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Home My WebLink About22 - Staffing Issues Administrative ServicesOctober 25, 1999 CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH Agenda Item No. 22 O ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DEPARTMENT Resource Management - Fiscal Services - Revenue • Accounting • Management Information Services October 25, 1999 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL From: Homer Bludau, City Manager Dennis Danner, Administrative Services Director SUBJECT: STAFFING ISSUES EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Some of the measures taken to curtail costs in response to the fiscal crunch of the mid nineties included the elimination of full -time positions, as well as the conversion of other full -time positions to part-time status. To a certain extent it was healthy for the organization to become leaner at the time. However, at this point certain functional areas, especially in the Revenue and O Fiscal Services Divisions, have become strained by excessive turnovers and inadequate staffing. The two part time Fiscal Clerks in the Revenue Division have turned over thirteen times in the past four years. The nature of the work is such that several weeks of intensive training are required before a new employee begins to be productive. This training must be provided by other members of the division. The adverse impact on functionality has therefore become counterproductive, and it is likely to get worse. Our goal is to avoid reductions in service levels except as a last resort, but we are at the point where that is happening to some extent. Some of the indicators of this are increased errors, slower responses, and more and more things that should be looked into just not getting done. Telephones sometime ring too long and customers are put on initial hold routinely. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that the City's billing functions, many of which were previously spread throughout the organization, have been consolidated within the Revenue Division, with no increase in staffing. The situation is much the same in the Fiscal Services Division of the Department where almost all of the City's incoming revenue is received, deposited, and posted to our accounting system. In order to stabilize fiscal clerk turnover and mitigate related problems, we recommend the following actions now: • Convert the two part-time positions (in reality each working 40 hours per week) in the Revenue Division to two full -time positions. 0 Staffing Issues Page 2 • Convert three (of five total) part-time positions in the Fiscal Services Division into two full -time positions (and maintain two of the three part-time positions). The two is remaining part time employees can still be used effectively to augment the regular work force. Because of salary savings in other areas, no additional appropriation will be required to implement these actions this year. With all directly applicable expenses considered (including; the elimination of one part-time position), the ongoing cost will be approximately $9,600 annually. At the City Council's request, a separate report is being submitted on the subject of long -tern financial projections and potential revenue initiatives. Depending on the Council's direction in that regard, there may be other issues concerning the structure of the full -time work force in the Revenue Division to be dealt with at that time. BACKGROUND: During the budget crunch of the mid nineties, over 100 City positions were eliminated. Less publicized is the fact that a number of other positions were converted from full -time to part-time: as part of that same effort to reduce costs. Although that strategy worked to the extent that it helped us to keep getting the essential tasks completed during difficult times, we found that its applicability definitely has limits. There are some types of positions that are well suited to conversion (such as cashiers), but most are not. In Administrative Services, we converted several Fiscal Clerk positions in the Revenue and Fiscal Services Divisions that were not well suited for this conversion. There is an additional strain on management, especially mid -level management, in dealing . with the modified staffing structure, since supervising and coverage of part time staffers is often more intense than full time employees. Ironically, it is mid -level management that. also generally takes the brunt of staff reductions when downsizing happens in most organizations. Thus, there is less time to supervise these part time employees. When the economy is bad and jobs are more scarce, finding quality employees to take part- time jobs is not a problem. Even then, most are looking for full -time work instead. Turnovers are more common, and as soon as the economy picks up, turnovers become very common. Remaining employees end up working more and more hours during transitions, and a great deal of effort is expended in training new employees. Our best estimate is that one -fourth of the time of the Fiscal Operations Specialist in the Revenue Division is spent training new employees. Recruiting part-time and/or temporary employees has become difficult and more expensive. There remains a pool of individuals who would like to work a few hours a week strictly in an income supplement role, and we do make use of them in some positions. However, Staffing Issues Page 3 O much of the work that has been assigned to temporary employees is not appropriate to their skills or limited availability. Traditionally, most individuals who apply for part-time work with the City are doing so as an interim step to finding full -time employment, either with us or somewhere else, and they end up being very transitory. • Part-time employees who do stay with the City end up working more and more hours to cover for those that are leaving, and their total hours start approaching or matching the hours worked by full -time employees. As a result, the organization has developed a cadre of employees who are doing the same work, for nearly the same hours, as regular full -time employees, but they don't receive the same benefits. We now have four "part- time" employees in Administrative Services (two in Revenue and two in Fiscal Services) who are working a full forty-hour schedule and have been doing so for some time. • Because of PERS rules regarding hours worked, most part-time employees end up in PERS anyway, so savings on retirement program costs is minimal. • As a result of these factors, both morale and quality of performance - which frequently involves public contact for these positions - suffer. • One of the "part- time" Fiscal Clerks in the Fiscal Services Division recommended for conversion to full -time status has worked for the City over 10 years - at 40 hours per week. The cost of converting this individual to full -time status would be minimal. The situation now is different than it was when this program was started. Increased use of part- time employees was an effective management strategy at the time, but at this point the problems experienced by the organization outweigh the remaining cost savings. Our customer service is suffering as a result. NEW INITIATIVES: New initiatives were undertaken during the past few years, and more are contemplated. A comprehensive review of City fees and an all -new,, comprehensive annual Fee Resolution was developed and implemented. In addition, the City's diverse billing functions were consolidated within the Revenue Division. These actions were overdue for the organization, and the long- term result will be better performance. Overall revenue collection, as well as more uniform applicability of City- Council policy will be enhanced by the consolidation. However, no additional staff was added when these consolidations took place (in fact, this happened when staff was being converted to part- time). The full potential of these improvements has not yet been realized. At the City Council's request, a detailed five -year financial forecast has been prepared. That report is being submitted separately. Among several other things, the report recommends that the City Council consider some specific actions to enhance revenues. Administrative Services will have the responsibility to implement any changes directed by the City Council. Staffing Issues Page 4 RECOMMENDATION: Although there is still a need for part-time employees to supplement the full -time work force in Administrative Services, four of the current part-time positions should be converted back to full- time status (with the elimination of one part-time position in the Fiscal Services Division). The: annual cost of this action will be approximately $9,600. Both the City Manager and Director of Administrative Services feel that our Revenue Division is not a place within the organization that we want instability, on -going training issues, and inexperienced employees. 0 0