Needs View. Figure 3.4. Finding resources by FAQ. Figure 3.5. Finding resources by need type.

Workforce Toolkit Use 29 Next, the assistant selects three audience types: State DOT, Transportation professionals, and human resources as shown in Figure 3.6. For sources of information, the assistant checks TRB/NCHRP/TCRP, journal/publisher, NAPA, state DOT, university research center, national association—transportation, and national association—human resources as shown in Figure 3.7. Next, he must decide which DOT roles will be affected by the Legislature’s retirement incentive bill and by the impending retirement of experienced employees. Since a workforce reduction of this magnitude would be felt throughout the agency, he selects all the options in the DOT role category: Top agency executives (CEOs), senior managers (division chiefs and district administrators), human resources, line managers/workgroup supervisors, and other as shown in Figure 3.8. Finally, he decides on the type of resources needed to address the situation, and elects to search general resources, methodology/guide/model, case studies, and policy/procedure as shown in Figure 3.9. The human resources director and assistant review the list of resources they have gathered, select the most relevant resources, and use the Workforce Toolkit to find the resources they need. To do this, they click on the work’s title, which opens a screen containing title, author, short description, long description, and additional information—such as an email, phone number, or web site—for finding the document as shown in Figure 3.10. Figure 3.6. Finding resources by audience type. Figure 3.7. Finding resources by source type. Figure 3.8. Finding resources by DOT role. Figure 3.9. Finding resources by resource type.

30 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges Figure 3.10. Summary view of individual resource. After reviewing the available resources, the HR director can report to management about current practices, policies, and experiences relating to preserving knowledge, identifying and training for competencies, planning for and guiding succession, targeting recruitment strategies, and creating or modifying a workforce human capital plan. 3.3.2 Scenario 2—Attracting Skilled Engineers to Public Sector Jobs Problem. Higher salaries paid by private sector firms make it difficult to recruit engineering technicians. State salary policies limit what the DOT can pay, and traditional sources for new engineering technicians can’t educate enough people to supply private sector firms and the DOT. The state DOT director plans to launch initiatives designed to identify competencies, train and develop existing staff, find new ways to recruit engineering technicians, and plan for the future in terms of ensuring that the agency-specific knowledge and skills of current engineering technicians are passed on to new hires. In addition, the DOT director hopes to review data on outsourcing these duties in the event that it becomes necessary. Solution. To educate himself about what other state DOTs and public agencies are doing to recruit and retain qualified engineers, the director first uses the FAQ View in the Workforce Toolkit. There he discovers this question arises frequently in state DOTs; clicking on the question reveals a list of resources. However, the director wants to narrow his search to more specifically address his needs, so he goes to the Full text search view of the Toolkit. Entering “engineers” as a search word retrieves titles and short descriptions that can help Figure 3.11. To learn more about using an engineering consulting firm, he searches on “consultant” (Figure 3.12). To refine his search, the director enters a combination of search words, “engineer training competency” (See Figure 3.13).

Workforce Toolkit Use 31 Figure 3.11. Finding resources using text search. Figure 3.12. Modifying a text search.

32 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges Figure 3.13. Using multiple search words in text search. 3.3.3 Scenario 3—Attracting Skilled Engineers to Public Sector Jobs Problem. The human resources director has noted a dearth of qualified applicants for entry-level and mid-level positions. Although the volume of applications is high, the recruiting strategies used in the past no longer seem to be attracting the right candidates. Additionally, budget cuts have raised questions about the effectiveness of career fairs, which have been labor-intensive and expensive. The director wants to reassess the agency’s mix of advertising, career fairs, and re-hiring practices to use resources more efficiently while drawing a better candidate pool. Solution. Knowing that the experiences of peer organizations will be useful in helping formulate a new recruiting strategy, the human resources director selects the State Practices view of the Workforce Toolkit. The director selects the first option to access NCHRP Project 20-24(40), “Analysis and Benchmarking of Recruitment and Hiring Practices of State Departments of Transportation” (Figure 3.14). This leads to two tables that can be viewed: Effectiveness of Recruiting and Most Successful Practices for Recruiting Employees (Figure 3.15). Selecting the first option reveals a table that shows how states measure the effectiveness of various strategies they employ for recruiting for entry-level and mid-career level employees (Figure 3.16a). The second option provides a state-by-state view of the three most successful strategies used for recruiting entry-level and mid-level employees (Figure 3.16b). Using this information, the human resources director suggests incentive programs for employees suggesting individuals who are ultimately hired by the agency, increasing visibility and accessibility of job postings on the agency web site, and a percentage decrease in the number of job fairs held annually.

Workforce Toolkit Use 33 Figure 3.14. Finding resources using State Practices View. Figure 3.15. Searching State Practices by study.

34 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges (a) (b) Figure 3.16. State Practices data tables.

4.1 Overview State DOTs are being forced to make significant adjustments as financial resources become more limited, transportation infrastructure ages, traffic volumes increase, and technology reliance increases. These changes are shifting the workforce landscape of state DOTs. While it is impossible to accurately predict all future workforce needs, it seems likely that literature, practices, and other resources will be updated and made available as progress is made in the industry. This protean nature of needs and resources dictates the need for a similarly flexible toolkit. The web site developed in this project as a demonstration of the Workforce Toolkit necessarily will have a limited life. No financial support or other resources have been provided by NCHRP or other sponsors to support the maintenance of the Toolkit or web site following completion of the research project. The future utility of the Workforce Toolkit depends on it remaining a current resource that meets the changing needs of a dynamic audience. Resources will need regular updating, and elements of the site (e.g., views, needs, and facets) may need to be refined as workforce challenges continue to evolve. Fundamental to the success of this initiative is ownership by an entity that hosts the site and engagement with the state DOT community that provides an ongoing sense of specific agency needs. 4.2 Dynamic Resources An important asset of this tool is the ease with which it can be modified and updated. The views chosen for the prototype are based on research and input from the panel and the AASHTO Subcommittee on Human Resources; however, views can be added, deleted, or modified. Resources can be efficiently added or deleted by any authorized user through the password-protected administration site. As information becomes available for the Geographic View, it can be added to the existing tables by the Toolkit Web master for the site. An important feature of this view is that it provides a foundation for displaying information from state DOT Geographic Information Systems (GIS). As the Toolkit evolves, more sophisticated GIS querying and analysis capabilities can be added to its functions. The Toolkit Web master can also add new information, including studies from state and fed- eral entities other than NCHRP, to the State Practices View. Any authorized user can edit facets for existing or newly added resources; the technical administrator can change facet categories by, for example, adding National Professional Associations as a source type, or even by adding or deleting a facet category. This type of action should be done carefully since all of the reports are designed using the existing set of facet categories. If changes to the facet lists are made, the queries that determine the view outputs need to be adjusted. 35 C H A P T E R 4 Recommended Future Initiatives

4.3 Community Interest and Involvement Active participation from a variety of state DOT user groups will ensure that the Workforce Toolkit remains a useful resource that supports peer exchanges and successful practices in responding to current and future workforce challenges. The community could become involved by submitting materials for inclusion in the database; recommending and/or reviewing resources; composing/contributing to a list of favorite resources; and suggesting new Frequently Asked Questions, facets, and views. The Forum View provides a DOT workforce portal that can be expanded to include views in addition to the FHWA Communities of Practice site and can incorporate a number of features commonly found as part of current web sites. Additional views might include the following: • Schedule of workforce-related conferences and training courses, consolidated across multiple sponsoring organizations; • Discussion forums on specific topics of interest, allowing practitioners to pose questions to their peers; • Lessons learned and best practice area, for one-page descriptions posted by DOT staff; • URL link collections; and • Performance benchmarking area for key metrics (e.g., turnover rates, time to fill open positions). Additional features might include: • Incorporation of user reviews of information resources; • User tagging of information resources; • Capability for users to submit resources for incorporation into the resource base; • Capability for users to sign up for notifications when new resources of interest are posted; and • Periodic web surveys and posting of results to provide snapshots of current practice and recent activities. These capabilities are easily accomplished with existing software. 4.4 Hosting the Site To keep the Toolkit fresh and maintain its utility for the user community, we recommend that the AASHTO Subcommittee on Human Resources assumes stewardship to maintain, update, and market the toolkit, and that it be housed on an AASHTO-sponsored web site. 4.5 Other Considerations Some DOTs restrict YouTube use on company computers. A member of the research team met with the Web master/IT manager for AASHTO in May 2008. It was his suggestion that video be handled through AASHTO’s video portal that is currently being developed. This issue will need to be addressed before the toolkit is launched on the AASHTO web site. 36 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges

Next: Part B - Development of the Workforce Toolkit »
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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 636: Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges examines tools that officials of state departments of transportation (DOTs) can use in recruitment, development, and retention of a productive and effective workforce.

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