1 Session 1: Identifying Retirement Risk and Assessing Future Needs

2 Session Goals/Outcomes  We’ll begin by going over a few basic concepts regarding workforce and succession planning  Most of today’s session will then be an applied workshop  A brief overview will be provided of this session’s exercise and a model will be provided  Then, with data relevant to your unit, you will create a profile of your unit’s strengths, challenges, and current or impending knowledge gaps

3  So what does “workforce and succession planning” mean to you?

4 Workforce Planning Defined  A systematic process for identifying the human resources required to meet organizational goals and developing strategies to meet those requirements.  It defines the activities necessary to have "the right people with the right skills in the right place at the right time.”

5 Succession Planning Defined  Anticipating gaps and losses and the grooming of an organization’s future supervisory and management personnel  Succession planning is generally considered to be a strategy within workforce planning

6 The Workforce Planning Ideal  In order to develop and have an effective and implementable workforce/succession plan, we must identify what core competencies OTech staff have now and determine the requisite skills needed in the future to meet the Department's overall mission and goals.  Good succession planning is not just looking at who's next in line, but allows for coaching staff early in their careers to aide in determining what kind of training they need to become successful leaders, technicians, and/or analysts

7 Why Care About Workforce Planning?  The Baby Boomers are retiring--for the next 18 years, 10,000 Boomers per day will reach retirement age  OTech has suffered a high rate of turnover due to various factors (average rate of 5- 10% annually)  Knowledge transfer is going to be critical if OTech is to maintain current systems efficiently (and make your own lives easier when it comes to training new staff)

8 Why Care About Workforce Planning?  While we have gained some displaced folks as a result of the economic downturn in the private sector, these people may leave for better pay and less bureaucracy as the economy improves  We are also competing with other state agencies for the same talent pool  Rookies can’t run the world, much less perform the more complex functions required to run this Department

9 Why Should You Create a Profile?  Creating a unit profile will help you identify your risk potential for workforce planning issues now or in the future (or it may affirm that you don’t have any pressing issues at all)  Doing so will help you know how to apply viable remedies so critical knowledge gaps do not exist, creating less hassle later (such as avoiding a meltdown if any one person vacates a position)

10 Why Should You Create a Profile?  Even though you may have this information in your head, it is still valuable to document it in writing—it will provide you with a big picture overview of your unit you might not have considered before

11 Today’s Exercise  You will be provided with a template identifying your staff and their “risk profile” as being red, yellow, green, or blue  Red = employee is 55 or older with 20 years or more of state service  Yellow = employee is years old with 15 years or more of state service  Green = employee is less than 50 years old with less than 15 years of state service  Blue = employee is 50 or older with less than five years or state service  Some of you may have staff who are a hybrid, such as staff who are under 50 with more than 20 years of state service (green/red)

12 Today’s Exercise Con’t  Individually, you will be asked to assess your staffs’ knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs)  KSAs are basically defined as the following: Knowledge = refers to the level of education, experience, and training an individual possesses

13 Today’s Exercise Con’t  KSAs Con’t Skills = refer to observable, measurable, capabilities required in the execution of a job or task. Think of “what” tasks are expected within a job (i.e. write processes and procedures, perform networking tasks, use specific hardware or software, etc.) Abilities = the quality of being able to do something. Often, these tend to refer to soft skills (i.e. the ability to multi-task, meet deadlines, provide good customer service, problem solve, etc.)

14 Today’s Exercise Con’t  Please list what are the most valuable KSAs each staff possesses  If your unit/section is very large, focus mainly on your red, red/yellow, and yellow staff in today’s session  If your unit/section is small, please focus on all your staff as well as any vacancies you have in your unit  In addition, please list what KSAs provide the biggest or most common challenges for your staff

15 Today’s Exercise Con’t  Consider the following as potential challenges: Areas within which staff are weak or inexperienced Any personality issues staff possess that have adversely impacted your unit Any KSAs you have not had the opportunity to assess firsthand (what do I need to know about this person? What don’t I know?)  Finally, please determine what the overall loss impact to the unit would be if your key staff vacated tomorrow (high, medium, low)

16 Advice for Completing This Exercise  It’s important to remember that KSAs required every day on the job are not the only ones that should be deemed valuable  Consider activities or assignments that arise periodically (even if it is only a few times a year) which require a specific expertise, knowledge base, or ability  Also consider activities or assignments you have had to do because you have not been able to train your staff or because your current staff do not have the KSAs required

17 What Will I Do With This Data?  The assessment you will complete today will help you to identify specific knowledge strengths and gaps within your unit  In the next session, you will be provided with numerous tools and techniques you can incorporate to address those gaps and help you with your workforce and succession planning efforts

18  Questions?

19 Post Exercise Questions  After completing this exercise, do you find that you are the same, better off, or worse than you thought?  If you are the same or worse, what are some significant KSA challenges/gaps in your unit?  From looking at your spreadsheets, do you see any obvious places where some gaps could be addressed by using your current staff?

20 Need Some Help?  Contact Jennifer Hamman at