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Highways HCPs discussed

The majority of ITD's workforce reside in the Division of Highways, and about 60% of them participate in one of Highways’ four Career Paths, so any changes have the potential to impact hundreds of employees. A number of updates to the Horizontal Career Path (HCP) program for these employees arrived with the new Fiscal Year July 1.

Throughout the year, employees brought forward concerns or suggested improvements to HCPs. The HCP Continuity Team made a concerted effort to address all of them in this year’s update of the plans.

“A frequent concern was the way in which career paths were documented," said Highways Construction & Operations Administrator Dave Kuisti. “In looking at this year’s update, you’ll find a consistent, streamlined formatting that contains all the details in one document."

Highlights to the FY20 HCP policy:

- It is no longer “up or out” for HCP participants. Contributing to ITD’s success is required, but progression in the career paths is voluntary (except for TESLs, who must become licensed).
- Training and experience hours must be completed by June 15 for ALL paths each year. This is in order to facilitate the administrative process.
- For TTEs and TESLs, the delivery date for FY21 projects will be moved back six months to March 27, 2020. Moving the date from the end of September to the end of the next March removes the conflict of having designs due at the end of construction season.
- All TTEs must become familiar with both Design and Construction, but the HCP allows them to specialize in one or the other. CADD testing reflects basic competency, not the skill level of the super user.
- For TOTLs, performance metrics stay the same. However, they should use the Mobility Cost Efficiency (MCE) diagnostic tool to continue to refine processes. Training is being developed, to be rolled out as we approach wintertime.
- Continuing Education hours (once the steps are complete) for TOTLs were decreased from 40 hours to 20 hours to match the requirements of other HCPs.

“TalentED goals were posted July 26 in the Goal Library on the Learning Hub for HCP participants to use when generating new performance plans,” explained Kuisti. “They contain the ‘why’ for the performance goals, which show how they support ITD’s mission.”

Copies of the FY20 HCP documents were posted on HR’s SharePoint site on July 19, and there is also link to them on the new HIGHWAYS main page.