Dan Shortridge is a former Delaware state government manager and school district employee, who runs a regional jobs list and has written a guide to applying for state jobs. He lives in Philadelphia.
Delaware state government should be a top place to work, setting an example for others. But, under multiple administrations, workers have gotten short shrift and are now underappreciated and overworked. With more than 35% of state workers eligible to retire over the next five years — 1 in 10 could walk out the door tomorrow — Gov. Matt Meyer and state human resources secretary Yvonne Anders Gordon need to make reinforcing the workforce a top priority.
There are five steps the Department of Human Resources can take — most of them quickly and easily — to improve hiring and job conditions for state workers.
1. Adopt full salary transparency and be honest with job applicants. When hiring, the state advertises a full pay range, while deceptively capping a new hire’s pay at considerably less than that. For example, job-seekers see that an entry-level administrative specialist job starts at $31,546 with a salary “midpoint” of $39,433.
But, for most new hires, the maximum they can actually take home is capped at $33,518 — a gap of nearly $6,000, or 85% of the midpoint. Nothing in any job posting alerts applicants to that shock; it’s buried in Section 4.4 of the state merit rules. (And, recently, state jobs have been popping up with no range listed — just the bare-minimum salary.)
It is possible to rise above the cap. Prior human resources secretaries granted higher starting salaries about a quarter of the time over the last four years, or for about 600 workers each year, according to the Department of Human Resources. If the secretary can do that, he or she also has time to be fully transparent and change the posting practices to reflect the actual starting salary, ending this giant bait-and-switch game that wastes job-seekers’ time.
2. Open up the screening process. Currently, initial applicant rankings are typically done solely by human resources staff, who often lack technical knowledge. This means that highly qualified job-seekers are dropped if they don’t phrase things the right way or use the proper keywords. The actual managers, who do have that specialized knowledge, are barred from even seeing the raw applicant list. Anonymizing applications, while allowing managers a voice in the screening process, will improve job applicant quality.
3. Revise job titles to cut out ridiculous bureaucratic jargon. In state government, landscapers are called “conservation technicians,” and office assistants are “operations support specialists.” There’s one job title, “deputy principal assistant,” that’s just gobbledygook. (There is no “principal assistant” job, so what’s a deputy doing?) State government needs to help outsiders understand just what these jobs do at a glance, by using simple, plain language.
4. Provide state workers more advancement options. Not everyone is suited for management, but at present, that’s often the only way a state worker can earn more money — other than outright switching jobs or agencies. Creating more flexibility and expanding career ladders for talented individual contributors would keep people around longer.
5. Restore and expand the tuition benefits cut under previous administrations. These should align with the reimbursements that our school districts offer and cover more than just Delaware colleges and universities. Local teachers and school staff can advance their education with this support; state lab techs, activity aides, inspectors and others should also be allowed to. State government will benefit from a more educated workforce.
Delaware cannot repair its roads, protect its children, prepare for natural disasters, defend farm animals from disease, finance affordable housing, run elections or carry out a host of other vital missions without talented, trained and well-rewarded workers.
State employees will leave — and are leaving — for more lucrative opportunities and better treatment. They need leaders who will invest in them, modernize the hiring and promotion systems, and put Delaware workers first.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
