Panel: Detroit water, sewer department should cut 81% of workers to slow soaring rate

[corktownyuppie]

My father worked for the DWSD and was a union member. The stories of inefficiency he told me were atrocious. What's interesting is that:

[[1) There are too many job classifications
[[2) The people they will be hiring will actually be getting *higher* pay, not lower pay. Doing much more, with fewer, higher paid employees at a lower net cost? Makes you wonder how they ever let it get this bad.

Also makes you wonder how much inefficiency we'd find if we did the same audit for every department in the City.

http://www.freep.com/article/2012080...-soaring-rates

“We found the organization is siloed, with inflexible job descriptions, multiple reporting levels and a lack of training,” said Brian Hurder, vice president of EMA. The reports says the department has 257 job classifications and that number will fall to 31 under the plan. The study found the average cost per employee was $86,135 and by reducing the workforce, the department plans to reduce costs by as much as $138 million annually.

Hurder noted that savings can only be achieved by upgrading technology, outsourcing and retraining of employees for new skills.

McCormick said the department will expect employees to have higher, more diverse skills and it will likely pay them more. Cox’s order exempts the water department from many of the pay grades and other work regulations that other city employees fall under.