for information about this site's accessibility, click here
phoenix.gov. Image displaying City of Phoenix logo. Click to return home.
Downtown Phoenix skyline looking west at dusk

GO button. Click or press key to go to selection.

skip repetitive navigation
Discover Phoenix
Residents
Businesses
City Government
Employment
Youth & Seniors
e-Services
Home

City of Phoenix Personnel Department

The Personnel Department partners with departments and employees to hire, compensate, support, and develop a diverse workforce that is dedicated to delivering high-quality services to the community.

Administration
Benefits
Classification and Compensation
Employee Development
Employment Services
Human Resources Information Services
Labor Relations
Support Services
Records and Placement
Safety
Wellness and Employee Assistance

Back

We are…
Administration

The Administration Division develops and manages the delivery of personnel services and programs including employment, recruitment and testing; compensation, benefits, health, and safety; training and development; collective bargaining and labor-management relations; classification, records, placement, and automated support.

Major functions of Personnel Administration are

Return to top of Personnel Department Overview

We are…
Benefits

The Benefits Office designs and administers a variety of programs that comprise a large portion of an employee's total rewards package

We offer comprehensive, affordable insurance options.

We help you plan for the future.
We help you take care of your loved ones.
Other benefits for City of Phoenix employees
Return to top of Personnel Department Overview

We are…
Classification & Compensation

The City of Phoenix employs more than 14,000 employees in a multitude of areas and functions. Each job is included in a classification that defines its job description and level in the organization. The system of classifications partners with our compensation structure to determine pay levels and ensure that the employees are working and being paid at the appropriate levels.

Our responsibilities include conducting studies of positions and making recommendations on proper job classification and pay, and writing and revising job descriptions. The City of Phoenix uses a "point factor" job evaluation system that consists of three elements common to all jobs--know-how, problem solving, and accountability.

Staff also has responsibility for updating and maintaining the city's Pay Plan, Pay Ordinance, and administrative regulations that relate to classification and compensation. In addition, we conduct and respond to pay and benefit surveys, provide advice on FLSA issues, provide management and supervisory training, and support labor negotiations with the city's unions and employee associations.

Additionally, we provide consultation and advice to departments in a variety of areas, including changes in positions; the application of city contractual policies relating to compensation practices; performance management programs; salary review and adjustment programs; and resolution of classification and compensation disputes.

Return to top of Personnel Department Overview

We are…
Employee Development

We facilitate learning and performance improvement.

New Employee Orientation (NEO)
NEO is held on a regular basis and is two-day session for all new city employees. This orientation provides new employees with an excellent overview of the city of Phoenix programs, benefits, and certain policies and procedures.

Employee Training and Development Opportunities
Each spring and fall we publish the Employee Training and Development course catalogs. We offer a variety of programs, classes, and services including management and supervisory training, computer skills, workplace development, financial management, retirement planning, and office professional development courses. Other employee-focused programs include consultation and facilitation, tuition reimbursement, mediation services, and a trainers' reference library.

Language and Cultural Training Opportunities
At the City of Phoenix, we strive to communicate effectively and provide seamless service to diverse populations. To accomplish this, we have developed a broad language and cultural training program. The language and cultural training courses are included in the Employee Training and Development catalogs issued in the spring and fall of each year. We offer multiple levels of Spanish instruction that include more than fifty courses, grammar workshops, and a local immersion program. Language and cultural training workshops offered include Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Bosnian-Serbian-Croation, Muslim, Navajo, and Somalian.

Management Academy
The Management Academy is a 7-day series of learning and development opportunities designed to create thoughtful City leaders who utilize applied and effective managerial tools and techniques to address public sector challenges. Participants learn how to work effectively with others, develop behaviors that improve their managerial effectiveness, value, celebrate and leverage differences, and learn innovative problem solving and decision making strategies.

Supervisory Development Program
The Supervisory Development core curriculum is designed for new supervisors. Five pre-requisite classes lead up to a ten-day Supervisory Academy. The prerequisite classes cover important supervisory information on performance appraisal, coaching, discipline, hiring, workplace violence prevention, equal opportunity, and other human resources topics. The Supervisory Academy features supervisory skills including teamwork, delegation, conflict management, change management, and "big picture" topics including city growth, budget, and a message from the City Manager.

Pre-Supervisory Development Program
The Pre-Supervisory Development Program is designed to help prepare employees for supervisory positions. The class curriculum covers key concepts of supervision and also offers training on a range of other skills necessary for supervisory success.

Customer Service Academy for Front Counter Professionals
The academy, a program of eight sessions conducted over six weeks, provides professionals with the information, resources, and tools to ensure seamless service to internal and external customers. The academy sessions cover topics such as the operation of City government, positive communication strategies, managing multiple bosses, Quick Spanish for Customer Service, and more.

Office Professional Development
This program helps office professionals meet and maintain the highest quality of service necessary to be successful in their position by enhancing their skills. The 7-day academy includes such topics as budgeting and purchasing overviews, the City Council agenda process, Effectively Taking Minutes, and more.

Civil Treatment for Managers
Managing fairly and legally in today’s challenging and changing workplace is a high priority for the City of Phoenix. More than sexual harassment training, Civil Treatment® for Managers is a model-driven approach to addressing all forms of harassment and discrimination and gives managers the tools hey need to manage fairly and effectively in today’s workplace. Behavioral models provide the foundation for managing the workplace environment and making appropriate business decisions.

Civil Treatment for Employees
This training focuses on the employee’s expectations and responsibilities as a citizen of our organization. It provides guidelines for appropriate workplace behaviors as well as practical skills for effectively working with supervisors, co-workers, and customers.

Workplace Violence Prevention Program
This program trains supervisors on issues related to workplace violence prevention. The goal of the program is to inform supervisors of their roles and responsibilities in reducing the risk of workplace violence and their "duty to act" in response to an incident.

Consultation and Facilitation Services
Employee Development staff provides internal consulting services to departments in the areas of needs assessments, problem solving, and retreat planning. We facilitate process improvement and strategic planning efforts, teambuilding events and other problem solving and organizational development programs.

We support and reward continuous improvement, both for individuals and the entire organization.

Employee Suggestion Program
The Employee Suggestion Program provides a formal system to identify, evaluate, and implement cost-saving ideas for customer service and operational improvements. Employee generated ideas have resulted in major cost savings and cost avoidance for the city, as well as improvements in customer service, employee morale and workplace safety.

Employee Reimbursement Program
We offer a tuition and training reimbursement program to assist employees in becoming more effective and efficient at work by expanding job knowledge and upgrading their skills. The program provides tuition reimbursement for costs associated with taking job-related courses at accredited institutions. It also provides reimbursement to eligible employees for job-related memberships and seminars.

We honor employees for excellence and service.

City Manager’s Employee Award for Excellence in Public Service Program
This award program recognizes City employees for exceptional contributions to city government and public service. Nominations are solicited and evaluated on multiple criteria by a committee appointed by the City Manager. Awardees are honored at an annual event.

Employee Memorial Event
This annual event memorializes and recognizes employees who have died in the course of their duties, and honors their contributions to public service.

How are we doing?

Performance Evaluation Systems
In order to ensure that we are providing the best services possible, we have performance evaluation tools for all employees.

The Performance Achievement Program is a performance management system for executives and middle managers to plan, track, evaluate, and reward performance. Employee Development provides citywide and individualized training and support in the use of this system.

For all other employees, we use the Performance Management Guide (PMG). We provide training and a telephone hotline for supervisors and employees to get answers on the PMG and other aspects of performance management.

Return to top of Personnel Department Overview

We are…
Employment Services

Attracting the best and brightest to our organization and helping to create an environment in which employees can flourish is our goal. The Employment Services staff meets this goal through daily commitment to integrity, customer service delivery, results, responsiveness, change, growth, teamwork, and quality customer information and education.

The Applications Office is the "first stop" to identify employment and career opportunities with the city. Applicants experience first-hand seamless customer service as they peruse our job board and our easy-to-use self-service bins. Applicants also may apply for jobs via the Internet through our electronic application, "ezAPP." Our staff assists with recruitment questions and provides career guidance and information about the city's hiring and selection methods.

Recruiting and Testing strives to identify qualified applicants to fill job vacancies at all levels. We do this by developing recruitment plans, identifying appropriate labor markets, composing and placing advertisements, identifying essential job requirements, and developing valid job-related testing and evaluation instruments in compliance with local and federal guidelines. Applicants are given the opportunity to demonstrate their employment strengths through their ability to successfully pass each phase of the recruitment process. The end result is an eligible list of qualified, diverse candidates that is delivered to operating departments.

Filling key executive and middle manager positions is a priority for Employment Services' recruitment efforts. Consulting assistance is provided to operating departments by screening resumes for "star" applicants; writing interview questions; identifying qualified, diverse interview panel members; and providing interview panel instruction and informational packets for both the panel and candidates. These processes are monitored closely, with Employment Services staff providing on-the-spot assistance on the day of the interview.

Key recruitments conducted by this section include the administration of ongoing, monthly Police Recruit exams and an annual Firefighter Recruit exam. These exams draw thousands of applicants over the course of each year. Other key recruitments are conducted for the Management Intern Program and cluster recruitments.

Getting new employees into vacancies helps departments maintain a high level of cost-effective and timely service to city residents, which is a goal we all share at the City of Phoenix.

Other Assistance Offered Includes:

Career information sessions are held monthly to provide applicants not currently employed with the city with an overview of our recruitment and selection process. Applicants are encouraged to attend these sessions to obtain general information to assist them in their career decisions.

Other programs and functions:

Return to top of Personnel Department Overview

We are…
Human Resources Information Services

Human Resources Information (HRIS) is committed to using innovative ideas and technology to provide our diverse customer base with the skills, technology tools, and access to information they need to meet the city's goals and objectives.

HRIS is the focal point for technological change and improvement for the city's human resource business processes. HRIS has responsibilities three primary responsibilities:

HRIS staff realizes that systems must be well understood by users in order to be useful. With this in mind, we share and publish information to more than 500 users citywide, using an electronic monthly bulletin and quarterly information-sharing meetings.

We are internal consultants to our colleagues in Personnel, departments throughout the city, and external counterparts. We strive to develop innovative, labor-saving, timely, and effective business procedures so that departments can better serve their customers - it's one of the ways we contribute to delivering excellent service to the residents of Phoenix.

Staff fulfills hundreds of requests for special reports every year from city management and various departments, the media, and bargaining units. HRIS provides information on pay and leave data, discipline and grievance trends, Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action statistics, and other personnel-related information.

Return to top of Personnel Department Overview

We are…
Labor Relations

At the City of Phoenix, we recognize and support the right of a majority of our employees to be part of collective bargaining units. The Labor Relations Division strives to promote and maintain a positive labor relations climate between the unions and management.

Negotiations
We plan and conduct collective bargaining sessions with our five unions. We collect and analyze information year-round to prepare for negotiations. Negotiations formally begin in December when the unions submit their proposals, and end in May or June when agreements are reached and the City Council approves the negotiated agreements.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Administration We provide assistance to departments and unions with questions or concerns regarding the interpretation of provisions contained within the five MOUs.

Labor/Management Committee We ensure that labor/management committee meetings are conducted in a fair and open manner. Our goal is to discuss and address issues timely and support positive labor/management relationships. We strive to provide prompt and accurate responses to requests for information and decisions.

Grievance and Arbitration Process
Labor Relations staff assists departments in resolving grievances at all steps of the process. We facilitate settlement meetings between unions and department managers. If internal resolution is not achieved, we participate in grievance committee hearings and represent the City in arbitrations.

Unfair Labor Practice Charges (ULPs)
We actively attempt to prevent the filing of ULPs, and when a charge is filed we try to resolve the issue informally prior to the case being set for a formal hearing before the Phoenix Employment Relations Board (PERB).

Supervisory Training
Upon the conclusion of every negotiation, we provide MOU training for supervisors so that they are familiar with the changes. Our staff also develops and conducts general labor relations training for supervisors.

Return to top of Personnel Department Overview

We are…
Support Services

Support Services staff provide the following services/support to City departments:

Investigations and Discipline Review
We advise departments on appropriate discipline. We review and approve formal discipline and provide support to the Civil Service Board. We assist all departments and functions with resolving complaints and conducting investigations.

Policy Review/Interpretation
We advise departments on the interpretation of the City’s personnel policies and we review and revise personnel policies on an ongoing basis.

Alcohol and Drug Testing Programs
We manage employee drug and alcohol testing programs to ensure compliance with federal regulations and city policies and procedures for reasons of pre-employment, random, and reasonable cause.

Workplace Violence
We provide guidance to city departments regarding workplace violence situations.

Return to top of Personnel Department Overview

We are…
Records and Placement

We maintain official personnel files and performance evaluations of every city employee, and manage all internal and external inquiries about city employees (subpoenas and public records requests). We also maintain accurate personnel records of former employees.

Records and Placement staff also answer questions about civil service rules, employment status, and other important dates and employment milestones. Records and Placement staff is responsible for coordinating and facilitating reductions-in-force, and calculating seniority for City of Phoenix employees.

We also serve as the business experts on human resource functions for the human resource system, e-CHRIS, and are involved in the testing and implementation of system changes, MOU updates and other enhancements.

Staff also process and review transactions for hiring, promotions, demotions, or terminations, and advise departments in the areas of pay, employment status, civil service rights, leave, and placement.

Our staff also ensures that the proper paperwork is in place to fill positions, and intervenes when appropriate to facilitate employee transfers for medical or budgetary reasons.

At times, employees may suffer from an injury or illness that prevents them from doing their regular jobs. When this occurs, the city does everything it can to allow an employee to return to a job that is compatible with his or her physical limitations. Records and Placement staff also collaborates with the city's Benefits Office and Retirement Office to place employees being released from long term disability or applying for disability retirement.

Another type of placement program focuses on employees who need to be moved from one position to another for a variety of non-medical reasons. Reasons include layoff, demotion, return from long-term leave status, civil service mandate, and other special situations.

We administer the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) by reviewing requests and medical documentation, training supervisors and other staff, and responding to questions or problems relating to the Act. We also monitor the city's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

We administer the Job Share Program which encourages a family-friendly work environment and is evaluated by department heads and the Personnel Director on a case-by-case basis. Our staff meets with the job share employees, explains their benefits, and processes related paperwork.

Finally, the Records and Placement Section is the Personnel Department's liaison to the Equal Opportunity Department, handles hiring and payroll for the department, and processes immigration and visa applications for all departments for prospective employees who are foreign nationals.

Return to top of Personnel Department Overview

We are…
Safety

A safe work environment is critical to providing excellent service and a workplace that values the health of employees.

General safety services

Industrial Hygiene – Your health is important to us

Safety in motion – vehicles and equipment

When accidents happen…

Workers' Compensation Program

Medical monitoring and return-to-work issues

We strive to prevent mishaps with potentially dangerous materials

The Hazardous Materials/Waste Program

Return to top of Personnel Department Overview

We are…
Wellness and Employee Assistance

Feel, Live, Work better!

The Wellness Program coordinates, promotes, and provides services that assist and encourage employees to be healthy in mind and body. The Wellness Council, comprised of employees from all city departments and one member representing our health insurance providers, serves as liaison between the Workplace Wellness program and the departments. It participates in monthly meetings and shares information about wellness opportunities with the rest of the organization.

Wellness Program Services

We help you get through difficult times.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) opportunities
  • Helpful, compassionate professionals are available to employees who need counseling services, crisis intervention, training, management and supervisor consultations, and assessments and referrals. Some of this is provided in-house, while most services for employees and their household members are available through EAP Preferred, (602) 534-5433 (Fire Department contracts with Contact, 1-800-222-8335).

  • EAP staff coordinates the Health and Productivity Management Team which addresses complex employee issues comprehensively with representatives from Safety, Benefits, Records and Placement, Labor Relations, Equal Opportunity, and Law.

  • Distributes two monthly newsletters, "The FrontLine Supervisor," and "The FrontLine Employee".

  • Coordinates mediation information and referral services.

If you have any questions or comments regarding EAP/Wellness, please call 602-262-7216.

If you have other questions or comments, please call 602-534-3467. We are here to assist you!

Return to top of Personnel Department Overview

|  phoenix.gov en español   |  Back   |  Contact Us   |  Accessibility   |  Privacy Policy   |  Security   |  Help   |
© Copyright 2008, City of Phoenix

Last Modified on 07/02/2008 08:58:02