Clark Kelso is worried. As the CIO of the State of California, nearly 34% of the total state workforce will be eligible to retire in the next 3 years. Finding a way to compete with the private sector for talent is at the top of Kelso’s to-do list.

by Ben Bradley

Across the nation, it is estimated that more than 50% of government employees will reach retirement age in the next decade. And with the enhanced ability of state employees to take early retirement, state and local agencies fear a pending talent crisis.

For many younger employees, civil service doesn’t hold the appeal it once did. One recent study of U.S. agencies highlighted some of the issues: a perception of non-competitive salaries, the length and complexity of the hiring process, and budget constraints. And, unlike their parents, many up-and-comers don’t expect to be with one organization throughout their career.

“California faces the prospect of performing a growing amount of work with a declining number of employees. The knowledge and experience lost when a worker retires is difficult to replace,” said Kelso. “California is aggressively planning for the impact of this trend.”

The Information Technology Council of California recently developed the California State Information Technology Strategic Plan. The plan guides the acquisition, management and use of technology within the Executive Branch of State government for a five-year period (2005-2009). A key goal of the plan is to engage in succession planning which includes building an effective and comprehensive training program for IT staff and managers.

Kelso is also convening a workgroup representing a broad cross-section of the State IT and HR community, as well as business stakeholders to develop a succession plan for the IT workforce. “The state is reassessing all of its workforce strategies for Information Technology and we plan, over the next three years, to compete with private and other public sector employers in hiring and retaining a qualified IT workforce,” said Kelso.

“We’re looking at the entire picture; including compensation, classifications, testing, training, recruitment and succession planning as the tools we need to improve our IT workforce.” The workgroup will identify the likely attrition of employees in IT classifications in the next three to five years, the skills gap of current and potential employees, and develop a plan for replacing qualified employees.

This group will identify resources that can be used by state departments to complete their workforce and succession planning efforts. Later this year, Kelso, in collaboration with the Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) and the State Personnel Board (SPB), will develop a workforce and succession framework and plan for the IT workforce that can be used by individual departments in creating their own succession plans.

According to Mark McManus, Vice President of Computer Economics, a IT research and advisory service located in Irvine, CA., how states address the constraints of a tightening labor pool will have a great deal to do with their long-term success. "States need to follow through on efforts to increase pay for IT workers and implement an array of training programs in order to boost recruitment and retention efforts. Without planning, they will severely jeopardize their ability to compete for fresh talent in the IT arena."

Michigan is proactively addressing these trends with innovative IT staff retention and acquisition programs that serve as a model for other states. In Michigan, 59% of state workers are 45 or older compared to California’s average age of state civil service employees is 43 – but they both states face similar problems from rising retirement rates in upcoming years.

For Michigan’s Department of Information Technology, an aggressive college recruitment program works to identify promising students and make an early case for a civil service career. Michigan’s IT managers are encouraged to be strategic and develop comprehensive staffing plans that address the pending talent shortage. Michigan is taking steps to compete more effectively against private sector employees by thinking outside the box.

According to Kurt Weiss, a Michigan Department of Information Technology spokesperson, “we encourage IT employees to be proactive and responsible for their own careers and we give them the resources they need.” Each employee has an individual development program that includes discretionary dollars available for training or professional development.

Michigan’s Office of Great Workplace Development is addressing succession planning issues by conducting workshops for department leaders on managing succession planning dynamics. Other educational programs help executives to understand the unique qualities of the employees they will be recruiting and managing from Generation. Michigan’s Department of Civil Service recently released its succession and workforce planning model. An integral part of this information was to give each human resources director a list of the employees and their positions who are eligible to leave in the next five years. This helps management to proactively plan ahead.

Many state agencies also have mentoring programs so that younger employees are paired with experienced older workers. Some agencies also encourage active retiree involvement, maintaining contact with them through newsletters, attending meetings and volunteering their time.

Statistics support the pressing need for governments and agencies to develop competitive strategies now, or face the ramifications in the not-so-distant future. As states develop more promising initiatives, such as improving perception of public service careers, increased staff training, more competitive pay and advancement opportunities, they will be able to successfully compete for strong IT candidates in an increasingly competitive market.











reprinted with permission from CDW