Shaking up the State Workforce:

AN HR SHARED SERVICES MODEL

Author: Ruth N. Bramson, Chief Human Resources Officer,
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The old axiom,  “Life is a series of habits occasionally disturbed by a few good thoughts”, is especially true in Government.  Habits are hard to break because State employees, like many from other industry sectors, believe if it’s not broke, why fix it.  Because of this, many aspects of government administration have not kept pace with the changes in our economy.   However, like private industry, State government is thirsty for change, even though it is much harder to try new things and test new ideas in this environment.  Where a private company can run 'skunk work' projects and pilot them in a small group or one location, this is almost impossible to pull off in State government.  Most activities, policies and practices originate with legislation or Executive Order. Changing them requires new legislation, repeal of existing orders, and writing of new ones. This means getting lots of people involved and committed to that change.  However, the Romney administration has committed that when the status quo is unacceptable, change is the only answer.  Immediate action coupled with a longer-term restructuring and savings plans will allow us to achieve real reform.  The charge that was given to me when I joined Governor Romney as his Chief HR Officer was to breathe new life into the existing organization, and change what is necessary to give the State workforce a more flexible and agile structure. 

Right now, every single department and agency across all levels of state government is under scrutiny to deliver best value services to their clients and demonstrate cost-conscious performance. Shared Services - those services that a single group provides to other business units are transforming the very nature of state operations. By centralizing core services, each agency is able to focus on their particular functional and operational objectives and leave the large policy and program design to the centralized function of experts.  These experts in turn become a single source for information, sharing best practices and thereby improving the quality and consistency of the way issues are handled throughout the state.

This emphasis on a more streamlined and efficient way of delivering services in Massachusetts is driving the reorganization of the Human Resources Department and its relationships with the Secretariats and agencies. 

The vital link between planning and people is human resources.  Each part of the Human Resources function is being examined to insure that it works with the strategy and through people.  The Shared Services model we have created takes the best of a centralized HR group and a totally decentralized structure.  The combination gives us a central HR department that will be a single source of information and expertise.  This will improve the quality and consistency in the handling employee issues.  Managers and employees will be encouraged to take greater ownership of people issues and will have easier access to policies, processes and advice.  The Secretariats will have a team of specialists and administrators who will handle requests in a speedy and efficient way.  Web-enabled processes will be redesigned and simplified to allow for faster and simpler interactions and user friendly technology will be developed with a self-help mentality.  Clear measures, service levels and costs will be benchmarked against the private sector and other states’ organizations to insure that they meet benchmark stands of excellence for delivery of HR shared services.   With a cross-functional, customer- focused way of working, everyone will know what is expected of him or her, how he or she is doing, and how he or she can contribute even greater value.  Knowledge will be managed and shared so that fiefdoms can be broken down and decisions can be made faster and better.  Consultation will be a regular part of the working process. 

The chart below shows the advantages of shared services.  The circle on the right indicates the problems associated with a centralized model while the circle on the left lists the decentralized concerns.  The value of the shared service model is outlined in the center circle with the benefits of the centralized and decentralized model remaining in tact.

While reducing cost is clearly one motivator for this model, far more compelling is the interest in generating value and efficiency for what we do in managing the statewide workforce. The model enables decisions on transactional and non-strategic activities to move to a shared services organization. This provides personalized care for employees, leveraging key technology for partnering, change management, workforce development and organizational effectiveness capabilities.  Technology platforms with increased functionality and direct access to information will provide support for the model.  

The core principles that will guide this restructuring and the ongoing organization are:

• Connection – relationships and involvement

• Clarity – clear vision and direction

• Creativity – awaken innovative thinking

• Commitment – resolve and courage

These principles along with the shared service delivery model will ensure that the Commonwealth delivers professionally managed human resource services to its employees and agencies

An area that is critical to replace inertia with momentum is the way the Commonwealth measures performance and pays people.  Massachusetts has never had a real pay for performance system.  We need to put the carrot in front of the horse to get the horse to move.  However, before we can pay for performance, the system must be in place that evaluates the right skills and behaviors.  Without effective performance evaluation systems, agencies that try to tie pay to performance could find strong resistance from employees who don’t trust that the evaluations accurately reflect their contribution.  Through the Shared Services model, we have been able to get the collaboration and support of all the agencies in the design of this new approach to managing performance.  The system, ACES, (Achievement and Competencies Enhancement System), cutting an 11-page form down to 3 pages and making it an on-line document, is only one step along the way to creating a state-of-the-art tool.  The HR leadership in each secretariat has provided input and gotten the buy-in and support of their commissioners and directors.  Statewide training around the new process is beginning the first week in January. 

As the pressure on government to perform increases, resources become more limited, staffs more lean, and costs under scrutiny, this HR SHARED SERVICES model will allow us to handle services with agility and flexibility. The Governor and his Cabinet have embraced this model as it is being implemented within the HR function statewide.  Managers and employees are taking greater ownership of people issues and will have better access to policies, processes and advice.  Knowledge will be shared so that fiefdoms can be broken down and decisions can be made faster, simpler and better. 

Through the availability of professional HR advisors and web-enabled systems, we will improve the quality of service for people activities and develop a self-help mentality.  This is a similar template to those being worked on in Legal, the Press Office and Information Technology and we are optimistic that we will achieve great things with this model.

In conclusion, the availability of the right people and appropriate technologies, combined with a business-focused approach to government, is providing a rare opportunity to fundamentally improve efficiency and effectiveness in the State workforce.   Such reforms will make it possible to improve the delivery of services. This is particularly critical in the human resources area where we can provide greater flexibility in how the state’s workforce is managed and a better environment for the people who work here.