Carl McCoy, a public service associate in the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, said that it’s a great feeling of accomplishment when officials implement recommendations that his team makes. (Photo by Peter Frey)

Public service associate helps officials develop quality workforces

By Ann Allen allen@cviog.uga.edu

Stay positive and act accordingly.

That personal philosophy of Carl McCoy’s carries over into the assistance that he provides to local governments navigating the complicated and often emotionally charged field of human resource management.

As a faculty member of the Governmental Services and Research Division in the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, McCoy spends a considerable amount of time crisscrossing the state conducting classification/ compensation studies for Georgia cities and counties.

“Our clients are good stewards of taxpayers’ dollars, and they know that a huge part of their organization’s success is linked to recruiting, motivating and retaining a quality workforce,” he said. “Our job is to help them develop the human resource management tools that will allow them to achieve their goals.”

McCoy sees both similarities and differences in the 100 or so studies with which he been involved while at the institute.

“Local government officials and managers typically realize that implementing an up-to-date classification/compensation system is a sound decision legally and financially and can be critical in keeping workers in whom they have invested,” he said. “The path that each government takes to that decision has its own unique circumstances.”

A typical “class-comp” study can take McCoy and his Vinson Institute colleagues from four to six months to complete, related partly to the size of the local government. Establishing a positive relationship with the government and holding an orientation for involved employees are critical first steps, according to McCoy.

“We want to clearly communicate the steps involved in the study to dispel misconceptions about why we are there and to provide employees with a sense of ownership in the process,” he said.

Institute colleagues speak highly of McCoy’s high level of professionalism and especially his ability to get to know employees and administrators one-on-one and understand their daily responsibilities.

Questionnaires, interviews and salary surveys of similarly sized governments enable the institute team to develop snapshots of each job position so that accurate descriptions can be written and compensation figures developed. Recognizing that local government funding sources play a significant role, more than one plan option is presented in the final report.

“Our clients also know that they can call on us at any time after that for assistance in implementing the new plan,” McCoy said.

For someone who took an entry level interviewer position at UGA Human Resources while in the final stages of completing his master’s degree in history, McCoy’s career in a field that he had not planned to pursue has brought him professional recognition at both state and national levels. He was recently named to the American Society for Public Administration’s Capacity Steering Committee, which oversees all of the organization’s chapters and sections. He is a long-time active member of ASPA’s Section on Personnel Administration and Labor Relations and recently completed service on its executive committee.

Developing a classification/ compensation plan that is competitive externally and fair internally is the ultimate goal of each project, according to McCoy.

“It is a great feeling of accomplishment when elected and appointed officials accept and implement the recommendations that our institute team has made,” he said. “This is measurable, results-oriented service at its best.”