Guidebook for Recruiting, Developing, and Retaining Transit Managers for Fixed-Route Bus and Paratransit Systems (2010) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 142-198
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From page 142... ...
To account for this diversity, case studies were conducted with large, midsized, and small, urban and rural, private and public transit agencies located throughout the United States. Heavy emphasis was placed on smaller transit agencies based on the suggestion of the TCRP project panel and the perception that these agencies often have fewer staff resources and therefore may be in greater need of strategic human resource assistance.
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From page 143... ...
, 814-944-4074, ericwolf@amtran.org Transit System Profile Altoona Metro Transit (AMTRAN) is a small urban transit authority serving Altoona, Pennsylvania, and the surrounding communities.
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From page 144... ...
Training and Development AMTRAN has very limited internal formal leadership training for managers and supervisors. However, it uses a series of internal strategies to develop staff leadership skills: Holds an annual management retreat where previous year's accomplishments and next year's goals are determined, and leadership is a major topic area.
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Transit Case Studies 145 Quarterly one-on-one management support and feedback meetings. The value and team based nature of the organizational culture.
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, 505-663-1761, michael.davis@lacnm.us Nancy Talley (Head of Los Alamos County Transportation Division) Christeanne Goodey (Head of Human Resources for Los Alamos County)
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Applications are initially screened against Minimum Qualifications stated in job descriptions. Once this HR screening has taken place, applications are sent on to the Hiring Department, which conducts more extensive screening.
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This program works around a purchased film based on the Seattle Fish Market and is a fun reinforcement of positive customer service skills. There are several formal and informal succession planning efforts going on in Los Alamos County government including cross-functional training, lead positions acting as stepping stones to supervisory positions, and an annual performance appraisal process that includes goal setting for upward mobility.
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From page 149... ...
There are five items in all the manager/supervisory job descriptions that are important to the County working culture: Reliable attendance; Ability to work well with others and participate fully in the team environment; Ability to interface with employees and customers in a courteous and respectful manner; Ability to provide high quality customer service; and A commitment to project positive support for all County related activities at all times . The individuals interviewed for this case study concluded by emphasizing that a transit system should never be in a hurry to recruit just to alleviate employee stress due to a vacancy, and never settle for less than the highest qualified candidate.
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From page 150... ...
However, the focus is not on finding an individual with the technical skills, but instead to emphasize leadership skills in selecting for manager jobs. In the process of moving operations from contracting out to in-house, the system retained all contracted employees increasing from 3 full-time to 40 full-time employees.
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From page 151... ...
For example, managers are asked to speak for half hour on a specific core value and consequences of not supporting that value. The system is currently having managers work on developing leadership training.
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The General Manager shares his own mistakes in the Leadership training conducted with managers. Em ployees and managers are treated equally.
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From page 153... ...
The recruitment process for transit managerial openings, including the Transit Superintendent position if it needed to be filled, involves interviewing three applicants, background checks, reference checks, and previous employment checks. Depending on the level of the position to be filled, either the City Manager and/or the Human Resource office would be a part of the interview and selection committee.
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From page 154... ...
Capital Transit, along with other transit systems in Alaska, also utilize: the Community Transportation of America (CTAA) Certified Community Transit Manager (CCTM)
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is an independently managed stand alone transit authority with a Board of Directors. CTA receives small urban Section 5307 funding from the FTA and provides fixed route services, ADA paratransit services, and senior demand response services.
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From page 156... ...
A senior manager is approaching retirement so the Executive Director created a position to prepare an individual to take this senior manager's place. The individual hired for this position could be considered a "Director in training." This employee does not have a public transit background but, as a part of the succession planning effort, he is being brought "up to speed" on transit specific knowledge.
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From page 157... ...
Supervisors and managers are occasionally sent to local generic management training workshops. It also sends individuals to training workshops offered by the State DOT and FTA.
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To address recruitment challenges Delmarva Transit has: Worked with local unemployment offices to host classes for the recently unemployed when a large factory closed. Begun to participate in local job fairs in addition to placing ads in local newspapers.
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Lessons Learned As a winner of the 2007 Rural Community Transportation System of the Year award from the CTAA, Delmarva Transit's biggest lesson learned is to connect with other transit professionals. Transit managers should not rely solely on training to provide them with answers; they should also speak with other transit managers and visit other agencies.
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GET has used the Monster.com website in the past without a great deal of success. For future advertising, the agency is considering using other social networking sites.
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Periodic mandatory safety meetings are held for all employees and managers and attendance is documented. GET uses an upward mobility succession planning based program to fill operational supervisory positions called the "Temporary Supervisory Program." Coach operators apply for the position and their applications are screened based on education, years of experience and safety record.
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From page 162... ...
Because of its location, candidates have to take considerable time off from work to travel to Lake Havasu. The Transit Services Manager has found that it is easier to get prospective candida tes to come for interviews by offering flexible interview times and holding interviews on Mondays and Fridays.
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From page 163... ...
Therefore, HAT often has to look outside transit, City government, and the Lake Havasu City community to fill managerial positions. An advantage in meeting its recruitment challenges is that Lake Havasu City is generally the highest paid and most stable employer in the community.
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From page 164... ...
Lessons Learned The Transit Services Manager believes an effective strategy in manager workforce development can be found through working intimately with the State DOT. The State DOT can help identify candidates state-wide, or even nationally, for transit managerial positions and can actively support individual transit agency leadership development needs.
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Managerial positions are advertised in APTA Passenger Transport, in local and Seattle newspapers, through the State Transit Association, and on the Jefferson Transit website. Social networking sites are not utilized.
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This training is conducted in cooperation with the Washington State Training Association and the Washington State DOT. This is an excellent training resource for all transit agencies within the state.
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He feels if they have good leadership skills and can deal with people, that is 90% of the job requirement. He believes that people can be trained to elevate specific transit skills.
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Very low turnover that results in individuals wanting to move up without having the availability of jobs for them to do so. The way in which the system addresses these two challenges includes: Searching for candidates with the appropriate leadership skills and then providing extensive training on the technical skills; and Encouraging employees to return to school to further their personal development and obtain the skills they need for future advancement.
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From page 169... ...
In addition to discussing "what is needed to move up the career ladder," the meetings are used to talk about challenges such as how to increase diversity in the company's workforce, sexual harassment, team building, front-line supervision, family needs, and other total quality management topics. The biggest training challenges include having a limited budget and the need to increase staff skills in technology.
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The system has found that attending job fairs and partnering with universities is a great way to promote transit among youth.
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OATS has difficulty finding candidates with transit experience and believes that it is better to hire someone with a strong management background and then teach them transit specific skills. The Assistant Executive Director believes management and leadership skills are not easily taught.
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OATS does not have a formal succession planning process. However, individuals who are close to retirement generally mentor a potential successor.
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Transit Case Studies 173 Constantly informing front line and management staff of the reasons behind decisions that are made. The Assistant Executive Director believes that the agency's high retention rate is due to developing a positive mission based organizational culture.
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To address their recruitment challenges, OCCK has: Recruited managers from other departments that have strong leadership skills but no technical skills. Used unique strategies to publicize job openings as such using a local radio station's website for placing job notices, in addition to using traditional advertising channels such as newspapers.
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From page 175... ...
Examples of topics covered in this training include: Stereotypes of Baby Boomers, Silent Generation, Gen X, and Gen Y Impact of technology with respect to generations Im pact on the workplace of generational differences Values of different generations Career goals Preferences for rewards, retirement and feedback approach Work-life balance preferences Training, managing and retaining different generations OCCK maintains Training In-Service Outlines that track the type of training (e.g., "Performance Appraisals and Feedback") , the instructor, summary description of the training, how the in-service training supports the philosophy and mission of OCCK, objectives of the training (see example objectives below)
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From page 176... ...
While many local manufacturing companies are laying off employees, OCCK is not. The company also performs exit interviews with all exiting employees and managers.
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To address their recruitment challenges, Palace Transit has: Partnered with other city departments (e.g., the police and fire departments) when participating in job fairs and career expos to increase their visibility to potential applicants and promote the transit system.
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Although the agency has not attended CTAA Expo for several years due to staffing issues, in the past they have found this to be a good training resource. Because the qualified applicant pool for transit managers in the Mitchell area is low, Palace Transit has begun to do more internal promotions for high potential employees with strong technical skills, but who often lack managerial skills.
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Transit System Profile Pee Dee Regional Transportation Authority (PDRTA) is located in Florence, South Carolina and is both a small urban and rural transit system.
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However, it utilizes a very extensive on- the-job training program for new transit managers and supervisors. This training covers all training that drivers receive, which is ADA orientation, defensive driving, accident handling, bio-hazard, and CPR/First Aid.
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Leadership positions can be filled by individuals without transit experience as long as they have strong leadership skills, a histor y of management experience, and a good work ethic. The PDRTA internal transportation specific on-the-job training program for newly hired managers and supervisors has been very effective and proves this point.
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From page 182... ...
Inez Colon (Director of Employment and Development) Transit System Profile Port Authority of Allegheny County is a body corporate and politically organized and existing to provide public transportation services in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
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From page 183... ...
Before any job vacancy is advertised, the job description associated with that vacancy is reviewed to ensure that it is up-to-date and accurate. The model that the Authority uses for screening resumes/applications is to match them against a spreadsheet of all job requirements taken from the applicable job description.
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From page 184... ...
Since the Port Authority utilizes an objective selection process based on minimum qualifications, and since job descriptions, depending upon position, speak to transit experience, successful candidates for management positions will either have a combination of strong transit and leadership backgrounds or strong non-transit technical skill and leadership backgrounds. Training and Development The Authority is piloting a 360 degree assessment process.
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From page 185... ...
The major challenge is retaining managers in the engineering and IT fields. Lessons Learned The CEO and HR leadership team recommend making extensive use of social networking and ads on websites to recruit for hard to fill jobs.
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From page 186... ...
The agency advertises job openings in newspapers state-wide, on its own website, through the North Dakota State Job Service, and through the Dakota Transit Association. It also advertises at vendor transit shows and annual state fairs.
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From page 187... ...
SBT does not have a formal mentorship or succession planning program, but the organizational culture encourages the cultivation of training and development opportunities. Retention SBT faces a serious retention challenge.
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From page 188... ...
The Executive Director suggested that past recruitment processes have been too lengthy (over 4 months) resulting in a potential loss of great talent who are "snatched up" by other firms.
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From page 189... ...
The system leverages community associations and financial support for training managers. In Oregon, the Ford Family Foundation puts resources into the development of leadership (leadership training is available yearly for free)
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From page 190... ...
190 Guidebook for Recruiting, Developing, and Retaining Transit Managers for Fixed-Route Bus and Paratransit Systems Retention The system has especially high turnover for one management job, the Bookkeeper. To address this issue, the Executive Director decided to recruit individuals for management jobs who currently have employment as opposed to those without a job.
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The Transfort General Manager completes a Job Analysis Questionnaire (JAQ) that provides the details of the position to be filled, and then City Human Resources develops a recruitment brochure and advertises in jointly agreed upon media.
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From page 192... ...
The City also offers basic leadership training in which attendance is voluntary or can be mandated by one's supervisor, and the curriculum is generic. Department heads and their supervisors within the City Government are formed into a group called the Leadership Link.
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The system provides transportation around campus, with about 85% of ridership comprised of students. The system also provides paratransit services for the disabled and the temporarily disabled (with doctor's note)
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Drug and Alcohol Training is obtained through the FTA. Managers are also provided tuition wavers to take any UMass class they can justify would be beneficial for professional development.
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In the past year, VRT has hired three managers. These managers were recruited from a newspaper advertisement, a transportation industry conference, and networking with another transportation company who was experiencing tough financial circumstances.
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From page 196... ...
196 Guidebook for Recruiting, Developing, and Retaining Transit Managers for Fixed-Route Bus and Paratransit Systems The first step of applicant screening is to determine whether the applicant will likely meet the job description's ability to perform essential functions (e.g., supervise assigned staff and ensure staff is trained in performing their duties) , education requirements (e.g., Bachelor's degree in Government, Planning, or Business Administration)
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From page 197... ...
Transit Case Studies 197 delivered in several chunks. TransitSCORE courses help participants develop skills in recruiting and training within their transit systems and skills to provide Safe, Courteous, On-time, Reliable, Excellent service.
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From page 198... ...
198 Guidebook for Recruiting, Developing, and Retaining Transit Managers for Fixed-Route Bus and Paratransit Systems Does manager have a current school bus endorsement?
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