Grading Florida

Grade: B -

Florida's leaders have been willing to experiment, innovate and manage aggressively. That's good. But new ideas don't always work out well — particularly when a state lacks sufficient long-term planning.

Consider Florida's Division of Human Resources. In 2001, under Governor Jeb Bush, changes to the civil service laws cut back job protections and placed approximately 20 percent of the workforce on an at-will basis. The following year, the state outsourced many of its personnel functions.

The results haven't been good. According to the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability — a national leader in program evaluation — the outsourcing has suffered from poor contract management and implementation. Over the past four years, voluntary turnover among full-time career workers grew dramatically, leading to reliance on less capable temporary replacements.

Florida spends little on its workforce as a whole, ranking last in the nation in per capita spending on state personnel. State training dollars as a percentage of total salary also are among the lowest in the country — 0.89 percent. And even though it has pursued ambitious and risky personnel initiatives, Florida has had no real human resources strategic plan. With so many services outsourced and a workforce bifurcated between those who are civil service and those who aren't, it's little wonder that Florida's HR house has a leaky roof.

Fortunately, the state may have begun to learn its lesson. Although nothing tangible is in place yet, a strategic plan steering committee has been working to provide HR guidance. Likewise, in 2006, the state created an advisory council to vet future outsourcing proposals — especially for the largest projects.

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