City Hiring New Cosolidated HR Director

The city of East Providence is hiring. They are hiring a Director of Consolidated Human Resources, responsible for ‘hiring, staffing, training, classification, benefits, wellness, safety, compensation, labor relations, evaluating employee performance, discipline, and civil service employment on the municipal side, and Rhode Island Department of Education regulations on the school side, among other duties…’ “Good luck to the person who gets this job,” was the sentiment from persons familiar with both city and schools personnel management. The city job description goes on to say, “the City of East Providence is seeking a qualified candidate for the consolidated position of Director of Human Resources. Under the direction of the City Manager and Superintendent of Schools, the position assumes responsibility for the direction, planning, coordination and administration of all programs, functions, and activities of the consolidated municipal and school human resources functions. No salary rate has been set and the application asks candidates to furnish their “salary requirements.” The review of applications will begin immediately and should be submitted no later than March 30, 2012. Applicants need to apply online at www.schoolspring.com. Mailed applications will not be accepted.

“I have advocated for consolidation of administrative services for a long time. I supported it strongly when the city and schools combined the jobs of buildings and grounds/maintenance between city and schools,” said Rogers. “From all indications that combined maintenance job is going very well,” Rogers added. Some are not so sure that one person can fill this new Human Resources consolidated job due to the different complexities of each job. The school department, in particular, is bound by hundreds of state department of education professional certifications and regulations. The job description further states that the position “will serve as a member of the executive leadership team on an organization-wide and community basis to ensure that public services are provided in alignment with the strategic objectives of the municipal government and the school department. The Director of Human Resources must be able to negotiate and administer multiple school and municipal collective bargaining agreements/contracts.” A major part of both the city and school department personnel departments has been the management of benefit and insurance issues. It can be a fulltime separate responsibility say some close to those jobs. This new consolidated director must also be “responsible for the oversight and administration of all employee benefits either mandated by contractual agreements or regulatory to include but not limited to health, dental, life, LTD, 457 and 403(b) plans, flexible spending programs, unemployment, workers’ compensation, safety and wellness initiates, HIPAA, Cobra, DLT, EEOC/ADA, FLSA, FCRA, vacation, sick and personal leave benefits, employee communications, and supplemental and/or voluntary benefits.”

Some on the city council and school committee have discussed the possibility of hiring additional “manager types” in each department to work on day to day department specific duties. Some question that when all the dust settles, how much will really be saved if other staff is required to make this consolidation work smoothly.

In addition, this person will have to attend school committee and city council meetings and attend other evening meetings such as contract negotiations. The most telling part of the job description may be the very last line of the document: Applicants must have the “ability to think on one’s feet, multi-task while juggling multiple priorities, reach consensus, and create culture of collaboration and accountability.” So if you can juggle lots of complicated stuff, reach a consensus in this community under state financial oversight, and exist on very little sleep, while facing stress every day - this job may be for you. Go online and apply and good luck.