Civil Service: Friend or Foe
to State Public Health Departments
Patricia M. Sweeney, JD, MPH, RN
Center for Public Health Practice
Graduate School of Public Health
University of Pittsburgh
psweeney@pitt.edu
Background
Phase One:
• Identified the
positions most
difficult for state
public health
departments to
recruit
• Entry level RN
• Most senior level
epidemiologist
Number of States
8
7
Position Most Difficult to Recruit
6
Most Difficult Epidemiological Position to Fill
5
Most Vital Position
4
3
2
1
0
Nurse
Physician
Epidemiologist
Nutritionist
Position
Veterinarian
Division
Adminstrator
Background
Phase Two:
• Assessed the degree to which state
health departments utilized
competencies when determining the
suitability of job candidates
Competencies
• AACON
– Baccalaureate nursing
• Quad Council
– Public health nursing
• Council on Linkages
– Public health core
• CSTE and CDC
– Epidemiology
PUBLIC HEALTH CORE
COMPETENCY
# of appearances
in RN text
# of appearances in
EPI text
15
54
Policy development / planning
skills program
8
10
Communication skills
18
13
Cultural competency skills
4
4
Community dimensions of
practice
1
0
Basic public health sciences
skills
46
400
Financial planning and
management skills
6
4
Leadership and systems
thinking
29
13
Analytic assessment skills
Nursing Core Competencies and
Public Health Nursing Competencies
# of times in
text
Critical thinking
2
Communication
4
Technical skills
117
Assessment
17
Analytic assessment
15
Policy development/program planning skills
8
Communication skills
23
Cultural competency skills
1
Community dimensions of practice skills
2
Public health sciences skills
7
Financial planning and management skills
0
Leadership and systems thinking
0
Epidemiology Competencies
Assessment and Analysis
# of times in
text
4
Basic Public Health Sciences
117
Communication
16
Community Dimensions of Practice
2
Cultural competency
1
Financial and Operational Planning and Management
1
Leadership and Systems Thinking
22
Policy Development
1
Purpose
Phase Three:
• Define distribution of responsibility for
state public health hiring and promotion
• Describe the impact of state civil service
laws upon the state public health
personnel systems
Methods
• Identified market responsive personnel system
procedures
• Developed a survey instrument
• Validated tool
• Surveys mailed to each state and territorial health
department
Creates/changes health department job classifications
Changes/revises health department job responsibilities
• Department/agency
Administers written exams
•
responsible
for
public
Interviews candidates for health department positions
health
Prioritizes
candidatesdepartment
for hiring in the health
department based upon banding rule
• personnel
functions
Prioritizes
candidates for hiring
in the health
Is the hiring authority for the state public health dept.
department based upon past work experience
Prioritizes candidates for hiring in the health
department based upon educational preparation
Alters pay scale offered to health department job
candidates
Changes health department employee salaries
Expedites the hiring of health department employees
Can change personnel processes in response to market
forces
A series of questions about promotion criteria……..
Do not know:
N/A
Other
Collective Bargaining
Agreement
The State Legislature
State Civil Service
Commission
State Administrative /
Human Resource Office
State Health Department
Department/agency
responsible for public health
department personnel functions in
your state
Creates /revises health department job classifications
Changes/revises health department job responsibilities
Posts health department job announcements
Administers written exams to health department job candidates
Updates/changes written exams for health department jobs
Interviews candidates for health department positions
Prioritizes candidates for hiring in the health department based upon
veterans status
Prioritizes candidates for hiring in the health department based upon past
work experience
Prioritizes candidates for hiring in the health department based upon
educational preparation
Change criteria used to prioritize candidates for hiring
Increase salary offered to candidates to recruit appropriate candidates
Hire candidate you prefer
Circumvent traditional personnel procedures to facilitate hiring
Promote staff based upon established career ladder
Promote staff based upon performance appraisal
Promotes staff based upon additional training
Can readily change personnel processes in response to market forces
recruitment and retention of qualified staff
N/A
Mandates/
permits
Forbids/
constrains
Civil service law impact upon state public health
department personnel functions
Results
Received completed
surveys from 28 states
Participating states
AK
AL
AZ
CA
CO
GA
IA
ID
IN
LA
MN
MO
NE
NH
NV
NY
ND
OH
OK
PA
RI
SC
US VI
VA
VT
WA
WV
WI
26%
3%
23%
36%
10%
36%
26%
23%
10%
29%
77%
32%
Prioritizes candidates for hiring based upon educational
preparation
81%
32%
Alters pay scale offered to health department job
candidates
36%
58%
Changes health department employee salaries
42%
66%
Expedites the hiring of health department employees
77%
29%
Can change personnel processes in response to market
forces
32%
73%
A series of questions about promotion criteria……..
39%
Etc…….
Do not know:
84%
• Department/agency
Administers written exams
• responsible
public
Interviews
candidates for healthfor
department
positions
Prioritizes candidates for hiring based upon banding rule
health department
Prioritizes candidates for hiring based upon past work
experience
• personnel functions
Changes/revises health department job responsibilities
N/A
State Civil Service
Commission
13%
Collective Bargaining
Agreement
State Administrative /
Human Resource Office
87%
Creates/changes health department job classifications
The State Legislature
State Health Department
42%
Department/agency
responsible for public health
department personnel functions in
your state
100%
16%
10%
26%
23%
16%
13%
7%
52%
16%
Forbids/
constrains
Mandates/
permits
N/A
Creates /revises health department job classifications
9
13
4
Changes/revises health department job responsibilities
3
18
5
Administers written exams to health department job candidates
3
12
12
Prioritizes candidates for hiring based upon past work experience
1
21
6
Prioritizes candidates for hiring based upon educational preparation
1
22
6
Change criteria used to prioritize candidates for hiring
4
18
4
Increase salary offered to candidates to recruit appropriate candidates
8
13
6
Hire candidate you prefer
6
16
8
Circumvent traditional personnel procedures to facilitate hiring
11
13
5
Promote staff based upon established career ladder
5
13
10
Promote staff based upon performance appraisal
6
9
17
Promotes staff based upon additional training
5
13
10
Can readily change personnel processes in response to market forces
18
1
4
Civil service law impact upon state public health
department personnel functions
Reported impact of civil service laws
no
impact
27%
help
15%
hinder
58%
Civil Service Hindrance
Civil Service Benefit
Narrow banding restrictions
Statutory revisions
Rigid salary guidelines
per classification
Classification input or control
by agencies
Unrealistic minimum qualifications
per classification
Candidate qualification
determined by agencies
Delays imposed by
certification process
Salary flexibility within grade
Narrow policies implement
reasonable laws
Critical position “carve out”
Methods
Analyzed State Civil Service Laws
– Distribution of personnel
system responsibilities
– Recruitment authority
– Salary control
– Market exceptions
Findings
Statutory Language
Practical application
Departments set minimum
qualifications
Flexibility eliminated need
for job reclassifications
Critical positions may be
taken out of merit system
Authorize higher pay
unclassified or
direct hire authority
More competitive with
market
Findings
Statutory Language
Practical application
Job classification shared duty
Personnel Admin acting in isolation
No express statement requiring
certification of a set # of eligibles
Express statutory permission to “waive
rules” for mission critical positions
Banding persists in practice
Reported stringent rules
Implications
• Legal framework critical
– Departments set minimum qualifications
– Critical position carve outs
– Authorize higher pay
• Implementation of law equally critical
Needed research
• Regulations and policies which implement civil
service laws
• Mechanisms used for promotion of the public
health workforce .
• Mechanism to minimize the impact of collective
bargaining
Civil Service: Friend or Foe
of State Public Health Departments
Patricia M. Sweeney, JD, MPH, RN
Center for Public Health Practice
Graduate School of Public Health
University of Pittsburgh
psweeney@pitt.edu