Travis County Commissioners Court
August 25, 2009,
Item 13
Number 13, consider and take appropriate action on 116 job descriptions and 10 job families that were affected by the classification and compensation three year strategic plan job analysis process in accordance with Travis County code 10.080, job descriptions.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
on August 11th, louann shaw and myself, todd ozman gave you an update on the status of the job description project.
and at that time we laid out our plan for bringing the job descriptions back in two batches.
today is batch one and we are scheduled to bring back the second batch of job descriptions on September the 8th.
specifically today we're bringing you 116 job descriptions for Commissioners court approval and those reside in 10 job families.
and for the record those job families that we're talking about today are attorney, executive manager, purchasing, professional support, planning management and research, public information reproduction, training, education and instruction, medical, and public safety/emergency management.
and for a listing of which jobs go in which family, I would refer you back to pages 10 through 12 of the backup.
approval of job descriptions is really the last component of the department's strategic plan series, which has taken place over the last several years.
and we have asked the court in the past to approve other elements of the strategic plan, including titles, pay grades and status, which the court has already done.
and today's action, what we're requesting that you do, would leave those previous actions unaffected.
in other words, approval of the job descriptions today would not change or alter in any way previous approval by the Commissioners court of titles, pay grades and (indiscernible) status.
however, Travis County code, section 10.080 does require Commissioners court approval for any revisions of job descriptions, and that is certainly why we're here today.
accurate and up to date job descriptions are absolutely essential for the functioning of any effective human resources department, and they have impact on a number of different things that happen throughout the county, including recruitment.
as you know, they're used for recruitment vehicles.
they establish hiring criteria, so when people go to decide whether or not somebody is qualified for a position, the first place they will go to the job description and the requirements.
it describes the activities of what the people will be doing on a day-to-day basis.
so when someone comes in the door they'll have an expectation of what the job entails.
and certainly then the managers who would be performing evaluations would use those job descriptions and compare those duties to what the employee is doing.
and also, job descriptions are used in compliance with a number of statutes.
during the process we communicated with departments.
we use multiple data sources, including the taq's that are filled out, audit, we've had a number of interviews and certainly conversations with the departments.
we use the existing job descriptions themselves and when it came time to review the format we looked at what other people were doing in the marketplace.
and that includes our peers and associations such as world at work and jherm and other organizations.
i guess to say that it was -- it's been a fairly extensive and long process, but we believe we have reached the point now when we bring these forward to you with no known objections from the departments.
the action that we're asking you to take today has no fiscal impact on the county, simply an approval on the job descriptions that are before you.
however, it would give us approved and official and formal job descriptions which we could formally implement on October 1st.
having said all that, I would like to turn over to lan schultz to my right who would like to discuss some of the changes that did take place to the job description format.
>> okay.
>> over the course of the project we did have an opportunity to look at the design, the components and just the whole accuracy and having worked with the departments, we couldn't have gotten to this point without their assistance and also with the compensation staff, we couldn't have reached this -- this end without all of the hard work from our staff.
soiled like to publicly thank our staff and the departments that got us to this point.
through that components and the format of this job description, we did need to make that so it was market competitive.
so the job description that's outlined on your backup on page 4 is the current Travis County approved job description.
on page 5 and 6 of your backup, it does recommend our recommended new format, new design, and we feel that this is competitive in terms of what it will look like on the website.
and for other public use for recruitment and for the end user, for managers and supervisors as they are making their hiring decisions.
we did make changes to the job title, the job summary.
we enhanced the distinguishing characteristics.
that's a section that the managers and supervisors use quite readily.
the employees use that section.
that is telling with the series of job titles they can look at that and see that there is a distinguishing characteristic between the custodian, custodian lead.
they can look to see what it might take to be able to promote themselves within the organization and so the employees can use that as well as the manager and the supervisor.
that's used when we do the job analysis so it does distinguish between the levels when a manager is asking for a senior or a lead that component does help on a job analysis project.
so that is a new section and we enhance that section.
we also enhance the section of the minimum requirements, and we would like to explain that section is three sections.
it's the education and experience as well as the license, certification and special requirements.
and finally, it's the knowledge, skills and abilities.
so in the past format it was just the education and experience that represented the minimum qualifications, but we're recommending for your approval that it is well-defined that the minimum requirements contain those three components.
and finally, we did enhance the description on the physical and the work environments and then we added a standard job statement at the very end, last page of the description that is an all encompassing statement that is necessary for various compliance issues such as flsa, a.d.a.
and other compliance issues that should cover for any issues that would arise from the job description.
is there any questions on the changes that we've made to the format?
>> so did we use a particular model to arrive at the new revised job description on pages five and six?
>> yes, we did.
i would say we used the city of Austin as -- and bexar county, lcra, those were our closest models.
>> okay.
so for the employees already on board, the encumbered employees, where do these job descriptions, what does it mean for them?
>> they would all be grandfathered in -- these particular job descriptions, there's no changes to the minimum requirements.
this is just a confirmation cleanup clarification on the job descriptions.
>> so little or no impact on incumbent employees.
>> correct.
>> it may reflect changes in the duties expected in some positions, but by and large the impact is somewhat minimal.
>> okay.
when you say you communicated with different department heads, we gave them an opportunity to provide input.
>> yes.
we had various -- through the course of maybe two to three years we've had various opportunities for the departments to comment.
we've met with various departments multiple times, but there was opportunity for the departments to communicate back to us.
>> and the departments were given one final opportunity for these jobs within the last couple of weeks, the revised job descriptions were put out on the network and they were given opportunity to review one last time and provide feedback.
and for those who did we say thank you and we have incorporated pretty much all of the comments that we've received.
>> any other questions?
so for the employee who takes this new job description and he comes to us or his supervisor and says, you know when I was hired three years ago, I really greatly exceeded these minimum qualifications.
today I'm making x amount of money, and if you really apply this and the county's matrix and other other policies, I should make much more, what would our response be?
>> it would be that the qualifications for your job haven't changed.
you could probably look at the next time and see if it's appropriate with your supervisor.
by and large what we're asking you to approve today would have no impacts on those types of conversations.
>> so an employee should not be able to make that case simply as a result of our revising the job description.
>> based on this change alone, no.
and certainly they have the right to speak and the right to make any case they want, but based upon the changes taking place and we're asking you to approve, it should have no impact on what they're saying.
>> anybody else here on item number 13?
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> you were a little timid with that motion.
>> move approval!
>> [ laughter ]
>> seconded by Commissioner Eckhardt.
discussion of the motion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank y'all for your work on this item, this multi-year project.
since we have you there, why don't we call up item number -- by the way, we received a note regarding 34.
and the note said cynthia is sick today, so please postpone number 34, that's the matter involving the parking committee.
any problem with that?
34, the parking committee item.
>> okay.
>> without objection, we'll have number 34, ab and c, back on the court's agenda next week.
and next week is September 1st.
>> yes.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 2:07 PM
