Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the Transportation Workforce: Transportation Planners (2021)

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58 The previous chapters have described some of the challenges facing transportation agen- cies in attracting, professionally developing, and retaining planning staff. The Tool developed as part of this research allows transportation officials to define the KSAs desired for the staff. However, establishing a desired staff capability in an agency requires more than just knowing what competencies are desired. An agency can attract some of the most accomplished and effective staff members to its planning unit, but if it cannot retain them it will find itself in a cycle of constantly seeking to replace talented staff (especially at the mid-levels of respon- sibility). Thus, a talent management process consists of more than just identifying what is desired as part of a planning staff. One must also ask what can be done to attract and keep such capabilities in the agency, as well as to provide professional development opportunities for existing staff. This chapter is organized around four major phases of an agency’s talent management process. • Talent Strategy: A talent strategy reflects the overall agency philosophy in managing talent, including recruitment, professional development, and retention. This reflects how jobs are described; how the supervision and management structure is defined; the types of KSAs that are desired by the agency; assumed motivation of agency employees; and the like. • Recruitment: Recruitment strategies consist of the marketing, outreach, and messaging asso- ciated with attracting new employees to the agency. • Professional Development: Professional development strategies enhance the technical and interpersonal capabilities of existing staff, and provide career paths for advancement. • Retention: Retention strategies focus on motivating staff to remain in the agency. This could include salary incentives, recognition for achievement, and efforts to make the office environ- ment more conducive to today’s personal and interpersonal needs. The research identified strategies for each of these areas through the literature search, sur- veys, interviews, focus group, and pilot studies. Table 18 shows the types of strategies that can be included in each category. Note that the table includes a traditional approach for the actions to adopt and implement a talent strategy, and a future-oriented approach, one that reflects the results of this research. This classification is not intended to indicate that a traditional approach is incorrect or ineffective. As noted in the previous chapter, many agencies are con- strained by civil service and, if present, union requirements in terms of talent management and thus are likely unable to adopt some of the future-oriented strategies. The intent of the table is simply to highlight the types of strategies that reflect the types of changes experienced in the transportation field and in the new labor force. Although an agency might not be able C H A P T E R 6 Recruitment, Professional Development, and Retention Strategies for a Dynamic Work Environment

Recruitment, Professional Development, and Retention Strategies for a Dynamic Work Environment 59   TA LE N T ST R AT EG Y • Enable diverse leadership • Promotion based on civil serviceexams • Seek diverse supervisors and managers • Provide leadership training and professional development opportunities for all employees but with diversity being a major consideration • Identify emerging knowledge area needs • Conventional planning competencies • Consider emerging issues (perhaps as defined in the tool) as guide to identifying desired KSAs • Recognize staff number limitations in determining staff expertise • Practice-driven • Seek multidisciplinary capabilities (reducing staffing needs), anticipatechanges in emphasis • Identify level of needed talent access/availability • Desire for all talent to be full-time on staff • Define “core” talent needed in-house vs use of external (consultant) to maintain talent availability flexibility • Assess availability/competitiveness of talent (can agency get access to specialized talent via consultant) Note: “management of consultants” is a special skill needed. • Consider part-time staffing for specialists • Identify credentials required • Emphasis on degrees andregistrations/certifications • Emphasize issue-specific relevant experience • Establish when some certifications are really needed. Some planning positions require a professional certification that is a barrier to some planners who are qualified, but who do not have it because of cost or other factors. Consider supporting obtaining (and maintaining) the credential if it is important to the agency. • Eliminate certain irrelevant requirements that establish ceiling on career opportunities (i.e., PEs required for advancement) • Identify skills & abilities (S&A) emphasis • Standard S&A by grade level – not position-specific • Consider special skills: client communications, cultural competency • Recognize explicitly the need for experienced/relevant senior managers (may not need precise knowledge background) • Incorporate cultural awareness into KSAs • Lack of focus on diverse client community cultures • Recognize need to develop talent that reflects culture related to specific planning issues/clients. This needs to be a part of onboarding and a continuous part of training and development • Implement diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies • Most agencies have Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) requirements/some have DEI policies • Implement a stated policy with ongoing training and measurable goals and objectives that emphasize diversity and inclusiveness at ALL levels. • Accommodate background differences in day-to-day work environment • Develop staffing profile that reflects community • Recognize that recruitment is not for life career • Assumption of job for career life • Recognize position may not be for career life – but for various roles in sector (millennial work orientation) and turnover is “normal” (adjust career management appropriately) • Accommodate desires/ characteristics of current and emerging employees • Staff orientation built around baby boomer values • Recognize staff orientation toward technology, flexibility, social commitment, while at the same time recognizing the need for training and professional development opportunities for older staff R EC R U IT M EN T • Insure planning input to overall recruitment process • Often managed by HR • Involve senior planning champion in recruitment process • Improve visibility of opportunities • Job fairs • Contact via schools • Consider millennial and Gen Z common communication strategies relating to social media • Utilize job boards • Partner with HBCUs, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACUs), and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) • Partner with minority-serving organizations • Events in the community, for example, sponsored events – festivals, races, community fairs, charity events. Let potential employees see the agency other than when explicitly recruiting for a job. • Better public information about projects, especially those that would appeal to millennials and Gen Z, e.g., Complete streets, public transportation, integrated mobility, etc. • Expand recruitment pool • Recent grads • Other planning entities • Reach out to other entities – industry, military, academia • Consider part-time retirees for access to experience • Clarify mission focus to appeal to recruit pool • Emphasizes standard agency roles, activities • Emphasize social relevance; changing issue orientation • Clarify mission to respond to recruit pool values/interests • Portray agency in dealing with societal issues • Improve clarity of career opportunities offered • Traditional (constrained by civil service) job descriptions • Standard staff level ladder • Develop Issue-related job descriptions emphasizing flexibility • Clarify career ladder within planning and within agency (outside planning) • Provide rotational assignments PHASE PROCESS ACTIONS (Indexed to QRG in Appendix C) TRADITIONAL FUTURE-ORIENTED Table 18. Talent, recruitment, development, and retention strategies. (continued on next page)

60 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the Transportation Workforce: Transportation Planners PHASE PROCESS ACTIONS (Indexed to QRG in Appendix C) TRADITIONAL FUTURE-ORIENTED • Develop opportunities for flexible and continual relationships with employee “source” organizations • Limited • Establish Internships and offer potential career track • Utilize temporary hires • Build on relationships with staff from supporting university research entities • Improve and make relevant/attractive conditions of employment • Emphasis on stability • Emphasis on benefits • Recognize priorities/values of staff including millennials/Gen Z • Improve home-work life balance • Expand opportunities to working from home, virtual comms • Increase working hours flexibility • Provide latest technology for remote working • Identify benefits package tailored to recruits • Standard package • Provide support for student loan payoffs, maternity/paternity leave. Medical insurance • Provide tuition reimbursement • Financial support for professional development and credentials • Improve attractiveness of career opportunities to diverse candidates • No diversity goals • Ensure diversity in recruitment staff and interview panel • Develop effective and recruit- friendly onboarding • Standard HR/civil service intake process • Organize introduction/emersion to agency, unit, programs • Incorporate DEI training into initial professional exposure PR O FE SS IO N AL D EV EL O PM EN T • Provide relevant training • Training managed by HR • Limited relevant resources in- house • Provide guidance to knowledge area-specific external sources and granting of time and funds to support • Utilize cross-training to improve professional competency and staffing flexibility • Support external training • Establish mentoring program with peer agencies • Support professional development • Limited time or financial support • Support external professional participation/interaction (committees, associations, and the like) • Provide financial support for professional association membership • Provide time-off for academic advancement • Provide expanded career tracks • Constrained tracks • Orient training explicitly or improve planners’ opportunities to rise in the agency to non-planning positions, for example, rotation to other units • Remove credential constraints in career tracks (vertical and diagonal) • Conduct explicit succession planning (considering civil service constraints) • Provide rotation opportunities to other business units to improve potential upward mobility • Develop opportunities for staff sharing as between DOTs, MPOs, private sector • Develop career management process • Increasing levels of responsibility consistent with turn over civil service steps • Annual job reviews • Ensure managers are knowledgeable and transparent about employee development process • Develop specific individual development plans • Provide guidance in real time • Guidance limited to annual performance reviews • Provide staff member mentorship • Provide staff member sponsorship • Provide regular coaching • Insure regular feedback • Utilize performance measurement • Annual job reviews • Develop employee-specific explicit goals and tracking • Provide counseling re performance • Measure and report progress • Hold managers responsible for staff performance management R ET EN TI O N • Develop competitive compensation • Salary incentives • Increasing levels of responsibility • Conduct industry-related compensation studies • Emphasize unique opportunities for leadership, contribution, community involvement • Recognize contributions • Lack of formal or narrowly defined programs at business unit level • Establish individual achievement awards • Recognition for special achievements immediately on ad hoc basis • Institutionalize team/agency milestone (project completion) recognition/achievement awards • Improve work context/environment • Staff office presence requirements for oversight (agency, state law) • Standard office space (cubicles) • Accommodate flexible work habits • Recognize post-COVID-19 habits/values change from pre-COVID-19 • Provide flexibility for working at home • Allow flexible hours • Establish virtual team/management mechanisms • Reorganize office space for use needs in new virtual work context Table 18. (Continued).

Recruitment, Professional Development, and Retention Strategies for a Dynamic Work Environment 61   to adopt a particular future-oriented strategy indicated in the table, it might be able to iden- tify actions that would accomplish the same outcomes while satisfying any human resource requirements. Each of the phases in a talent management process is described in more detail. 6.1 Talent Management Strategy Every agency has a talent management strategy, whether explicitly stated and written in agency directives or implicit in how the agency actually attracts and develops its staff. Some of the tra- ditional assumptions of an agency’s talent management strategy include: (1) an emphasis on con- ventional planning competencies (e.g., demand forecasting, plan making, and the like); (2) staff will be full-time; (3) staff will work from an office site; (4) positions are defined by common char- acteristics of level or grade; and (5) the customers of the agency’s services are assumed to be key stakeholders and elected officials. The traditional approach also implicitly assumes the work values of those who established the human resource process often many years in the past. A future-oriented perspective for a talent management strategy should explicitly consider the types of external and internal forces that will influence agency activities over the next decade. In this context, the Tool is aimed at allowing agency officials to assess its own staff capability needs and to determine where gaps exist. The actions indicated in Table 18 for the Talent Strategy phase are similar to the steps in using the Tool to determine emerging KSAs, required creden- tials, and capability gaps in current staffing. However, based on this research this phase also includes actions often not found in a talent management strategy. This includes actions such as emphasizing cultural awareness in desired KSAs; implementing DEI policies; and preparing for a staff longevity that will be very different from the long-time career paths followed by previous generations. In particular, this research has concluded there is an important need to consider emerging societal and community issues as a guide for identifying desired KSAs among a planning staff. This often emphasizes multidisciplinary capabilities and a determination of a core in-house talent versus use of external resources (consultants) to maintain talent availability and flexibility. This core talent could, however, be augmented with consultants or part-time staffing, especially as their expertise relates to targeted issues. Several issues were raised in this research about agency standard operating procedures for position credentialing and desired skills among the planning staff. For example, several interview respondents suggested that some professional position certifications are not really needed, or if needed, the process of acquiring them (including cost and a requirement for annual continuing professional development units) is prohibitive for some staff. For example, several questioned some DOT requirements for a professional engineer holding the director of planning position. Many found that the technical capabilities of new and existing staff have improved in recent years. However, there is a concern that nontechnical capabilities have waned in comparison, including communication skills, cultural competency, and understanding policy and decision- making. There was also a strong recommendation from all of the individuals and groups contacted for this project that the planning staff should reflect the characteristics of the society they serve. 6.2 Recruitment The recruitment process provides the agency with qualified and capable employees that will take the place of those retiring or who will fill new positions. Although the recruitment literature often focuses on new and young employees, the survey undertaken for this project suggested

62 Attracting, Retaining, and Developing the Transportation Workforce: Transportation Planners that new planners are often transfers from other units in the agency or are individuals looking to begin a new career. In these cases, the portion of Table 18 most relevant is the Development phase. With respect to new employees, typical actions in recruitment include: (1) an agency manager defining the types of responsibilities associated with a position; (2) reaching out in a variety of ways to identify potential employee candidates; (3) refining the message that would appeal to those being recruited; (4) establishing relationships with the organizations such as universities that act as a source for new employees; and (5) working with human resources to establish attractive conditions of employment. One of the more successful state DOT recruitment strategies has been establishing relation- ships with colleges and universities. This has often included having a presence at job fairs, pre- senting lectures in classes, and targeted interviews with students identified by faculty members. However, according to many interviewed for this research, state DOT’s recruitment efforts via the university relationships can also suffer from DOT marketing material that often portrays the agency in traditional and standard ways (“we build highways”). On the positive side, and which reflects the findings of the literature review and surveys of young professionals, the marketing often emphasizes job stability and health benefits. A recruitment process that reflects a changing society would: 1. Include planners in recruitment activities; 2. Explicitly consider millennial and Gen Z communication preferences when developing a recruitment strategy (e.g., using social media); 3. Emphasize outreach to minority-serving educational organizations; 4. Participate in community events outside of the normal recruitment process to enhance the image of the transportation agency, which includes providing better public information about projects and their benefits to society; 5. Develop and market a career ladder that shows job stability; 6. Emphasize work–life balance and work hours flexibility; 7. Support professional development efforts; and 8. Create and market a work environment that is sensitive to cultural diversity. 6.3 Professional Development As used in this research, professional development consists of those actions to improve an indi- vidual’s technical skills, strengthen personal and interpersonal abilities, and enhance cultural sen- sitivities in the work environment. The traditional approach to professional development relies on training courses. Prior to COVID-19 training was mostly done in-person, but with COVID-19 these opportunities are now offered on-line. Many courses are offered by universities, profes- sional organizations (for example, the APA), and by training institutes (for example, the National Highway Institute (NHI)). Training is often managed in an agency by the HR department, which often faces constrained budgets. The courses, which tend to focus on improving technical skills, are often reflected in annual job performance reviews. A future-oriented professional development strategy would: 1. Include well-defined planner career ladders; 2. Provide staff with opportunities to develop individual career development plans; 3. Provide staff performance assessments that reflect the career development plans; 4. Reflect an understanding of life-long learning; 5. Recognize that staff capabilities are a critically important resource to an agency and thus worthy of investment; 6. Include knowledge areas that are new or soon-to-be-new;

Recruitment, Professional Development, and Retention Strategies for a Dynamic Work Environment 63   7. Incorporate cross-agency training and staff sharing with other agencies or disciplinary areas; 8. Include staff mentoring in order to transfer institutional knowledge to young planners; and 9. Provide financial support for staff participation/interaction with professional organizations. 6.4 Retention Retention strategies reflect actions exceeding the efforts undertaken in professional develop- ment in order to provide a welcoming and productive work environment. Traditional retention strategies have included providing salary incentives (if possible), enhancing the responsibilities of an individual’s position, and providing standardized work environments (e.g., cubicles). Respondents to the survey and interviews indicated that, especially for mid-level supervisors, salary compensation is often an issue in retaining staff. However, the respondents noted that there is often not much an agency can do about this given governmental salary scales. COVID-19, as well as the work habits of millennials and Gen-Zers, suggest that a very structured office-style work environment is not a great incentive to stay long-term in an agency. A future- oriented retention strategy would: 1. Establish a planner career path for upward mobility; 2. Conduct industry-related compensation studies to make the case for salary adjustments (again if allowed); 3. Emphasize unique opportunities for leadership, contribution, and community involvement as part of a job; 4. Promote cultural diversity awareness in the agency (if an employee feels uncomfortable in this environment, the chances of leaving are greatly increased); 5. Establish individual achievement awards and recognize special achievements immediately or on an ad hoc basis; 6. Accommodate flexible work styles especially encouraging a work–life balance; and 7. Reorganize office space for a virtual work context. 6.5 Summary The talent management strategy consisting of recruitment, professional development, and retention leads to actions that an agency can consider to enhance its planning staff capabilities. This information can be combined with strategies to improve the talent management process to provide an overall agency guide on how to improve all components of this process. This latter process is based on the strategies presented in Table 18. The QRG does exactly this. The QRG includes instructions on how to use the Tool to assess staffing needs and develop strategies to improve this capability, along with an agency talent management assessment approach to improve the talent management process itself. The next chapter describes how the QRG can be used for both purposes.