Staffing Plan Survey of State Transportation Agencies

A survey of state transportation agencies in the United States was conducted to identify staffing plan practices and concerns. A staffing plan involves recruiting, training, and retaining employees with skills to do the work needed for the organization to attain its objectives efficiently. Staffing plan areas studied in the survey included general information about the state transportation agency, such as the strategic plan and staffing plans, recruitment, right-sized workforce (determining the right number of employees to perform a job), flexible workforce (the ability to change the work performed and the work location), retention (keeping valuable employees), and succession planning (ensuring a qualified pool of employees for key positions). All 50 states participated in the survey. Responses indicated that most state transportation agencies have at least one primary area in human resource management that they consider innovative and that there is a broad-based interest among the states to cooperate in exploring new and better methods. The highest staffing plan priorities among state transportation agencies are employee recruitment, performance measures, and employee retention. State staffing plan priorities, current innovation in these areas, and strong interest in cooperating with other states provide a basis for broad-based improvement in staffing plans among the states and across the nation.