What’s next for personnel reform?

April 8, 2005

For the last three years, the state has been racing to prepare for implementing the 2002 Personnel System Reform Act. Now the home stretch is in sight, with just three months left until the July 1 effective date.

Will the state be ready for the dramatic changes that are coming? Yes. But there is still a lot of work to be done in the next three months for the transition to go smoothly.

Most elements are in place

The bargaining agreements for union-represented employees have been ratified, and all but a few of the new rules for non-represented employees have been adopted.

Extensive training on both master agreements and rules is underway. Training for human resource professionals is nearly complete, and manager training has begun.

The rules and processes for competitive contracting also are in place.

Key element lagging behind

As we’ve reported in recent newsletters, implementation of the new Human Resource Management System (HRMS) has been delayed. This means that the new computer system will not be in place to implement the changes on July 1.

Instead, the Department of Personnel (DOP) will use the existing personnel/payroll system (PAY1) and some temporary work-around procedures to support the new rules and contracts until the HRMS is in place.

Considerable work has been done in the last two months to modify the PAY1 system to accommodate reform changes and to prepare alternate processes (including some manual work) to be ready for July 1.

Still work to be done

The focus for the next three months will be on cleaning up final details and preparing agencies, managers and employees for the coming changes.

Following are some of the activities that you can expect to see in the next several months:

• Agencies are reviewing their internal policies and procedures and will modify them as needed to support the new rules and provisions of the bargaining agreements.
• The first group of classification changes takes effect June 1. Agencies will send letters notifying affected employees of the change.
• Work continues on the next round of classification changes.
• Remaining rule topics are under discussion and drafts will be coming out soon.
  Topics include: drug/alcohol testing, background checks, temporary layoff, seniority for higher education employees, what constitutes a break in service, seasonal employment, movement between the Washington Management Service and Washington General Service, and some housekeeping changes.
• Training on the new master agreements and the new rules will continue. Current training targets managers and human resource professionals.
• Training for employees will mostly take place at the agency level. DOP will offer some general overview sessions for non-represented employees in June and July.
• Work on the existing payroll computer system will continue. DOP staff is developing services within the current system to support hiring requirements under the new rules and contract provisions.

Progress on all of these tasks is being monitored closely, and everything is on track to implement the changes on July 1. Thanks to the many people responsible for getting agencies ready to make this exciting transition.