Report 2015-608 Recommendations

Cal OES should develop a process by December 2015 to measure and evaluate its workforce and succession planning activities at least annually, and update its plans as necessary, to ensure that its activities are effective. This process should include evaluating the trends in retirements for leadership and technical positions.

Cal OES should develop a process by June 30, 2015, to ensure that the executive membership of its Idea Ambassador Corps remains stable to help ensure that Cal OES can perform consistent monitoring of the results of the workforce and succession planning activities across the department.

To improve the guidance that CalHR provides departments on how to mitigate the challenges of an aging workforce that will result in the retirement of many highly experienced employees, CalHR should develop a process by December 2015 to periodically evaluate and update its workforce and succession planning materials.

To ensure that CalHR's reviews of departments' workforce and succession plans are consistent and reflect all best practices it recommends on its website, CalHR should revise its evaluation tool by June 2015 to include all of these best practices and other best practices it subsequently identifies.

To better enable CalHR to provide assistance to departments that is tailored to their needs, CalHR should survey state departments at least biannually to determine how the departments perceive the effectiveness of the resources and tools CalHR makes available to them.

To help ensure that state departments are prepared to address the loss of highly experienced employees, CalHR should obtain annually workforce and succession plans from all departments by June 30, starting in 2016, as well as any updates to and implementation status of the plans.

To ensure that CalHR can complete its workforce and succession planning workload on a timely basis and address other priorities that may arise, CalHR should develop an annual plan for the workforce planning unit by July 2015, and annually thereafter, that identifies the activities it plans to accomplish in the following fiscal year and the necessary resources. The plan should include, but not be limited to, activities such as evaluating the effectiveness of its guidance to departments, offering training sessions, conducting reviews of department workforce and succession plans, and addressing strategic initiatives.

To more adequately promote succession planning, CalHR should develop additional resources for departments to follow in developing succession plans by December 2015 and post the information on its website.

To improve state departments' knowledge of CalHR's resources and tools, CalHR should expand the content of its outreach emails to promote all its resources and tools.

The Legislature should consider amending state law to expressly authorize the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) to oversee efforts across state departments for workforce and succession planning, such as by monitoring the development and implementation of plans, and to compel departments to provide it with information concerning such planning. Further, the Legislature should consider requiring that CalHR update it on an annual basis, beginning in fiscal year 2016-17, on the status of the workforce and succession planning at state departments.

Social Services should develop a process by December 2015 to measure and evaluate its workforce and succession planning activities at least annually, and update its plans as necessary, to ensure that its activities are effective. This process should include evaluating the trends in retirements for leadership and technical positions.

Social Services should identify a key resource, such as a unit, by June 30, 2015, to track the results of workforce and succession planning activities across the department to ensure that the workforce and succession planning activities it implements are monitored on a departmentwide level.

Social Services should update its existing workforce and succession plan by December 2015 to ensure that the department is adequately prepared for the retirement of a significant number of its highly experienced employees. The plan should include current best practices that meet its organizational needs.

Caltrans should develop a process by December 2015 to measure and evaluate its workforce and succession planning activities at least annually, and update its plans as necessary, to ensure that its activities are effective. This process should include evaluating the trends in retirements for leadership and technical positions.

Caltrans should identify a key resource, such as a unit, by June 30, 2015, to track the results of workforce and succession planning activities across the department to ensure that the workforce and succession planning activities it implements are monitored on a departmentwide level.

Caltrans should develop a comprehensive workforce and succession master plan by December 2015 to ensure that it is adequately prepared for the retirement of a significant number of its highly experienced employees. The plan should include current best practices that meet its organizational needs.