| Title | Succession Planning: Determining VDOT's Professional Needs for the 21st Century |
| ShortDescription | This report focuses on the development of a succession planning program for the Virginia Department of Transportation, and the exercises undertaken to do this. The resulting recommendations are grouped under four basic objectives: (a) increase the quantity and quality of new transportation professionals, (b) improve the retention rate, (c) improve career opportunities, and (d) determine the extent of near-term employee shortages. |
| LongDescription | In this paper the development of a program of succession planning for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is addressed. Transportation industry findings, confirmed by VDOT demographics, indicate a greater-than-average turnover among senior transportation professionals during the 1990s. This problem is accentuated by experience gaps, economic disincentives within the agency, and decreasing numbers of university graduates with training in transportation. The paper contains reviews of prior transportation professional needs studies, with an examination of the demographic makeup of VDOT's existing work force, including those who resigned or retired. A profile of resigned employees, developed from historical data, is used to develop a model to help predict future attrition patterns. VDOT's mission and goals in the future, and how it will respond to staffing needs, were addressed by a series of focus group meetings held with division and district administrators. Study results suggest that the replacement workforce will be recruited from a pool of applicants significantly different from that which VDOT has traditionally used. VDOT will require new recruitment programs to attract professionals with a new set of skills if it is to be successful in replacing its work force in the decades ahead. Recommendations that can assist VDOT and other state Departments of Transportation in addressing changes in the makeup of its future workforce are grouped under four basic objectives : (a) increase the quantity and quality of new transportation professionals, (b) improve the retention rate, (c) improve career opportunities, and (d) determine the extent of near-term employee shortages. |
| SourceAuthor | Hoel, Lester A.; Perfater, Michael A., Shea, Timothy M. |
| Reference | VTRC 94-R7 |
| Organization | Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC) |
| ContactAddress | PO Box 3817, University Station, Charlottesville VA 22903-0817 |
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http://ntlsearch.bts.gov/tris/record/tris/00638790.html
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