The Hiring Process in the City and County of San Francisco

Recommendations 21

• R1
  CSC and DHR should identify and prioritize those changes that can speed the hiring process through CSC's rule-making authority, since a charter amendment has removed previous restrictions on CSC to act independently. Department of Human Resources The new DHR administers personnel functions for the City's approximately 27,000 employees, who work in 60 departments and include non-teaching employees in the San Francisco Unified School District and Community College District. Personnel costs constitute about 70% of the City's budget. DHR is headed by a director with a staff of approximately 200, who administer not only employment functions but also labor relations, health and safety mandates and the City's Workers' Compensation program.
• R2
  DHR should develop generic tests for comparable office and clerk jobs, such as clerks, secretaries, computer specialists and accountants.
• R3
  CSC and DHR should streamline the open job application appeals process.
• R4
  The City should develop a blueprint for future labor contracts to take into account the changing needs of the workforce and to provide uniform treatment of employees in similar occupational groupings.
• R5
  The City should establish a separate budget for the development, implementation and operation of a citywide personnel information system that can support labor contract negotiations and personnel policy administration. Major recommendations which would require union cooperation:
• R6
  DHR should prepare a simple handbook to detail roles and responsibilities in the hiring process. Some departments are trying to perform personnel functions in which they have insufficient expertise or training. Others do not have a full understanding of the various steps in the hiring process. The Hiring Process Types of Positions: With certain exceptions specified in the charter, City positions are obtained by merit through competitive examinations, usually administered by the DHR. This is known as the merit system. With the exception of exempt and provisional employees, full-time and part-time employees are selected through the regular merit system process. They are granted all rights and protection provided by the City's Civil Service System. A provisional appointment is a hiring expedient which permits an individual to be hired temporarily based on less stringent qualification standards. This usually occurs because an official test has not been developed, an examination has not been scheduled or potential appointees on existing eligible lists have indicated no interest in temporary employment. Provisional appointments are comparable to regular competitive appointments in every respect except the appointees have not taken the official tests for the positions. At a future date, these employees must either pass the official examination and be competitively eligible for selection or their employment will have to be terminated. An exempt appointment is non-competitive. The charter designates these positions and allows the mayor, the Board of Supervisors or department heads to fill these openings. Filling a job vacancy or vacancies in a job classification consists of several steps. In collaboration with the department that has the vacancy, DHR staff members will fill the job as follows: (See
• R7
  DHR should review the examination process for the purpose of developing testing that is more generic. It may not be necessary to develop individual tests for many occupations. Generic tests would allow job applicants to become eligible for City jobs with similar requirements by taking a single examination rather than multiple exams. Comment: Few occupations in the federal government require written examinations. The elements used to determine qualifications and ranking include education, experience and other knowledge, skills, and ability (KSA) factors that are based on individual job requirements. The federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) requires a written examination only for clerical jobs. It fills entry-level positions in a wide range of administrative, technical and professional occupations without requiring a written examination. The process used is called Administrative Career With America (ACWA). ACWA has been tested and validated. Since it replaced a written test that was successfully challenged in a lawsuit, it also had to receive court approval.
• R8
  DHR should both monitor and limit the use of provisional hiring and establish realistic time frames for its duration. Provisional status is not fair to the department, which may lose a trained and valued employee, or to the employee, who risks losing a job.
• R9
  The CSC and DHR should review the appeals process and determine how it can be streamlined without compromising due process. In some situations, it may be feasible to build in specific remedies for a successful appeal while allowing a job to be filled without delay.
• R10
  The Mayor's Office should consider allowing some requisitions for positions that have received prior budget approval to bypass further review. Budgetary control for these positions could be monitored at the controller's clearance point and through the automated financial system (ON-LINE FAMIS). The Mayor's Office could then concentrate its attention on positions where an in-depth review of continuing need is most critical.
• R11
  The CSC and DHR should use technology to simplify the hiring process. (This area is discussed in more detail below under Information Technology.) Collective Bargaining Federal statutes, the California Labor Code, the City Charter, and the Employee Relations Ordinance govern labor relations in the City. Recent charter amendments (described above) greatly enlarged the number of personnel areas subject to collective bargaining. The City's unusually large number of employee organization units and contracts makes administering these charter amendments particularly complex. The City has over 100 bargaining units and sub- units, and 58 contracts with unions covering these units. The number of units continues to grow, with four more added in just this past year. Los Angeles County, with a workforce almost three times larger than of San Francisco's, has fewer than 20 units. The labor relations function resides with DHR's Employee Relations Division (ERD). The City Attorney's office acts as legal advisor in the collective bargaining process. It reviews and approves the legal aspects of contracts and ensures that matters reserved to the CSC, such as examination and appointments, are not included. The City Attorney's office also represents the City in both interest and grievance arbitration proceedings. Staff members of ERD and various City departments form the City's negotiating team. As in the past, the City contracts with private labor attorneys to lead some of the negotiations. The rationale is that this is a more costeffective approach for a cyclical workload. The cost of outside consultants for FY 1996-97 is projected to be between $500,000 and $600,000. The Civil Grand Jury reviewed collective bargaining with City representatives to determine their view of its current and future impact on the hiring process. The Grand Jury did not interview union representatives. It acknowledges the essential and vital role of the City's employee organizations in representing the interests of their members.
• R12
  The City should pursue long-term strategic planning, as is done in the private sector, on what kind of compensation package would best serve the employees and the City. This information should be shared with the City's unions and other employee organizations.
• R13
  The City should immediately increase the staffing level of ERD. This will improve the ability of ERD to successfully implement Propositions B and F, which promise "a fair, impartial and fiscally responsible way to determine wages, health benefits and working conditions for City employees."
• R14
  The City, in collaboration with its unions, should initiate a study on the impact of collective bargaining on the City's resources and its future. The study should identify ways to streamline the process of labor relations to ensure equitable treatment of City employees and to provide for ease in administration.
• R15
  The City should initiate discussions with the unions in order to determine whether certain working conditions and benefits of employment should be uniform in all contracts. They might, for example, want to consider that vacation, sick leave, leaves of absence, retirement, Workers' Compensation, holidays, and premium pay differentials for the same work should be uniform. These elements are examples and are not intended to be an all-inclusive listing of such working conditions and benefits of employment which should be covered by uniform provisions throughout the numerous employer contracts.
• R16
  The City should pursue a long-term goal of encouraging employee organizations to merge their bargaining units.
• R17
  The CSC and DHR should identify areas that are fundamental to the merit system, and ensure that candidates for City jobs will be treated uniformly in a fair and equitable manner in the labor relations process. Information Technology The City's dismal lack of a centralized, comprehensive and accurate Human Resources System is not a new issue. In 1995, the Controller's Office engaged an independent consultant, KPMG Peat Marwick, to conduct a citywide study on information technology. A report issued in June, 1996 listed a Human Resources System as one of three highest-priority projects. Former Mayor Jordan in his "Seven-Year Strategic Budget Plan," presented in 1995, highlighted a need for a citywide Human Resources Information System. The Plan projected that such a system could save the City approximately $5.2 million for the FY 1996/97, with a potential savings of $17 million over three years. The 1995-96 San Francisco Grand Jury conducted a comprehensive study of information technology and found that the City had failed to craft a citywide master plan for information technology. The report presented a number of recommendations to the City on instituting the necessary changes to correct current deficiencies and modernizing its computer systems.
• R18
  The City should set aside a separate budget allocation strictly for technology to accelerate the development and implementation of an automated personnel system. The current archaic system has been a serious drain on the City's time and resources. Personnel services affect the delivery of services in all of the departments, and funds invested in a personnel system will benefit the City well into the next century.
• R19
  The DHR in conjunction with the Controller's office should link up payroll with the personnel system during the design period. An interface between these two major functions would lessen the opportunity for fraud and abuse.
• R20
  The DHR should contact or visit other governmental agencies or private companies which have automated personnel systems to determine if hardware or software could be shared. It could also learn from their problems and successes.
• R21
  Similarly, the Mayor's Office and the Board of Supervisors should conduct on-site visits to organizations that have used and applied technology successfully. This experience would aid them in deliberations on budget decisions involving information technology. REQUESTED RESPONSES Office of the Mayor Board of Supervisors Civil Service Commission Department of Human Resources Office of the Controller Office of the City Attorney Office of Telecommunication and Information Services (for Information Systems Division) DIRECTORY -