Department of Veterans Affairs (DAV) Staffing Plan

Department of Veterans Affairs Staffing Plan
Candidate’s Name:
Institution’s Name:
Date of submission:
Introduction
Maintaining an effective and efficient workforce in an organization is of paramount importance. The human resource strategies of retaining and motivating staff have to be definitive and inclusive in all aspects (Gunetilleke, De Silva, & Lokuge, 2010). In the events of a deficiency in the workforce, the human resource department will always employ a contingency plan to contain the issue. Department of Veteran Affairs has some problems with the workforce which have led to the reduction of its effectiveness in undertaking its duties. It is in such instances that the HRM department sets in and provides a solution to the matter. In achieving such a milestone, a comprehensive staffing plan has to be developed in which such issues as recruitment criteria; positions to be filled, estimated budget and the assessment project are addressed. It, therefore, remains significant for an organization with personnel shortage to have a plan for employee retention and recruitment procedures.
Statement of the Problem
Following the efforts on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some its soldiers were disabled and therefore unable to carry on with their duties effectively. Due to this effect, there has been an accumulation of uncompleted pressure within the DAV leading to a backlog of cases with some staying between 18-24 months in length. This has slowed the service delivery of the department.

There is an increasing demand of retention of employees in the department as well as replenishing the workforce to minimize the backlog created by the increasing number of disabled veterans. For this reason, recruitment of other employees to fill the gaps to serve the disabled officers is crucial in ensuring the backlog is eliminated. However, there are budget constraints that limit the department in its move to combat the problem. It is due to lack of proper working staffing plan that makes the problem remain unsolved and enhances budget influx in the department. Furthermore, the assessment strategies to select the necessary personnel have to be in place for the organization to operate normally and reduce the backlog to the lowest limits possible.
Goals
The primary goal of the plan is to develop an excellent recruitment plan for the Department of Veteran Affairs. These will assist it in solving the problem of the backlog of cases due to the shortage of employees. Additionally, the plan is meant to tap the most efficient and suitable staff to fill the increasing demand for services while restraining itself to the budget of the department. This will bring some sense or organization in the department, and as a result, the massive backlog can be reduced and adhere to EEO Lawsuits.
Objectives
The major objective of this staffing plan is to give the organization an opportunity to reduce its backlog of cases. Other specific objectives include:
• Recruiting the most talented and performing employees to join the existing workforce in the DAV.
• To reduce the employee turnover that exists in the department through recruitment of new staff.
• To replenish the workforce and provide equal opportunities to new staff and bring an organizational excellence through excellent recruitment and assessment planning
• To improve the rate of service delivery within the department and cut the ever expanding budget of the department.
Number of Personnel
The DAV aims at revitalizing its staff due to the increased workload. It, therefore, needs additional staff to neutralize the imbalance caused by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that left much disabled. For this reason, the department would need to add 80 more staff to be distributed in various states in the US in healthcare, administrative and managerial positions in the department. These positions will be filled with both applicants from federal agencies, permanent Veteran Affairs personnel and external United States citizens as stipulated on who should apply for the positions. Some positions will, however, be noncompetitive, and the existing workforce will be awarded the positions in respect to promotion rules of the department.
Position Descriptions
The positions to be filled in the DAV workforce are categorized into three divisions. Healthcare, administrative and managerial divisions will be the groups to which the staff will have to be recruited.
Healthcare Category
The following will be the positions to be filled in this category. A total of 45 positions will be distributed evenly across the positions.
Registered Nurse – Progressive Care Unit (PCU): For this position, there will be a maximum of 34 applicants that will be selected out of which only 30 will be absorbed into the DAV workforce. This post is open for all US citizens and whose qualifications match those of a registered nurse. Prior experience or affiliation from a recognized healthcare institution is mandatory. The major roles to be played by the successful candidates will be: first, assessing and examining the health conditions of the veterans and their dependants. Second, carry out a scheduled in-house medical check of all other employees. Third, run all the medical procedures of existing and incoming veterans in the department.
Physician (Psychiatrist): For one to qualify for this position, he/she must be a US citizen and be enrolled in a reputable health organization. There will be 15 posts to be filled in this position. The major roles will be providing guidance and counseling to the affected Army forces by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Furthermore, they will be responsible for all counseling the families of the disabled veterans. The position is full time and permanent.
Administration Category
Supervisory Medical Supply Technician: Those recruited for this position will be responsible for overseeing all the procured medical supplies including machinery and pharmaceuticals. There will be ten positions for this category. The eligible applicants should be permanent VA healthcare nursing employees from any state in the US.
Motor Vehicle Operator Supervisor: The responsibility of those who will qualify for this post will be an oversight on all the vehicles used by DAV. Assigning of vehicles to various personnel and managers will be under his/her jurisdiction. The post will absorb eight staffs. The eligible candidates will be based on merits of promotions for all the VEOA Eligible from all the states upon application.
Managerial Category
Traveling Veteran Coordinator (TVC): All the traveling activities of the DAV within the state will lie under this position. Deciding when and how the activity has to be undertaken will be his/her decision. The position will have 13 posts across all the states. The eligible applicants must be current Permanent VA employees from any state nationwide.
Recruitment and Selection Strategies
Since the department already has deficiencies in various sections, recruitment, and selection of the right personnel needs to be made with high precision. In achieving this, various steps will have to be followed in identification, selection, assessment and finally recruitment of the required personnel. All this proceeding will be done by the human resource section of the department. First, before any decision on what positions needs enforcement in the department, there will be an extensive analysis of the workforce. Deficiencies will be identified and the approvals for filling the positions. Second, the human resource will determine the necessary skills and profile the descriptions of the positions so that the right skills are matched with the positions that need to be filled. Third, assessment criteria and ranking method are selected for which it will guide the whole process of selecting the right candidates for the positions.
Owing to the EEO lawsuits requirements, the positions have to be declared vacant and open for any US citizen to apply. The recruiting committee will have a 45 days period to receive the applications from the applicants and assess them in agreement with the set ranking and assessment criteria. For all the successful candidates, a series of interviews will be scheduled. It is, however, to mention that the application or selection for an interview is not a guarantee of being hired to join the DAV. Since the recruited persons will be holding public office, background checks of criminal records and security requirements are performed on those who pass the interviews. In a move to establishing an efficient and enterprising workforce, it becomes essential to establish an Entry on Duty (EOD) date after security measures have been satisfied.
Selection Criteria
Veteran’s preference is an essential determinant of how the selection of the eligible is made. For one to join the DAV he/she must have been on active duty from the armed forces. The eligibility is based on the dates of active duty, receipt of campaign badge or service connected disability. However, those discharged from the military under honorable conditions are also eligible for the veteran positions. Retired officers from the military who are disabled and have been below the ranks of a major or the equivalent of that can be termed as being eligible for the positions.
For all the veterans of the various grades in the DAV, the awarding of points is based on the disability rate about their designation codes as shown in their campaign certificates. Those with Code CPS and a disability of more than 30% will be awarded 10 points, CP with at least 10% but less than 30% disability will be awarded 10 points, XP with a disability of rating less than 10% will be given 10pints however they must be a purple heart recipient, Spouse to a disabled vet or spouse/parent to a killed vet in combat. Those with the code TP and no disability but served for more than 180 consecutive days apart from training between September 1, 2001, and August 31, 2010, will be awarded 5 points. The evaluation of other aspects as decided by the recruiting committee will provide a range of score an applicant will be given. Applicants who meet the basic qualifications in the vet preferences are categorized into three. The gold category will contain those whose score range is 95-100; silver will have those whose score is between 85-94.9 and bronze 70-84.9. These criteria are meant to select the veterans to be served in the DAV.
For all the posts to be filled by the required staff, there will vary in accordance to the needed of the various sections in the department. Most of the positions to be filled will be the healthcare positions. The criteria for choosing of the applicants will be based on the qualifications of the candidates. Points will be awarded to the applicants by their academic credentials and the experience of the applicants. Furthermore, the abilities displayed during the interview sessions will significantly contribute to the overall score of the applicants. Depending on the position and their descriptions, applicants’ skills will be matched with them to identify the most suitable candidates. The process will be open to all and provide a chance to any American citizen in agreement with EEO laws. Prohibited practices like improper employment recommendations, the influence of relatives to gaining employment chances, violation of veterans’ preference laws may lead to disqualification of candidates.
Proposed Budget
ItemsAmounts
Recruitment (advertising and selection labor)$ 50,380
Salaries.
Healthcare category (per year)$2,705,895
Administrative category (per year)$720,594
Managerial positions (per year)$708, 214
Total $4,134,703
Miscellaneous$200,000
Grand total$4,425,083
Assessment Processes
The qualified candidates will have to undergo a thorough background assessment of their previous experiences in their fields of specialization. Regarding this, the recommendations for employment of each applicant will be evaluated to ascertain the level of cooperation they had with their previous employers. These will be incorporated into a test of skills by the various department heads depending on the positions of the candidates. In performing this assessment procedure, they will be subjected to a challenging task under the supervision of the heads of the sections. Such methods are meant to enable the human resource section of DAV to blend the recruited staff to fit the demands of the organization. Other than the initial assessment, there will be a continuous evaluation of the staff and scorecards will be used to grade them. For the purposes or retention of the team, there will be remuneration and recognition awards of the best performers.
Staffing Issues and Challenges.
Owing to the increasing demands of services from the retired officers and the injured officers, the Department of Veteran Affairs has run on several pressing staffing issues. Overshadowing of activities has been the greatest challenge the department was and is facing. More so in the health sector, there has been a severe shortage of staff leading to an overrun of some duties. In a move to cover the increasing demand of services orchestrated by the increased number of veterans due to the wars, the Department has tightened its schedule. These have piled pressure on the medical practitioners in the organization leading to a massive exodus of the employees. Retention has therefore been a challenge to the department, and this has reduced the efficiency of the workforce. The shortages in almost all the sections of the department have created a huge gap between service delivery and the desired targets/goals of the department. Consequently, there has been a backlog of cases and recruitment of new staff thus necessary.
Lack of a motivational plan has reduced the quality of services being offered by the department to the veterans’. The motivation of employees is a vital element in any organization that aims at producing the best services to their clients (Michael & Chipunza, 2009). The department has been having challenges of retaining most of its employees for long especially those from the recruited externally. Following this challenge, the Department has lost some of its critical staff leading to a reduction in the number of cases that can be handled in a given period. The increasing number of veterans in need of medical services benefits administration and other home-based services. It has been hard for the management to control this challenge due to the inadequacies in budget allocation that limits the operations of the organization.
Since the department serves the persons from public duties, there has to be a definitive mechanism of recruiting the persons and the employees to serve them. The department has for long had a no specific rule that guide the selection of employees both from the federal agencies and from other external sources. Promotion of the staff within the department has also seen some controversies, and this has slowed the service delivery of the units. For an organization to be well decorated and have clear promotion and recruitment procedure, a staffing plan has to be present and operational (Banfield & Kay, 2008). These are helpful in ensuring transparency and equity in selection and designation of employees to various positions within the organization. It, therefore, remains crucial that the challenges have to be avoided for an organization to have a healthy employee relation.
Recommendations
Due to the problem of the overshadowing of activities, the department is/will not be able to serve the veterans efficiently. Reorganization of the workforce to align it with the missions and goals of the department is imperative. These will ensure the various positions within the workforce is well documented and the responsibility known. Furthermore, the major contributor to the run over being the lack of enough staff, replenishing the staff to cover the activities of the unit completely will be helpful.
Establishment of an assessment program to realize the performing employees will be productive in motivation and retention of employees within DAV. Scorecards, in this case, can be useful in accomplishing the general performance of the employees and rewarding them for their efforts. These are among the best practices that ensure a healthy relationship between the management and the personnel (Warhurst, Findlay, & Kalleberg, 2013). Furthermore, retention of employees will be enabled through such moves. Therefore, the department needs to establish an assessment and rewarding plan of its employees.
Developing a recruitment and promotion plan is necessary for DAV. This will solve the cases of inappropriate and controversial promotions and recruitments done within the organization. Description of the positions and qualifications is essential for the sake of identification of veterans and other employees both from federal agencies and private organizations. Letting all the staff knows it can satisfy their desire to join or improvement in their job groups on their skills. Transparency will thus be enabled, and the controversies that shall arise will be eliminated.
ConclusionStaffing has been a major challenge for many organizations. Recruitment, selection, promotion, assessment and retention of employees in many institutions have always been a challenging undertaking (Buchan, Twigg, Hith, Dussault, & Dufffield, 2015). The essence of having an exemplary workforce is to deliver the best services to the clients. DAV has had a backlog of cases due to a shortage of employees, and a recruitment of additional staff is thus necessary. Such efforts have to have a definitive plan to help undertake the procedure while at the same tie offering equal employment opportunities to the citizens. Employment ethics and practices have to be adhered to and that nobody has to be guaranteed of recruitment upon application. The need to have a plan for recruiting and managing staff in any organization is thus vital.
References
Banfield, P., & Kay, R. (2008). Introduction to Human Resource Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buchan, J., Twigg, D., Hith, B., Dussault, G., & Dufffield, C. (2015). Policies to sustain the nursing workforce: an international perspective. International Nursing Review, 162-170.
Gunetilleke, N., De Silva, N., & Lokuge, G. (2010). Development professionals: Reconciling personal values with professional values. IDS Bulletin-Institute of Development Studies, 42(5), 45-52.
Michael, S., & Chipunza, C. (2009). Employee Retention and Turnover. Journal of Business Management, 3(8), 410-415.
Warhurst, C., Findlay, P., & Kalleberg, A. (2013). Special Issue: Understanding Job Quality. Human Relations, 66(4), 441-461.