Review of the City’s Civil Service Reform Efforts

Civil Service Reform

Phase I of Civil Service Reform – Preserving the Promise of Government

DHR submitted its policy paper with recommendations on Civil Service Reform to Mayor Newsom in May, 2005.

Read DHR's May 2005 Civil Service Reform Report (PDF)

On August 15, 2005, the Board of Supervisors' Government Audit and Oversight Committee conducted a special hearing on Civil Service Reform.

View the DHR presentation to the Board of Supervisors (PowerPoint)

Also in August 2005, Mayor Newsom sent a memo to all Department Heads outlining the first steps the City was taking to implement these recommendations. The Mayor's directive called for increased training, new technology, mandatory performance evaluations, succession planning, Civil Service Rule simplification and changes to our hiring process.

Read the Mayor's directive to department heads (PDF)
Read DHR's implementation memo (PDF)

By early October 2005, the Mayor's Office, the Controller and the Department of Human Resources announced plans to change the personnel requisition process, with the intention of reducing hiring times for permanent employees. This program would become known as Position-Based Testing.

Read DHR's memo regarding personnel requisitions (PDF)

Also in October 2005, DHR released its first progress report on the Civil Service Reform initiative.

View the October 2005 progress report (Word)

In the summer of 2006, at the one year anniversary of the release of the Civil Service Reform Report, DHR issued a memo and progress report, summarizing accomplishments in more than 30 of the 46 recommendations.

Read the Civil Service Reform anniversary letter (Word)

View the Civil Service Reform anniversary presentation (PowerPoint)

By the end of 2008, the Civil Service Reform initiative had gained considerable momentum.

View the highlights of Phase I: Civil Service Reform as of February 2009 (PDF)

Phase II of Civil Service Reform – Unfinished Business

DHR has organized its reform recommendations for Phase II of Civil Service Reform by reform mechanism: those requiring Civil Service Rule or Commission policy change; those requiring departmental or DHR policy and procedure change; and those requiring legislative or MOU change.

In 2009, the Civil Service Commission held special meetings on February 23 and March 30 during which DHR presented recommendations for Phase II of Civil Service Reform.

View the detailed chart of recommendations for Phase II: Civil Service Reform presented to the Civil Service Commission during the meetings of 2/23/09 and 3/30/09 (PDF)

At the conclusion of DHR's presentation, the Commission announced that it will hold a number of meetings to ensure full and open discussions with the public, employees and labor regarding reform recommendations. Once the issues have been fully vetted through public discussion, the Commission will provide direction on which recommendations and/or policy it would like to pursue. DHR's Employee Relations Division will then assist in coordinating any meet and confer discussions with the City's labor unions as required by state law.

Questions ?

We will continue to post updates as they become available. Any questions or comments should be directed to Jessica Huey at Jessica.Huey@sfgov.org.