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Action Plan for Recommendation #6
Develop Employees and Maintain Employee Career Pathways
Hyperlink to Exhibit 28: Overview of Strategic SOM Workforce Recommendations by Career
Stage
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RECOMMENDATION #6
Develop Employees and Maintain Employee Career Pathways
Description: DOTs should consider making in-house Recommendation Highlights
recruiting a priority to promote from within and ensure
Target Career Stage: Entry-level, mid-
that growth opportunities are available to employees
career staff, and senior leaders
(KFH Group, Inc., 2008). Results of a recent study
Will help with Retention and
indicate that career pathways improve job satisfaction,
Development
employee motivation, and employee commitment
Estimated Time to Implement: 36
(Griffin, Kalnbach, Lantz, and Rodriguez, 2000).
months
Furthermore, results from analyses of 21 turnover
Provides guidance to employees to help
studies indicate that receiving promotions is directly them to plan for future and advance
related to less employee turnover (Carson et al., 1994). within the agency
To prepare employees for advancement, agencies need Career pathways may increase job
to implement structured employee development satisfaction, employee motivation, and
practices. Career lattices demonstrate the possible ways commitment to the agency
that a career can progress and the different jobs an
employee might consider as their career develops. The
pathway is usually represented as a diagram showing the relationships between various roles in an
industry and the possible paths for moving between them, both linearly and laterally. A career
pathway serves as a strategic planning tool as the employee identifies long-term goals for his/her
professional life.
Rationale for Recommendation: Our research results indicated that there is uncertainty in the
transportation industry about how individuals should advance in an SOM career. This can inhibit
DOT staff from cross-training to enter the field and can deter potential new, skilled employees from
entering SOM jobs. We discovered that the biggest challenge or impediment to pursuing a career in
SOM is that there are no clear or standard career paths for personnel. Thus, it is difficult for
potential and existing staff to navigate the array of jobs. Further, each of SOM's five core functions
does not represent all levels of SOM positions. For example, the Policy and Strategic Considerations
function has no Transportation Management Center (TMC) technicians or field personnel and few
mid-level or project-related personnel because of the high level of the work. On the other hand, the
Real-Time Operations function has many TMC technicians and field personnel, but few senior
managers. This also makes it difficult to describe where junior- or mid-level employees might
progress across SOM functions. Yet, because SOM personnel often have knowledge of multiple
disciplines and an understanding of how SOM interacts with transportation modes, the public, and
other transportation functions (e.g., emergency management, public safety), their skills are highly
transferable across core functions so advancement within and across core functions is certainly
attainable. Thus, DOTs should work to develop and maintain clear career pathways for SOM
employees that communicate when and how employees may be or become qualified to advance.
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RELEVANT POSITIONS
TARGET AUDIENCES
Source of Initiation Return on Investment Targeted Audience(s)
Industry 0-2 years Primary: Staff who are seeking
career guidance. Career paths will
Agency 3-5 years
assist them in making training and
6+ years skill development decisions and
Primary Human Resource
Focus allow these staff to plan for likely
Estimated Time to future jobs.
Attraction Implement
Recruitment 0-3 months
Retention 3-6 months
Development 7 months-1 year
More than 1 year
Implementation Level
National Action Lead(s)
Regional Agency HR Director/Personnel
State Manager
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IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Steps to Implement
1. Assemble Project Team.
2. Define the Job Group. Define the purpose the job group performs within the organization,
key tasks, products, and objectives.
3. Consult with Stakeholders. Consult with stakeholders by collecting input from managers and
workers, subject matter experts (SMEs), and professional and educational organizations in the
field to create a competency model that identifies the knowledge, skills, and abilities that are
needed to successfully perform the job and its purposes previously described. This will become
the basis of your job pathway. (Career OneStop, provided by the U.S. Department of Labor,
offers a tool for building competency models as well as pre-defined model frameworks for
various industries.)
4. Divide the Competencies into Tiers from Entry to Management Level. The lower tiers
will include applicable foundational skills, abilities, and behaviors. Middle and upper tiers will
build on the competencies for the tiers below, adding specialized knowledge and technical
competencies as well as leadership skills and behaviors.
5. Create and Refine Specific Job Titles and Descriptions for Each Level. Descriptions will
include the tasks and responsibilities of the position, reporting relationships, competencies, and
educational and experience requirements. Consider differences between responsibilities and
qualifications for each tier and how an employee might move between jobs.
6. Create a Visual. Create a visual representation that describes your structure, showing each job
and possible paths to and from it.
7. Assign Salary Ranges and Obtain Final Approval from Management.
8. Communicate with Users. Communicate with users by publishing the job pathway
information along with guidelines for employees about the critical development experiences
needed to progress to the next tier.
9. Validate and Refine. Collect data on the paths via which staff are promoted to various
positions. Improve the job pathway over time by observing how effectively employees are able
to progress from one tier to the next by acquiring and demonstrating the competencies you have
included in the pathway.
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Graphic Depiction
These exhibits provide a summary of how individuals might advance in SOM careers within and
across each of the five core functions of SOM. These are example pathways for each core function;
however, they can be tailored for individual agency needs.
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Exhibit 3
Systems Development Core Function: Career Paths
Senior Transportation Management
Management Mid-Level or Project Related Center Technician/Field Personnel
Electronics Electronics
Supervisor Mechanic
Implementation
Support Traffic Traffic
Technician System System
Technician Technician I
Civil ITS Section
Engineer Leader
Project
Development
Director of Engineer
Traffic Engineering Engineering Engineering Engineering Engineering
and Safety Technician Technician Technician Technician Technician
Safety V IV III II I
Specialist
Exhibit 4
Project Management Core Function: Career Paths
Senior Management Mid-Level or Project Related
ITS Project
Manager
Senior
Transportation Operations Traffic
Project Manager Manager Operations
Engineer
Transportation
Transportation
Engineer
Engineer
Supervisor/Manager
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Exhibit 5
Real-Time Operations Core Function: Career Paths
Senior Management Mid-Level or Project Related Transportation Management Center Technician/Field Personnel
Communications
Communications
Operator
Communications Operator Trainee
Officer Communications
Systems Transportation
Assistant District Technician Engineer I
Traffic Engineer
Assistant
Engineer
Signal & Lighting Junior Engineer
Senior Traffic Technician
State Traffic Signals Technician
Engineer Traffic Systems
Traffic Operations
Engineer Technician
Traffic Operator Incident Response
Center Manager Coordinator
Traffic Incident
Traffic Operator
Manager
Assistant District Traffic Incident
Maintenance Technician
Engineer Maintenance Highway
Supervisor Maintenance
State Maintenance Worker
Transportation
Engineer Work Zone
Maintenance
Manager
Technician
COMMUNICATIONS PLAN
Communication/Outreach Strategies
Develop orientation training to provide employees with overview of career pathways and
benefits.
Utilize all internal communication channels to inform about HR's efforts in defining career
paths:
Send inter-office mail memos.
Post information clearly on the agency intranet regarding the different tracks and
upcoming orientation sessions.
Develop a career pathway chart where employees can track their progress and remind employees
and supervisors to review the career pathway chart during mid-year and annual evaluations.
Process for Obtaining Buy-In
Provide data that highlight the impact of career pathways and tie them to specific strategic goals
the industry has regarding development targets.
Show projected results on attrition reduction and savings on recruitment efforts.
Obtain case studies indicating success of other industries and/or transportation fields in similar
career pathway efforts.
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USEFUL INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL RESOURCES
To Implement Practice
Develop support from agency leadership.
Create job descriptions to identify job tasks and knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to
perform the job.
Involve HR managers and personnel managers who are engaged and invested in the
development of the new career pathways.
To Sustain Practice
Enlist commitment from personnel managers and HR managers to assist employees in
progressing up career pathways.
Ensure support for revisions to the tool every few years or as needed so that it is tailored to best
meet development and retention targets and needs, as well as the current labor pool and
economic conditions.
Record evidence where and how the career pathway is providing a return on investment. For
example, the agency may calculate: turnover data before and after implementing the career
pathways, money saved due to reduction in turnover, any increases that may be discerned in
applications received, retention numbers over specific periods of time, and increases in new hire
performance.
EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Joint Workforce Investment (JWI)
Program. Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's (VTA's) Joint Workforce Investment
(JWI) program, established in 2006, is a joint labor-management partnership between the VTA
and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 (ATU). Both organizations operate together as
one "JWI" team. The three primary programs that were brought together under the JWI initiative
are described in detail below.
The first program is called the Maintenance Career Pathways Training Project (MCPTP). This 1-
year project ended in 2008. During that time, it established the Mechanic Helper program. The
Maintenance division has three positions: (1) service worker, (2) service mechanic, and (3) full
transit mechanic. First, the program involved utilizing funding that was meant to support the
salaries of vacant full transit mechanic positions and reallocating that funding to create vacancies
at the mechanic helper (mechanic trainee) level. The program then provided training to mechanic
trainees to allow them to be eligible for promotional opportunities. The external Mechanic
Helper training involved enrolling employees in an 18-month Associate's Degree program at local
community colleges. Once employees at the Mechanic Helper level had completed the required
training, they were promoted into the service mechanic positions. In doing this, VTA addressed
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the bus mechanic shortages and provided members of the community with living-wage-level
employment.
The second program is the New Operator/Mentor Pilot Project. This one-year pilot project, now
complete, paired 26 new operators who graduated in January 2008 with 17 veteran exemplary
operators who acted as mentors. The program provided best practice customer service and job
stress coping skills through on-the-job mentoring and classroom training. At the beginning of the
mentoring relationship, the new operators would spend 8-hour days on the veteran's bus and
then later the veteran would spend a similar amount of time on the new operator's bus. This early
intervention prevents new operators from developing bad habits and attitudes that amplify stress.
The third program is the Health and Wellness Project. This mentor-led, "operator to operator"
project conducts various informal activities at the three bus operating divisions to promote the
JWI approach to health, wellness, and professional development. Activities emphasize mastering
the "human element" of driving a bus and applying stress management/health and wellness
techniques. During the project, new operators are brought into a classroom to debrief after
completing some initial driving time. They discuss their experiences and whether or not they were
able to release the stress that some situations may have caused them.
As a result of JWI, the level of skill and organizational commitment across the VTA increased.
Specifically, ten mechanic helpers graduated from their training programs and were promoted
into the ten service mechanic vacancies. Retention of new bus drivers rose from 80% to 100%
for participants of the program. Anecdotal conversations between the management team and
employees have indicated that employee morale has also increased due to the program.
Contact Information: Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, 408-321-2300 or 800-894-
9908
PennDOT's Position Analysis Workbooks Program. The Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation (PennDOT) once implemented a practice called Position Analysis Workbooks
(PAWs) to address recruitment and retention efforts and support career paths and succession
planning. A PAW described the roles, responsibilities, and tasks that are performed in a given
position in PennDOT and the competencies and training necessary for an individual to be
successful in the position. To develop a PAW for a position, PennDOT convened a focus
group consisting of exemplary employees currently serving in the position or those supervising
employees in the position. The focus groups were moderated by someone who served as a
Subject Matter Expert (SME) and helped the group to devise a strategy or a series of steps for
PennDOT employees to succeed in the position described in the PAW. PennDOT works to
assign a PAW to each major position in the organization.
Contact Information: PA Department of Transportation, 717-787-7894
San Francisco Transit Career Ladder Partnership. Rapidly changing transit technologies,
related skills shortages, and job vacancies pose critical challenges to public transportation
systems across the country and in San Francisco in particular. The San Francisco Transit Career
Ladder Partnership resolves these skills shortages by means of a collaborative approach to
training for incumbent workers to move up industry career ladders targeted to areas of skills
shortage. The goal of these programs is to strengthen promotional opportunities for incumbent
San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) employees, fill chronic vacancies, prepare incumbent
workers for jobs that will require new technological and human relations skills, and permit Muni
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to more effectively meet new service delivery guidelines. The principal partners are Muni,
Transport Workers Local 250-A (TWU), City College of San Francisco (CCSF), and the
Community Transportation Development Center, which is funded by the U.S. Department of
Transportation to help develop regional skills partnerships in mass transit. The San Francisco
Municipal Railway Improvement Fund (MIF), a joint labor-management project established by
Muni and TWU in 1996, facilitates this partnership. As the fiscal agent, MIF ensures effective
partnership coordination and delivery of the career ladder training.
Contact Information: San Francisco Transit Career Ladder Partnership, sftclp@ccsf.edu
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Career Pathways. The Career Pathways to Highways
project is a collaborative venture between the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Elizabethtown
Community and Technical College, and the Lincoln Trail Workforce Investment Board to
address workforce shortages identified by the Federal Highway Administration. The Career
Pathways to Highways project is designed to meet the needs for qualified individuals to work in
the transportation career cluster. The scope of the project is to train eligible participants to
varying skill levels within the transportation industry within a 2-year timeframe.
Contact Information: Doug Hogan, Executive Director, Office of Public Affairs, 502-564-
3419
ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES
Alternative Approach 1
Develop detailed agency job descriptions for all SOM positions. While job descriptions may not
detail the relationships between the positions and the development experiences needed to progress
within the organization, the job descriptions will provide incumbents with an accurate description of
the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed in each job. Thus, the job descriptions will provide a target
for incumbents as they are planning career growth.
IMPACT
Positive Outcomes of the Practice
Decreased turnover.
Better prepared staff for leadership positions.
Increased job satisfaction and organizational commitment among mid-career staff.
Increased organizational ability to properly target training and developmental experience.
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CAUTIONARY CONSIDERATIONS
Significant Dedication of Resources--Time and labor commitment from stakeholders and
subject matter experts (SMEs) can be substantial for a 6-month to 1-year period while career
pathways are being developed. This has the potential to be expedited through use and
modification of more generic career pathways, such as those developed in this project. The
latter can serve as a starting point. Project leaders should work with agency and/or state
leadership to secure resources in advance. This will decrease the chance of delays during the
development and implementation process.
Long-Term Commitment--To realize the greatest ROI, agencies must commit to the
development, implementation, and maintenance of career pathways. Career pathways must be
updated and refined as jobs evolve. In addition, the agency must be willing to assist employees in
their development so they can achieve career pathway goals.
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