Nevada

In 2001, the Nevada Legislature decided to do something about its underfunded social service programs. It appropriated the money needed to achieve a ratio of social workers to clients of at least 1-to-28 — a far cry from the generally recommended ratio of 1-to-17 but a clear improvement over the existing situation. Unfortunately, even this modest change never came about. Nevada’s ratios are still close to one position for every 35 or 40 clients. Why? “We have allocated positions, but can’t recruit folks,” says Michael Willden, director of the Department of Human Resources.

A worker shortage rages in Nevada. The list of problem occupations is long: nurses, social workers, mental health professionals, occupational therapists, speech therapists, physical therapists. And it doesn’t stop with social service jobs. This is one of the few states in which there’s still a shortage of information technology workers. The Department of Transportation needs engineers. The Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation is hungry for certified rehabilitation counselors.

Since Nevada is one of the fastest-growing states, it needs to have flexible hiring practices to meet rapidly emerging needs. What it has is the opposite: The personnel system is one of the most restrictive in the land. When managers want to hire someone, they are given a list of candidates pre-selected by the central personnel office. Recruitment isn’t usually done for specific positions but for a general classification. Although specific skills can be requested, some managers say this can be difficult.

Money C+ Long-Term Outlook Budget Process Structural Balance Contracting/Purchasing Financial Controls/Reporting People C+ Strategic Workforce Planning Hiring Retaining Employees Training and Development Managing Employee Performance Infrastructure B+ Capital Planning Project Monitoring Maintenance Internal Coordination Intergovernmental Coordination Information B- Strategic Direction Budgeting for Performance Managing for Performance Program Evaluation Electronic Government • Population (rank): 1,998,257 (35) • Average per capita income (rank):    $31,266 (18) • Total state spending (rank):    $7,348,095,000 (39) • Spending per capita (rank):    $3,391 (47) • Governor:Kenny Guinn (R) • First elected: 11/1998 • Senate: 21 members: 9 D, 12 R • Term Limits: 12 years (lifetime) • Assembly: 42 members: 26 D, 16 R • Term Limits: 12 years (lifetime)

Elsewhere, states have used pilot projects to experiment with alternative hiring procedures, but the Nevada legislature hasn’t made it easy to do pilots. In past legislative sessions, lawmakers have considered providing more freedom for personnel managers to experiment but haven’t yet done so.

The state’s salaries make things worse. Compensation not only lags behind the private sector but is lower than in Nevada counties and cities. Contrary to its own best interests, Nevada’s retirement policies help people to depart even earlier than they might otherwise. Employees can “buy” up to five more years of employment credit for a modest cash payment. One information manager recently retired at age 43. She’ll continue to draw 75 percent of her salary for the rest of her life.

To help alleviate these problems, Human Resources and other agencies have turned to contract employees, but this is not a long-term solution. “You’re not growing expertise in-house for the future,” says Kareen Masters, personnel officer at Human Resources.

Fast action isn’t easy in a state where the legislature only meets every other year, but fast action is needed. The “brain drain” in Nevada is only going to accelerate with huge numbers of employees eligible for retirement. “I have nine major divisions and the heads of all but one could leave tomorrow,” says Willden.

Governor Kenny Guinn knows what’s going on. And he’s got a pretty good track record at fixing problems. His tax reform task force sparked legislative action in 2003, and while the governor’s specific recommendations weren’t all accepted, the enacted tax changes did bolster Nevada’s faltering revenue and eased long-term problems with structural balance.

The state does a good job of taking care of its infrastructure and has instituted a proactive approach to managing pavement maintenance in order to extend the life of its roads. Nevada’s overall technology systems have been improving as well, but there have been problems with several agency-specific systems, as well as ongoing issues with billing rates charged by the Department of Information Technology. The state’s performance measurement efforts have been steadily improving, as it moves away from a focus on outputs toward more use of results-related measures.

For additional data and analysis, go to: http://results.gpponline.org/nevada

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