6: Workforce Development Strategies for Seattle’s Current Employees

A central conclusion outlined in prior sections of this report is that technology adoption will change the way the City of Seattle delivers services, withimportant implications for municipal workers. This section explores how Seattle can meet this challenge and ensure incumbent employees are prepared for changing workplace demands. In particular, the City should: •

Make better use of existing policies to promote workforce development.

Create new training programs for existing employees. As established in Section 2, continued advances in digital technology are creating demand for new skills among workforces globally, which increases the need for worker trainings. 88 For example, academics cite creativity and innovation as two skills with growing importance to worker productivity. 89 This trend may accelerate as routine cognitive and manual tasks become increasingly automatable. Moreover, the skills needed by workers are constantly evolving, making it difficult for individuals to enter the

Tap into Seattle’s private sector technology talent to help develop municipal employee skills. We consider a broad definition of workforce development, which includes any policies or programs that provide employees with opportunities for a continued and lasting livelihood, while helping the City achieve its service delivery goals. 86 Our conception of workforce development builds on workforce equity best practices, implying a workforce that is inclusive of people of color and other marginalized communities at rates that are representative of Seattle at all levels of

The Future of Work will Increase the Importance of Employee Trainings

City employment. 87 workforce with all the tools they will need to succeed in the future. These dynamics increase the importance of on-the-job trainings.

Workforce Development Programs Can Improve Workplace RSJEI

A human-centered approach to workforce development can strengthen workforce RSJEI efforts by expanding access to development opportunities. 90

Building entry-level employees’ skills and talents is particularly important for the City as senior leaders consistently stated that women and people of color

disproportionately hold entry-level positions and lack sufficient opportunities for advancement. In line with the City’s prior work on upskilling, we believe providing entrylevel employees with the resources they need to advance in City government can help Seattle become a leader in building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. 91

Current Workforce Development Offerings Leave Gaps

The City offers a wide range of training programs to its employees. 92 However, access to these programs is often limited to specific departments. For example, entry-level employees in just two departments have access to a tuition reimbursement program. 93

The result is what some senior leaders termed as a “scattered” approach to workforce development, where employees from some departments are afforded workforce development opportunities and others miss out. According to senior leaders, entry-level employees currently lack the tools they need to advance their careers. While department-specific trainings may not be relevant to all City employees, there is a clear need to equip workers with the We recommend Seattle encourage the use of out-of-class assignments as a workforce development tool. To begin transforming the current culture skills to thrive as technology changes the way the City delivers services.

“Out-of-Class” Assignments Represent an Untapped Opportunity

Current City personnel policies allow managers to temporarily assign employees the duties and pay levels of higher, “out-of-class”, positions. Assignments are demand-driven and used in scenarios such as parental leave, position vacancies, peak work periods, or special projects. 94

Based on our field interviews, many senior leaders do not see these openings as a workforce development tool, despite language in the policy that licenses the use of out-of-class assignments for career development. The perception seems to be primarily a question of culture rather than policy.

Seattle Should Invest in Developing Employees’ Skills

To meet the needs of the future, we recommend the City invest in additional workforce development programs to equip employees with both the soft and hard skills they need to grow into future leaders within the City. These investments need not be limited to new training programs but can also leverage the City’s existing policies and

Recommendation 6.1: Effectively Leverage “Out-of-Class” Assignments as a Workforce Development Tool

Seattle’s private sector talent. surrounding out-of-class assignments, senior leaders need to send a clear and committed message. Leadership buy-

in is a requisite step to shifting organizational culture. 95

To begin this culture shift, the Mayor’s Office can develop a policy revision, based on input from counsel and solicitation from the City’s unions, exhorting the use of out-of-class assignments as a workforce development tool. Doing so will first require garnering buy-in from department directors and labor representatives. The City should invest in two new workforce development programs, made available to employees across departments. First, we recommend the City offer a credentialed program aimed at providing entry-level employees with the leadership skills they need to grow into senior roles. Next, we recommend a second credentialed program to provide current employees with the technology and data analytics skills they will need to thrive in the future. We consider Seattle Colleges to be a natural partner to offer these development programs given the number of customized workforce development solutions organized by the Colleges for employers throughout the Seattle area. 96 For both programs, the City should proactively engage employees from underrepresented groups, such as women and people of color, to ensure robust participation. Subsequently, the Department of Human Resources should conduct a series of meetings with human resource teams and key hiring managers across departments to furtherfoster buy-in around the benefits of developing current employees’ skills through out-of-class rotations. We believe it is important that hiring managers understand that a new approach to out-of-class assignments is a priority of department directors and

Recommendation 6.2: Create Two New Workforce Development Trainings for City Employees to Develop Soft and Hard Skills

the Mayor’s Office. We believe these engagement responsibilities can fall under the portfolio of a new Race and Social Justice, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, which will be described in more detail later in this report. Additionally, it is important to develop buy-in among hiring managers as the training credentials must be viewed seriously within City government if they are to serve as productive tools in employees’ career progressions, which is critical to employee take-up.

Create a New Soft Skills Leadership Development Program

The City’s new workforce development program, focused on developing entrylevel employees’ soft skills such as leadership, problem solving, and creativity, will help prepare City employees to meet the needs of the future and address concerns raised by senior leaders regarding the insufficient assistance offered to prepare entry-

level employees to take on more senior roles in City Government. The program should incorporate workforce development best practices such as: •

Convening a working group of hiring managers across departments to determine which skills to develop.

Piloting the program with one department before scaling the offering City-wide.

Ensuring the credential is valued by hiring managers and a genuine tool in advancing entry-level employee’s careers in the City.

In line with personnel training rules, treating leadership training as a paid work responsibility.

Offering trainings during work hours and holding sessions on-site. Building off Mayor Durkan’s existing efforts to tap into Seattle’s private sector talent through the Innovation Advisory Council, we recommend the City launch a new government Civic Technology Fellowship program for local employees in the technology sector. The program would offer private sector employees an opportunity to give back to the community through a mutually beneficial exchange. We envision the program as a 12- month fellowship, where private sector employees working in the technology and data analytics fields are embedded within a City department to complete a project alongside City employees.

Offer a New Technology and Data Analytics Upskilling Program

According to leading Future of Work research, Seattle’s employees must receive targeted and continuous technical upskilling to respond to future demands for new skills and job tasks, with an emphasis on human-machine pairing. 97

As demand for technology and data capabilities grows, Seattle’s municipal employees will need new technical skills to participate in the City’s jobs of the future. The new technology and data analytics workforce development program should also incorporate the workforce development best practices

Recommendation 6.3: Launch a Civic Technology Fellowship Program for Local Private Sector Technologists

outlined above. It will be critical to foster buy-in among participating City departments and employees as it is important the program not be received as a mechanism for private sector employees to instruct City workers on how to do their jobs. It will also be important to develop buy-in among relevant unions and can be thought of as one piece of a holistic workforce development upgrade. The fellowship program could help develop the City’s technology and data analytics capabilities through a complementary approach to traditional workforce development offerings.

Box 6.1: Civic Technology Fellowship Model: Code for America

The Code for America Community Fellowship program places highly capable technology professionals in city governments across the country to tackle salient community issues focused on increasing equity and inclusion of government services for vulnerable populations. Fellows undergo a highly competitive application process that selects just 5-10% of applicants from a pool of experienced, mid-career professionals working in computer engineering, design, research, data analytics, and project management. Participating technologists spend 6 months collaborating with their home-city municipal government to provide user-centered, iterative, data-driven solutions to urgent community issues. For example, 2019 Fellows in Miami and Santa Monica are working on technology projects to make affordable housing more accessible. The Community Fellowship program placed 17 fellows in 7 Cities in 2019. 98

Implementation timeline

Within 12 months:

Mayor’s Office to foster buy-in for use of out-of-class assignments as workforce development tool among department directors and labor representatives (6.1) SDHRto collaborate with HR teams to foster buy-in around use of outof-class assignments as a workforce development tool (6.1) Form working group to identify target skills for a leadership workforce development training for entry-level employees (6.2) Form working group to identify key training goals for a technology and data analytics workforce development program (6.2) Form working group, including labor representatives and private sector partners, to develop Civic Tech Fellowship program details (6.3)

Within 3 years:

Amend personnel policy rule for out-of-class assignments to strengthen workforce development language (6.1)

Work with Seattle Colleges to launch new leadership and technology workforce development programs to pilot departments (6.2)

Launch Civic Technology

Fellowship program on a pilot basis with one City department (6.3)

Within 5 years:

Evaluate workforce development pilot results, improve program details, and offer leadership and technology workforce development programs City-wide (6.2)

Evaluate Civic Technology

Fellowship pilot results, improve program details, and increase size of cohort to place fellows in departments across the City (6.3)