FINAL REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE ON CLASSIFIED STAFFING

INTRODUCTION:

Under direction of the Superintendent/President, the District established the President’s Task Force on Classified Staffing. The purpose of this task force was to establish a systematic approach for effectively analyzing and determining the classified staffing needs in the District. The goal was to create "standards" or "indicators" to be used for assessing and evaluating the need to hire or replace classified staff in particular departments in the District.

The report that follows provides an overview of the recommendations, alternatives, and issues identified for further study by the Task Force on Classified Staffing:

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Members of the Task Force on Classified Staffing recommend the following:

(1) The District shall maintain the established Classified Staffing Committee, but perhaps change the designation of this committee from an ad-hoc committee to a President’s Advisory Committee. In this way, the committee shall be advisory in nature. Membership of the committee shall be reviewed, and if necessary, new members shall be appointed.

(2) Component Administrators will submit a "Staffing Request" form to request either a new position or a replacement position (see Attachment A).

  1. New positions, replacement positions with "material changes" (i.e., defined as substantial changes in duties, scope or reporting relationships) or replacement positions requiring new money will be reviewed by the Classified Staffing Committee and prioritized.
  2. Replacement positions with no "material changes" will still be forwarded to the Classified Staffing Committee for its information.
  3. The Classified Staffing Committee will meet as necessary to review and consider all Staffing Request forms. For new positions, replacement positions with material changes, or positions requiring new money, the Committee will be reviewing the forms in conjunction with, and taking into consideration, the Classified Staffing Indicators and Alternatives (see Attachment B).
  4. The Classified Staffing Committee will recommend to the Superintendent/ President those positions that the Committee believes should be filled in a "gross prioritization" (i.e., "High", "Medium" or "Low" priority).

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  5. The Superintendent/President will consider the priority listing of positions from the Classified Staffing Committee and he/she will make the final recommendations.
  6. The Superintendent/President will notify the Personnel department of his/her recommendations so that recruitment for the position(s) may begin.

ALTERNATIVES:

In addition to the process of review, and the use of a standardized set of indicators or standards by which the Committee will review and prioritize positions, the Task Force also "brain stormed" some alternatives to filling vacant positions. These alternatives are the following:

  1. CONTRACTED SERVICES FOR SELECTED EMPLOYEES

    2. Contracting to outside agencies when justifiable as an alternative to regular staffing.

  2. ALTERNATIVE SCHEDULES

    3. Consider whether workload can be accomplished at other times, such as starting at 7:00 a.m. or ending at 6:00 p.m.

  3. HYBRID POSITIONS/POOLS

    4. Consider "hybrid/floater" pools of qualified staff who would rotate to existing vacancies throughout campus. Employees would be trained and qualified for a variety of jobs.

  4. TELECOMMUTING

 

CONCLUSION AND ISSUES FOR FURTHER STUDY:

Although the Task Force on Classified Staffing does believe that its objectives have been accomplished, some additional action plans and suggestions are respectfully submitted for further consideration:

Selected classified staff have committed to developing a model that will consider how a "hybrid/floater" pool of trained and qualified employees may actually be implemented. Recommendations will be forthcoming and will be submitted to the Director of Personnel for further consideration.

This Task Force would also like to explore the feasibility of being able to establish ratios for classified staff that would be deemed "optimal" and "minimal" for specific departments or work units throughout the District. A suggestion has been made to discuss this item

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with the Component Administrator and classified staff of a specific department since these individuals are assumed to have the knowledge regarding whether the department is "overstaffed" or "understaffed."