GOALS:

		To communicate the necessity of good human resources practices as a pre-condition for effective facilities maintenance management
		To describe best practice strategies for effectively managing staff

• Hiring Staff
  • Job Descriptions
  • Selecting the Right People
  • Dotting Your I's and Crossing Your T's
• Training Staff
  • Newly Hired Employees
  • Ongoing Training and Professional Development
  • The "Moment of Truth" Chart
• Evaluating Staff
• Maintaining Staff
• Managing Contracted Staff and Privatized Activities
• Commonly Asked Questions
• Additional Resources
• Managing Staff and Contractors Checklist

Training Staff

Newly Hired Employees

People who are new to an organization have special training needs. They need to know how to complete a time sheet, the procedure for lodging a complaint and, for that matter, where to find the bathroom-and that doesn't even take into consideration what they need to know to accomplish the task they have been hired to perform. Consequently, newly hired personnel should receive the following types of training as soon as possible after joining the organization:

		Orientation (or tour) of the organization's facilities - including the payroll division (where timecards are punched and submitted), emergency locations (such as the nurse's office), the cafeteria, and the supervisor's office.
		Orientation (or tour) of the person's work area - including the primary location where he or she reports to work and all areas where he or she might be expected to perform job-related tasks (e.g., a plumber should be shown the organization's plumbing headquarters and all campuses he or she will be servicing).
		Equipment instructions - including an introduction to all tools, machinery, and vehicles the individual will be expected to use (e.g., industrial floor sweepers, lawn cutting equipment, power tools, and district trucks).
		Task-oriented lessons - including instructions on how to best perform the individual's work tasks (e.g., how to clean a carpet, repair a roof, or service a school bus).
		Expectations - including a clear description of precisely what the individual must do to meet the requirements of the job (what, where, when, and to what extent).
		Evaluation information - including an explanation of all criteria on which the individual will be evaluated, such as the tasks that will be evaluated, all relevant performance standards and expectations, who will do the evaluating, what mechanisms will be used to perform the evaluations (e.g., random checks or daily assessments), and the potential ramifications of the evaluations.

The purpose of staff training may be to:   ensure that your staff stay safe (e.g., OSHA training)   teach staff how to deal with changing needs (e.g., caring for newly installed floors)   provide a stimulating experience to people who perform repetitive tasks (thereby improving staff morale and retention rates)   prepare staff for future promotions

Ongoing Training and Professional Development

Admittedly, there is a trade-off between the benefits of staff training and the costs of lost work time during training. School districts can't simply treat their employees like full-time students; nonetheless, preparing staff to get their work done properly, efficiently, and safely is cost-effective in the long run-and managers need to have the wisdom to balance the competing concerns. Planners should also be open to considering the benefits of developing "general" skills in their staff. For example, should a custodian be able to spend one hour per month learning about computer use with other staff? This professional development activity may seem unrelated to a custodian's job, but custodial work may someday (soon) require e-mail skills for communicating with centralized supervisors. Moreover, in light of their overall mission, school districts may be uniquely motivated to provide educational opportunities to their personnel.

Managers must think creatively about how to provide high-quality training opportunities in the face of time and budget constraints. Proven methods include:

		Sharing training costs with other organizations on a collaborative basis (e.g., training may be sponsored by several neighboring school districts or jointly by the school facilities department and the public works department in the same community).
		Hiring expert staff or consultants to provide on-site supervision during which they actively help staff improve their skills while still on-the-job.
		Developing training facilities, such as a custodial training room in which equipment (e.g., vacuums) and techniques (e.g., mopping) can be demonstrated and practiced. Providing this type of training will pay for itself in more efficient and better work from the trainee. Larger school districts, which are more likely to find such specialized facilities to be worth the investment, can do a good deed (and generate goodwill) by hosting training events for smaller districts in the area.

		Offering tuition reimbursement programs which provide educational opportunities to staff who might not otherwise be motivated to improve their knowledge and skills.
		Building training into contracts so that vendors are obligated to provide training at either an on-site or off-site training center as a condition of the purchase of their products.

"Staff training" refers to learning opportunities designed specifically to help an employee do his or her job better. "Professional Development" has a broader meaning, which includes expanding participants' knowledge and awareness to areas outside their specific job duties, yet still related to the overall well-being of the organization. Such topics might include:
asbestos awareness   energy systems   building knowledge   first aid   emergency response	biohazard disposal   technology use   universal precautions   Right-to-Know

The "Moment of Truth" Chart

"Moment of Truth" Chart A Girl Scout troop meets every Thursday night at James Elementary School, where Steve is the custodian. Following is the "Moment of Truth" chart Steve created at a staff development meeting: On Thursday nights... Below Standard Standard to Be Met Opportunity to Exceed Outside doors locked Room door locked Meeting area unprepared Outside doors unlocked Room door unlocked Meeting area prepared Exterior and lobby lights turned on; Scouts greeted as they arrive Room lights turned on; signs pointing to the meeting room Closest bathroom unlocked, lit, (e.g., temperature checked, cleaned, and supplied; introduce room straightened) self to troop leader; tell troop leader to call if they need any other help; reappear at end of meeting to escort the troop out of the building and lock the doors behind them How did the "Moment of Truth" chart inform Steve's actions? Because Steve knew that the Girl Scouts would be arriving at 7 p.m., he planned his work schedule so that he would be in the lobby area to welcome them. He opened the door and greeted Mrs. Jones, the troop leader, two parents, and the scouts as they entered the building. Steve told them that he had checked their room, and that the lights were on, the temperature was comfortable, and the bathrooms on that corridor were open and supplied. He also mentioned that he would be working down the hall in the cafeteria in case they needed him for anything. When the meeting was over, Steve walked the guests out of the building and locked up behind them. The next day Steve got summoned to the main office where the principal asked him what in the world he had done to Mrs. Jones! The troop leader had called the principal that morning for the sole purpose of recognizing Steve's hospitality and efficiency the previous evening. The principal was pleased to pass along the thanks to Steve, adding that she was proud of him for leaving such a positive impression on the school's guests. And what were things like before Steve constructed his "Moment of Truth" chart? Steve was cleaning the gymnasium floor when he heard pounding on the windows down the corridor. He opened the front doors and found Mrs. Jones and the girls standing in the dark and the cold. Mrs. Jones explained that two parents had walked around to the back of the building to look for an open door. Steve went to look for them. When he returned, he found Mrs. Jones and the troop waiting outside the locked meeting room. When he opened the door and turned on the lights, he found the room in a state of disarray. Mrs. Jones grimaced and said that the girls would straighten it if Steve could get some heat into the room. Forty minutes later, he heard someone calling through the dark halls for "Mr. Janitor." He was asked not only to open the bathroom, but also to bring a mop since one of the young girls had not been able to wait. The next day Steve got called to the office by the principal, who had just received an angry phone call from the troop leader. Conclusions Would you rather work in a school district that hears praises or complaints about the custodial staff? Most people would rather be helpful when possible-and one of the keys to good leadership is helping staff to see that doing a good job is not only possible, but preferable. The Moment of Truth Chart is a technique for accomplishing this objective. It shows that doing an exceptional job doesn't require that much more work, just that the work be done more efficiently. In the example above, Steve had to open the doors, turn on the lights, heat the rooms, and supply the bathrooms anyway. The Moment of Truth Chart just reminded him that he should plan to reorganize his schedule on Thursday nights so that he performed these tasks before the guests arrived!

Evaluating Staff

Managing a school district effectively requires that two vital tasks be navigated successfully. First, district leadership must institute policies that direct the organization's efforts toward desired goals and objectives. Second, the organization's employees must act on those policies on a daily basis so as to meet the goals and objectives the organization has set. Thus, if policies lead the organization in the wrong direction, "good" workers will only take it there more efficiently. On the other hand, good policies aren't worth the paper on which they are written if staff aren't getting their jobs done properly. To ensure that staff are doing their part to meet an organization's goals and objectives, employee performance must be evaluated on a regular basis.

To assess staff productivity, the organization (through its managers and supervisors) must establish performance standards and evaluation criteria. For example, a custodian's performance might be measured by the amount of floor space or number of rooms serviced, the cleanliness of those facilities, and his or her attendance history. The custodian's work likely will be assessed by his or her immediate supervisor and the principal of the school. Self-evaluations can also be useful personnel management tools-i.e., ask the staff member to rate his or her own work and then discuss the outcomes relative to the supervisor's opinion.

Guidelines for Developing Performance Standards Management must:   Establish goals   Create an evaluation instrument (e.g., a checklist)   Be as detailed and specific as possible   Define the performance scale (e.g., 0 = poor to 5 = excellent)   Be flexible (i.e., acknowledge extraordinary circumstances when they arise)   Convey expectations to affected staff people   Review the performance standards on a regular basis (e.g., annually)

Determining performance standards may be best accomplished as a joint endeavor between the individual and his or her supervisor. Although some supervisors may be reluctant to share this authority, joint decision-making with the staff member has two very positive features: 1) the staff member can communicate atypical features of his or her working conditions that warrant modification of "normal" performance standards (e.g., the vinyl tile floor in the work area requires additional time to clean properly); and 2) the supervisor will know that the staff member is fully aware of the jointly developed expectations.

Assessing how an employee measures up to performance standards is an uncomfortable task for many supervisors. To avoid unpleasantness, the supervisor must maintain his or her composure, objectivity, and professionalism-otherwise one risks inciting staff morale issues and, perhaps, personnel complaints or even legal issues. To avoid these problems, evaluators must be careful to:

		Be objective and not allow personalities to influence the assessment
		Document evidence that supports the assessment
		Encourage improvement rather than fixate on shortcomings