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APPENDIX A
User's Guide to the
Workforce Toolkit
CONTENTS
A-2 Introduction
A-2 Overview
A-2 Content
A-2 Design
A-2 How the Searches Work
A-4 Using the Web Site
A-4 Retrieving Information by View
A-5 View 1--Top Ten DOT Workforce Needs
A-6 View 2--Frequently Asked Questions
A-7 View 3--Functional View of Workforce Needs
A-8 View 4--Faceted Search
A-9 View 5--Geographic View
A-10 View 6--Full Text Search
A-11 View 7--State Practices
A-13 Additional Functions
A-13 Home
A-13 Forum
A-13 Video
A-1
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A-2 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges
Introduction
Overview
The NCHRP Workforce Toolkit (http://146.115.18.166/Workforce10a/NCHRP.aspx) was
developed to assist state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and other transportation
agencies with attracting and retaining staff who are equipped to successfully fulfill changing
expectations for the DOT, while at the same time dealing with significant instability due to
retirements, private sector competition, and an increasingly mobile workforce. A demonstration
of the Toolkit is accessible on the Internet. This flexible and easy-to-use tool, the result of
NCHRP Project 20-72, can help connect you to the information you need to address workforce
challenges in the following areas:
· Characterizing and assessing core competencies of your 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 current and 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 current and future key management, leadership, and technical roles at all levels of the
organization.
· Retaining staff to maintain productivity and continuity of operations.
· Ensuring an adequate and diverse supply of qualified entry-level personnel to meet current
and future mission-critical requirements.
Content
The Workforce Toolkit currently contains resources that were selected from a review of
literature and practice. These resources include books, articles, web sites, case studies, policies
and procedures, measurement and assessment tools, methodologies, software applications,
and consulting services that were culled from the transportation field, public sector, professional
organizations and trade associations, academia, the military, the private sector, and labor
unions. Materials chosen were determined to be the most useful in addressing DOT workforce
challenges.
Design
Resources were entered into a SQL Server data base and identified by "facets" so they could
be appropriately retrieved in response to queries. Facets are simply aspects or characteristics of
the resources. Some views have been programmed to retrieve resources with a predetermined set
of facets; other views allow you to select facets or words to conduct a search.
For more information on the design of the database, please see Chapter 2.
How the Searches Work
Resources in the database are tagged using different facets. These facets are divided into
five types (audience, DOT role, item/resource type, source, and workforce category or need
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User's Guide to the Workforce Toolkit A-3
type) and subcategorized within types. Each resource is tagged with a combination of facets
that defines who is most likely to be interested in this information, who might find it most
relevant to their job function, the kind of resource it is, and what subject it addresses. Additional
facet types can be added by the site administrator. The currently defined facet types and subtypes
are detailed below.
· Audience
General private sector
General public sector
Human resources
State DOT
Training and development
Transportation professionals
Other
Other Industry
· DOT role
Human Resources
Line managers/workgroup supervisors
Senior managers (division chiefs and district administrators)
Top agency executives (CEOs)
Other
· Item or resource type
Case
Consulting services
General resource
Measurement/assessment tool
Methodology/guide/model
Organization
Policy/procedure
Software application
Other
· Source
Journal/publisher
National Academy of Public Administration
National Association--human resources
National Association--public administration
National Association--transportation
State Department of Transportation
Transportation Research Board/National Highway Cooperative Research Program/Transit
Cooperative Research Program
United States Department of Transportation
University research center
Other
Other state agency
· Workforce challenge or need type
Compensation and benefits
Competencies
Downsizing
Employee conflict
HR function
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A-4 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges
HR information systems
HR planning
Knowledge management
Leadership development
Organizational change
Organizational development
Organizational performance
Outsourcing/contract management
Performance management
Recruitment
Reductions in Staff
Retention
Retirement
Strategic planning
Succession planning
Training and development
Workforce planning/development
Other
Using the Web Site
This public-access site provides nine options for finding resources relating to issues impacting
state DOT workforces. Five of the views access a database containing resources selected from
web sites, books, publications, state DOT practices, and other educational resources selected for
their usefulness and relevancy. These options accommodate different search styles for ease of
use. Two options, Geographic View and State Practices, link to separate databases containing
responses to surveys, statistical data or contact information. (Data needs to be added to the
Geographic View.) Resource searches cannot be performed from these views. The three addi-
tional options available from each page in the toolkit return the user to the home page or connect
to additional resources on the Internet.
Users can return to the previous screen by using their browser's back button or by using the
Site Navigation trail at the top of the page (i.e., Home > Top Ten DOT Needs > Top Ten DOT
Needs Resource List).
A "contact us" button is available at the top of each screen. Use this button to contact the
developers (during the project) and the Web master (after the project is completed) of the
Workforce Toolkit with questions not addressed in this user's guide.
Retrieving Information by View
All of the view options, including the option to return to the home page, are accessible from
every page within the site with the exception of View 4, Faceted Search.
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User's Guide to the Workforce Toolkit A-5
View 1--Top Ten DOT Workforce Needs
This view accesses resources relevant to needs identified by the research team (in the future
it will be the AASHTO Subcommittee on Human Resources) as priority issues facing DOT
workforce managers. It allows users to uncover resources that will help them understand
issues and trends, and to learn how peer agencies are addressing these issues to enable imple-
mentation of policies, programs and procedures to address the top ten workforce priorities.
Each topic is explained in an overview, and available resources are retrieved by clicking the
blue "resources" link.
The following top ten issues define the rows in the table:
· Strategic workforce planning,
· Attracting and retaining talent,
· Retooling the workforce to meet evolving business needs,
· Developing the next generation of leaders,
· Downsizing,
· Preserving institutional knowledge,
· Employee conflicts and performance issues,
· Outsourcing,
· Organizational change--reengineering and reorganizing, and
· Improving HR efficiency and effectiveness.
The view allows for further refinement of the search by connecting the column headers--
Understand issues and trends; Learn about peer agencies; Assess our situation; and Implement
policies, programs, procedures--with the 10 priority issues within the rows. Selecting "resource
list" from the desired column and row retrieves relevant information from the database based
on preprogrammed facets.
This search is preprogrammed to search by resource or item type; each cell within the table
has a preselected item type attached. For example, resources relevant to a need to understand issues
and trends (column A) and strategic workforce planning (row 1) searches the general resources
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A-6 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges
item type. If the organization needs to learn about strategic workforce planning (row 1) in peer
organizations (column B), the toolkit searches the database for relevant cases.
An overview option within each cell provides a text summary of the search.
View 2--Frequently Asked Questions
The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) view lists the 12 questions identified as addressing
priority issues for state DOTs, including inquiries regarding reductions in force, 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 and 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 infor-
mation (if available).
The FAQ view is preprogrammed to retrieve information from the database that includes
relevant workforce or need type and item or resource type. For example, resources for question 2,
"A large percentage of our organization's workforce is due to retire over the next five years.
How can we address this situation?" are gathered from resources that address recruitment,
succession planning, leadership development, retirement, and knowledge management.
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User's Guide to the Workforce Toolkit A-7
View 3--Functional View of Workforce Needs
This view searches the database based on specific workforce needs and functions of the
Human Resources department (strategic workforce planning, organizational human resources,
compensating and rewarding employees, managing employee performance, and human resources
services). Selecting any of these topics displays a text summary 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).
Resources for the more general functions include multiple workforce challenges or need
types. Retrieved information for function 1, for example (Strategic Workforce Planning), 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 suc-
cession planning information. Some functions are further refined (i.e., function 1.2.1, succession
planning), which correlates to a further refining of the search. In this example, resources retrieved
are only tagged succession planning.
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A-8 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges
View 4--Faceted Search
View 4 allows the user to define the search specifics instead of relying on the facets that have been
preprogrammed into Views 13. 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 specify search specifics. These specifics correspond to those listed in the "How
Searches Work" section above.
There is no restriction on the number of facets that can be selected in this view. Any combi-
nation of boxes can be checked, which allows for highly customized searches.
In this prototype of the Toolkit, users must unselect facets from a prior search before conducting
a new search in any given session. Simply hitting the browser's back button does not clear the
search. NOTE: This issue will be addressed in future versions of the Toolkit.
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User's Guide to the Workforce Toolkit A-9
View 5--Geographic View
The Geographic View 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 information from state DOTs
regarding knowledge systems and human resources information systems, 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. Source documents are not available from this view.
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A-10 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges
View 6--Full Text Search
Full Text Search allows users to search by keyword(s) of their own choosing. Using words entered
in the textbox, the site searches titles, short descriptions, and long descriptions to locate relevant
sources. Any number of keywords can be entered into the text box; selecting "enter" will retrieve
search results alphabetized by title and including a short description. Search results can be
resorted by the first word of descriptions by clicking on the column heading.
Selecting the work's title opens a screen containing descriptions, source author, organization,
contact information, web site links and other relevant information.
NOTE: To conduct a new search, users must delete prior word(s) and enter new ones. The text
box does not automatically reset after a search.
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User's Guide to the Workforce Toolkit A-11
View 7--State Practices
The State Practices view provides access to 63 web pages that display state level data derived
from the State Practices Excel spreadsheet. The view summarizes, by state, findings from NCHRP
studies on recruitment, retention, succession planning, training, and change management.
Currently, this view contains information on:
· 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 Trans-
portation Human Resource Activities."
· NCHRP Synthesis 323: Recruiting and Retaining Individuals in State Transportation Agencies.
· NCHRP Synthesis 349: Developing Transportation Agency Leaders.
· NCHRP Synthesis 362: Training Programs, Policies, and Practices.
Tables of Survey Data Accessed by State Practices View
Competencies
· HR Competencies
· Education Level of Professionals (%)
· HR Core Competencies
HR Function
· Crisis Management
· Human Resources
· Rate the Importance of the Following HR Functions to your DOT
· Crisis Management
HR Information Systems
· HR Software
· Means to Share and Integrate Information
· What Communication Tools Do You Use?
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A-12 Tools to Aid State DOTs in Responding to Workforce Challenges
HR Planning
· Professionals by Classification (%)
· Professionals by Classification (2002)
Knowledge Management
· Knowledge Management
Leadership/Development
· Agency Leaders
· Developing Transportation Agency Leaders
· Education Level of Professionals (%)
Outsourcing/Contract Management
· For Any of the Following HR Functions Outsourced in Your DOT, Please Select How Many
Years They Have Been Outsourced
· HR Outsource
· HR Outsource Considered
· If HR Functions are Outsourced, Rate Your Satisfaction
· Which Department Manages the Outsourced HR Service? How Satisfied Are You With Their
Management?
· HR Outsourcing
Performance Management
· Effective Employees Get Higher Pay Raises (%)
· Effective Employees Get Promoted (%)
Recruitment
· Impact of Recruiting Strategies
· Effectiveness of Recruiting
· Measuring the Effectiveness of Recruiting Entry Level Employees
· Measuring the Effectiveness of Recruiting Mid-Career Level Employees
· Most Successful Practices for Recruiting Employees
· Relevant Issues Regarding the Demographics of the Agency
· Significant Recruitment Factors (%)
· Strategies for Recruiting Engineers, Technicians, IT, Other Professionals
Retention
· Employee Turnover Rates (by Year)
· Factors Influencing Retention (%)
· Factors Influencing the Decision to Leave State Service (%)
· I am Proud to be a State Employee (%)
· I Make a Positive Contribution to My Agency (Ranking 1-10) (%)
· I Make a Positive Contribution to My Community (Ranking 110) (%)
· Impact of Retention Strategies
· Likelihood of Leaving for Private Sector (%)
· Morale is High in My Agency (%)
· Morale is Higher in My Agency than it was 5 Years Ago (%)
· My Work is Valued by my Agency, Customers, Supervisors (%)
· Retention Impacts
· Who Influences Employees to Stay (%)?
Retirement
· Likelihood of Retiring from State Service (%)
· Years to Retirement
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User's Guide to the Workforce Toolkit A-13
Succession Planning
· Succession Plan
Training and Development
· Funding Sources and Methods
· Opportunities, Challenges, Constraints
· Partnerships with Other Agencies, Private Sector Organizations, Non-Profit Entities, Public
Sector Agencies, Universities
· Professional Certification, Registration, Continuing Education and Certification Programs
· Structure for Accomplishing Training and Development
· Training
· Training Delivery Mechanism
· Training Evaluation Methods
· Training Needs Assessment
Workforce Planning/Development
· Critical Skills Identification
· Strategic Plan
Other
· # of DOT Employees by Division (2002)
· Average Hours Worked per Week (%)
· Employees Taking Work Home
· Frequency of Taking Work Home (%)
· Professionals by Age (%)
· Professionals by Gender (%)
· Years in Current Position
· Years in State Employment
Additional Functions
Home
Home returns users to the home page of the Workforce Toolkit web site.
Forum
The Forum option connects users to the Federal Highway Administration'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. The link to the Communities of Practice is included
to illustrate the concept of user forums. The Toolkit steward may choose to use another social
networking mechanism for user exchange.
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.
Video
Selecting the "Video" option connects users to a YouTube site containing videos from the
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
