No, department workflows will remain in place during the first 1-2 months of the transition and then section leadership will start engaging the team to assess workflows and the suggestions generated during the Phase II HR Transformation Workgroups. Workflow changes will be managed by section leadership and adequately communicated to staff in the unit as well as affected stakeholders in the agencies before they occur. The person approving the work of HR team members moving into the new HR structure may change on or shortly after the February 8th transition. HR teams will be apprised of their new supervisors via the org charts and can expect direction on approval processes when the transition occurs.

As soon as the workgroup has them designed and the Division has managed workload assignments to release HR team members from the support they are currently providing the agencies. The first workgroup met on January 19, 2021. The goal of implementation is within one to two months of transition.

Staff assignments will be finalized in the coming week and both HR staff and agencies will be made aware of their assigned points of contact for HR functions such as payroll, recruitment, and employee relations. All agencies will be encouraged to work through their HRBPs to ensure they are getting to the appropriate points of contact if they are uncertain of their point of contact.

For the majority of the HR community, your PCN will remain in your current department. As such, your email and your access to shared folders will not be impacted on February 8, 2021.

For the few employees that are transferring in to DOA/DOPLR and occupying a new PCN, you may need to work with your current agency in order to maintain your existing emails. We will contact these individuals directly regarding this matter.

The Division of Personnel has a shared drive that will continue to be expanded upon and adjusted to meet the needs of our new structure. Program Managers will work with their teams to identify best practices used by agency HR staff and incorporate these concepts when updating the DOPLR shared drive. The updated DOPLR shared drive structure should be up and running by the time agency HR staff PCNs transfer to DOPLR on July 1, 2021.

No changes will occur with your paper files on February 8. Continue to maintain them as you have and we will provide more direction later.

It depends. Currently, a majority of employees are teleworking. There may be some groupings that are co-located if/when staff begin working in state offices.

HR team members will be trained in a variety of ways, including but not limited to: virtual training; and training from unit managers, senior staff and the HR Trainer.

We will continue to seek feedback from staff, whether that is through surveys, town halls, email, or individual conversations. Part of the service level agreements is to have high HR employee engagement and satisfaction so this will be measured and aggregate results will be shared with the HR community.

On February 8, your current VPN will not be changed. Only those employees transferring in to DOA PCNs from another agency will need a new VPN. We will contact those few directly.

VPNs will need to be updated prior to July 1, 2021, when the PCNs are transferred from your current agency into DOA/DOPLR. DOPLR program managers will coordinate VPN updates for the Operations Centers and Centers of Expertise.

You will retain your current equipment on February 8, as part of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) between DOA and your department.

The transition is being coordinated between HR Leadership, Working Groups and Program Managers. If you would like to volunteer your time, if you haven’t already done so, please email ask.soahr@alaska.gov and indicate the areas you are interested in and how you would like to volunteer.

Program managers are partnering with HRBPs to gain an understanding of current processes and to develop transfer of work plans. Current delegations will be reviewed and updated as necessary.

The HRBP roadmap includes a suggested time and workload breakdown and can be found on the DOPLR website:

HRBP 2021 Detailed Road Map (PDF)

HRBPs should be actively preparing to transition HR work that will be handled in the new structure. As shown on the HR Transformation Roadmap for February 2021, Program Managers will work with HRBPs to finalize work transition plans by the end of February.

Yes. Modifications may be necessary to ensure full coverage and if that is the case, program managers will work one-on-one with HR team members.

Yes. Recruitment bulletins will provide a list of duties for the position. You can also contact the Program Manager for more details.

An example of a “Day in the Life of and HRBP (PDF)” can be found on the DOPLR website.

As always, a change of rater evaluation should be written by supervisors when an employee is changing supervisors. Evaluations with rating periods that begin on or after February 8 will be written by your new supervisor.

Each agency will have a primary and secondary contact. Leave approvals will be made to ensure ongoing coverage for each agency.

Workloads may shift as the workgroups refine workflows, work demands and staffing needs. It is anticipated that once the work settles, PDs will be updated as necessary to reflect the work that has resulted.

Establishing flexibly staffed positions in Payroll is not a deliverable envisioned by HR Transformation.

At the request of DHSS, API is not part of this transformation at this time. Your current processes will remain. You can find out more information on the HR Transformation website.

Or you can contact your agency HRBP

In Phase – I of the HR Transformation we solicited feedback from HR employees with a workload survey. We used this information in assigning and assessing workloads. Case contacts will be published soon.

Organization charts with position titles will be posted very soon. Employees who wish to make a change can apply for vacancies as they occur.

Employees and managers will be working on their communications with agency managers to ensure that they are aware of updated procedures. HRBPs will be DOPLR’s liaison with the agency and will be consulted to help with agency-specific communication and change management planning.

Information regarding the origin of HR Transformation is on the DOPLR website and can be found on the HR Transformation website.

Please contact your supervisor if you are in the need of supplies.

A classification study will be conducted once the transformation has been fully implemented and functions are sustained.

Training is being provided to HRBPs currently and the DOPLR Trainer and Program Managers will be providing training to the HR community. As with any position, employees are also encouraged to seek knowledge on their own. Program managers and HRBPs will meet regularly to communicate processes and maintain consistency.

Yes, if you have leave requests or plans for February 8 or later in 2021, please send them to your future Program Manager.

New information will be posted on the website weekly (i.e. new FAQs, posting townhall recordings, work group recommendation reports)

HR PCNs will be part of the DOPLR budget in FY22. The HR team plans to have the new HR structure in place by the end of the year. Departments have expressed they want to keep HR physically located in their departments and DOA Commissioner Tshibaka is supportive of that. DOA is also supportive of telework.

Contact any leader on the team with your ideas and feedback for the HR Transformation.

The plan is a phased in approach for when functions/processes are ready to go live and staff are ready. This includes our clients in agencies.

We will utilize the normal communications channels, i.e., emails from hiring managers and notifications from CEA. If you have another suggestion, please share it with us!

If the current telework agreement is working there is no desire to make a change.

No, not as a part of the HR transformation.

Watch the response from the July Town Hall.

Watch the response from the July Town Hall.

Watch the response from the July Town Hall.

Watch the response from the July Town Hall.

Watch the response from the July Town Hall.

Watch the response from the July Town Hall.

The recommendations from the work groups focused on process updates, new services and units and services no longer performed by HR. Work group recommendation will be posted soon.

Specific work group recommendations for the EEO, EPIC and Classification workgroups will be posted on August 7.

Yes, please contact any leaders on the team with feedback. There is always the opportunity to provide feedback.

It depends, some new processes we would want to implement right away, some will require a pilot

Watch the response from the July Town Hall.

An HRBP serves as a strategic business partner alongside department’s senior leadership to develop and direct an HR strategy that closely supports the goals of the organization. They understand the departments business and assist leadership in identifying and solving strategic HR issues (i.e workforce planning, retention & employee engagement, performance management strategies). They work with other HR groups (i.e. centers of expertise) to develop and implement solutions to accomplish organizational effectiveness.

Yes, we are working on the description of duties and should have a draft for review available soon.

Yes, as part of our guiding principles we are committed to providing the knowledge and support needed for all of our HR staff to successfully perform their work.

Yes, as the need exists. For example, we envision that the HRBP will likely require a new job class.

Yes, as we did when we decentralized, a class study will be performed after positions are moved/changed so the body of work positions are actually performing can be best assessed.

We will be looking to have assistance from outside DOPLR and are considering making an arrangement with other public entities that have classification experience, as we did with the City and Borough of Juneau when we decentralized.

Watch the response from the July Town Hall.