DHS will lose 600 to early retirement

About 600 state human services employees have signed up to retire by June 24, adding to the angst and uncertainty for an agency already revamping its field operations and juggling budget issues.

“There are a lot of things going on at the same time,” said Charles Krogmeier, director of the state Department of Human Services, an agency with about 5,500 employees that expects turnover of nearly 12 percent of its senior staff during the next two months.

“It's an opportunity, and it's a big challenge,” he said Wednesday, noting that experienced people are leaving, that not all those jobs will be filled and that people who do fill jobs will not have the same level of experience and knowledge.

“So it's going to be very difficult for our department to maintain the same quality and level of program with that much of a turnover,” he said.

Krogmeier expects at least half the positions vacated by early retirement would be filled, based upon priority needs and affordability.

DHS budget officials said the agency expected to receive at least $88 million more in funding for fiscal 2011 over current spending levels, thanks to help from federal sources, the state's cash reserve and other financial pools outside the state general fund.

Lawmakers did not provide money to fund employee pay raises next year, however, and nearly $84 million in savings mandated under a government reorganization have not been divided among state agencies yet.

In the meantime, DHS officials have embarked on a reorganization of its field operations that compressed eight service areas into five and called for expanding the number of “less than full-time” county offices from 34 to 57 by July 1.

Once the changeover has been completed, there will be roughly 300 fewer field workers compared with November 2008. The ratio of supervisors to workers will be 1-to-14, versus 1-to-11 now, and average caseloads for income maintenance workers will climb from about 500 to 567.

Vern Armstrong, a DHS official overseeing the field reorganization, said the process has been “very unsettling” for field workers, managers and the Iowans they serve. It also will require “tons of training” over the coming weeks as existing DHS workers move into new positions or new workers are hired to fill posts.

“We do not do this lightly,” he told the Council on Human Services at its Wednesday meeting. “This is necessary. We believe it positions us better. We believe we're making the right move, even though it is very unsettling for people.”