HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE  ROUNDTABLE
November 12, 2004
Community Transit

MINUTES

Attendees:

Lynn Starcher, HR Manager of Community Transit, made introductory remarks and had the participants introduce themselves.

OPEN DISCUSSION: The Graying of the Workforce

• Rob Riner, Kitsap Transit, led the discussion on this topic. He is looking at trends: Are we going to start seeing significant changes? How can we prepare for this?  There are lots of drivers applying who are in second careers. The older workforce may affect benefit offerings.
• Marnie Slakey, Pierce Transit, added that Pierce Transit employees have opted out of social security, but there has been interest lately about reinstituting it.
• Jean White, Pierce Transit, has been doing succession planning.
• Delaney Peterson of Metro said that she has very young and inexperienced applicants for coach operator jobs, and also older workers that cannot afford to retire.
• Marnie Slakey talked about changes with PERS 2 under consideration – the Rule of 90, where age and years of service equal 90 being the main one. Please contact Marnie if you wish further information about this.
• Lynn Starcher talked about the impact on recruitment if employees retire earlier than later. Where do we get all the replacement coach operators?
• Debra Hughes, Ben Franklin Transit, is pulling applicants from the Asian community, but there is not a large number of younger applicants.
• Marnie Slakey pulls from Fort Lewis population, which is pretty diverse.
• Maurine Barnett, Community Transit, added that the last recruitments have been pretty small.
• Debra Hughes brought up that they give a 5-hour psychological test, costing $250 for each hire.
• Most others use the Ergometrics testing.
• Lynn Starcher sees the scores of repeat test-takers going up.
• Kimberly Somers, Whatcom Transit, has seen the scores of repeat testers going down. She sees cultural issues with the bubble sheet scoring.
• Jean White, Pierce Transit, said there are two versions of the Ergometrics test.
• Melanie Bozak, Jefferson Transit, uses both the customer service and driving tests.
• Debra Hughes said that her employees are struggling to keep the DOT certification. Ben Franklin Transit pays the cost for these.
• Lynn Bourton, Link Transit, added that her Wellness Program is working at improving food choices and awareness of new blood pressure regulations.
• The Hypertension Reduction Program involves Blood Pressure Downshift. Chris Beck, Community Transit, invited attendees to contact her for further information.
• Rob Riner added that they have a physical therapist for their paratransit pre-employment checks. They are thinking of instituting assessments of employees currently employed.

Presentation: Community Transit’s New Accident Policy – Mike Burress, Risk Manager, Community Transit

Mike’s presentation included the following points:
•    The new policy will work on a point system.
•    There is a merit system built in.
•    There is a review committee and appeals are possible.
•    He is looking at rolling this out in 2005.
•    Anyone interested in obtaining a copy of this DRAFT policy can contact Mike at mike.burress@commtrans.org.


Wellness Break – Yolanda Morgan, HealthForce

Yolanda showed us some cool yoga moves!

Presentation: Recruiting and Hiring Process Improvement – Maurine Barnett, HR Analyst, Community Transit

Maurine gave us highlights of our interview process and how it impacted the hiring at Community Transit. Then, she told us how the HR team met and worked on improvements based on suggestions from a survey of hiring supervisors/managers. Some things that are being worked on to improve include time to hire, pre-employment testing, and the hiring manager’s involvement in the recruiting process. Some lessons learned include the fact that documentation is very important, a pool of interview questions that can be changed occasionally is a good idea; and keeping a six-month pool of qualified applicants has paid off.


Presentation: Retirement Health Savings Accounts – Marnie Slakey, VP of HR and Labor Relations, Pierce Transit

Pierce’s new program will start 1/1/05. Pierce Transit’s employees do not pay into social security, only Medicare. They do use ICMA as a way to save for retirement. The new plan will have self-directed investments, decided by the employees, and the fund can be used for all kinds of medical expenses after retirement. A downside – once this election is made, it cannot be changed. An advantage – there is little or no cost to Pierce Transit, it is supported by the union, and funded by employees. For more information, please contact Marnie.


Pierce Transit’s New Workplace Violence Policy – Stephanie Ostmann, Employee Relations, Pierce Transit.

Pierce Transit had a workplace policy, and an agreement with their union, for 10 years, but in August, they developed a newer, more comprehensive policy. The union still is in agreement with this policy. The new policy defines what the agency means by violence. It also deals with the issue of having firearms on the premises (employees cannot have firearms anywhere on the property). The new policy also gives Pierce Transit more authority to search personal property at work if management suspects there is a potential for a violent situation. The policy also addresses domestic violence, and strongly encourages those who may be victims of this to seek help from the agency to maintain safety at work. For more information, please contact Stephanie.


Open Forum – Roundtable

•    C-Tran is facing a 42% layoff due to the failure of a tax initiative.
•    Link Transit is in the middle of their budget process for next year. They just purchased six trolleys for use in Leavenworth and Chelan.
•    Whatcom Transit finished contract negotiations this spring. They are now self-insured for medical insurance.
•    Lane County Transit is doing some hiring. Their contract expired in July and they are in mediation for their labor contract.
•    Ben Franklin Transit is having some ADA accommodations issues with their paratransit drivers. Their ATU contract has been ratified. They did a reclassification and compensation study using the DBM method.
•    Jefferson Transit is working on their budget and in the middle of their ATU contract negotiations, which are going smoothly. They are in a growth mode.
•    Community Transit now uses an open and continuous process for their coach operator recruitments. Their Planning Dept. has taken a hard hit lately, and there are 5 jobs open. All medical insurance is now from PEBB. Labor relations are still ongoing with ATU, but IAM has been settled.
•    Clallam Transit will be hiring a new general manager.
•    Everett Transit is in a growth mode. Three of their transit drivers sued Ford Motor Company regarding seat placement.
•    Mason County Transportation is bringing contracted services in-house. They will now cover medical benefits 100%.
•    Metro implemented their COLA on time. They are getting ready to start their light rail system, and are adding 20 new job classifications. Their hybrid/natural gas buses are quiet and there has been lots of press about them.
•    Kitsap Transit is moving to a new facility on the waterfront in Bremerton. They invite all to come and check it out! Their finance director is retiring at the end of the year and they completed negotiations with their paratransit drivers.


Next Meeting Date and Host

Will be Kitsap Transit, who wants to show off their new facility! Date to be announced. Contact Rob Riner for further details.

WSTA staff is happy to provide information and answer questions.

(360) 786-9734 ~  Fax (360) 786-9740
2629 12th Court SW  ~  Olympia, WA 98502-1118