DRAFT
Job Rotation/Cross-Training Program
The City intends with this policy to strengthen its teams, provide its employees with advancement opportunities, expose and educate employees on different areas of City operations, and create operational redundancies (i.e., “back-up”) to ensure uninterrupted provision of City services. As the City grows, it is important to be less dependent on an individual and more dependent on the team, become “System Dependent, not Individual Dependent.” Using this approach, the City will be better able to adapt to the needs of a changing workforce (i.e., unforeseen emergencies) such as a sudden death, disasters, pandemics, resignations, or retirements.
Cross-trained staff will provide safeguards for the aforementioned contingencies and valuable flexibility within departmental teams. Cross-training staff will also help preserve institutional knowledge through inevitable staff turnover. A pro-active cross-training program will mitigate the risk of information loss long before an employee decides to leave, retire, resign, and/or exit the City.
In addition, the City will benefit by broadening its employees’ understanding of how it operates. Exposure to different roles and/or departments allows employees to view how their work environment impacts the City and how the various roles contribute to the City’s goals.
The intent of this program is for employees to become exposed to, familiarized with, and aware of the duties of positions within or outside of their own department that they may wish to advance or transfer. It is not the intent of this program to have employees train for positions for which they will not be able to advance or transfer, such as a position that requires a specialized license or skill-set, or which does not translate into practical career advancement.
Policy
It is the policy of the City of Manteca to encourage employees to develop new skills and thereby increase their value to the organization. The City of Manteca recognizes that providing employees with the ability to learn and experience different jobs can increase their understanding of the various departments while enhancing career development opportunities.
Procedures
The City of Manteca encourages employees to increase their knowledge and skills through this job rotation/cross-training program. This program involves a set-in-time, temporary assignment to a position or department to learn the functions of that area. The intent of this program is for employees to become exposed to, familiarized with, and aware of the duties of positions within or outside of their own department to which they may wish to advance or transfer. It is not the intent of this program to have employees train for positions for which they will not be able to advance or transfer, such as a position that requires a specialized license or skill-set.
Employees participating in this program as either trainees or trainers will not suffer due to their participation in any term, privilege, or condition of employment, but will be evaluated utilizing normal performance review procedures upon completion of the rotation. All pay and benefits shall remain the same for the employees who participate in this program as trainees. Specifically, employees being trained shall not be entitled to any additional overtime pay and/or out-of-class pay due to participating in this program. Further, the employee shall remain in his or her respective bargaining unit during this time.
Employees may volunteer for the job rotation/cross-training program by contacting their supervisor, department head, and/or the Human Resources Department. Additionally, an employee’s supervisor or department head may recommend that an employee participate in the program. An employee’s decision to participate or not participate in this program as either a trainee or trainer will not be used as a basis for discipline, negative comment, or any other adverse action against the employee.
To be eligible for participation, the employee must have been with the City of Manteca for at least twelve (12) months in a full-time capacity, not on probation, and be in good standing. The employee’s supervisor, the supervisor of the department or area into which the employee will rotate, and the employee must determine:
How the employee’s regular duties will be performed during the rotation assignment; The duration of the rotation; and
A schedule of the number of hours or days per week that will be dedicated to the rotation.
Once documented on the appropriate form, this information must be submitted to the Department Head and the Human Resources Department for approval.
The job rotation assignment may be terminated prior to the approved date by agreement of those involved. Alternatively, the job rotation assignment may be extended by the trainee by submitting a request to the Department Head and Human Resources Department for approval. Notwithstanding the above, management reserves the right to terminate a job rotation assignment at any time for good cause. Documentation of extensions or terminations of the assignment will be provided to the employee and to the supervisors of the department(s), as well as to the Human Resources Department.
The denial of an employee to participate in this training program and/or the termination of the assignment shall not be included in the City’s and/or bargaining units’ grievance procedures unless the denial or termination was based on a protected characteristic. Instead, any such denials shall be subject to review by City Management.
The determination whether to grant an employee’s request to train or be trained, training progress notes, and any reasons for extension or termination of a training program shall be documented by the supervisor (if for a trainer) or trainer (if trainee) in a training log. Training logs will only be used to document training progress and any decisions to approve, deny, extend, or terminate training; training logs will not be used for any other purpose.
Additional Information
Questions about the job rotation policy, or about available assignments, should be directed to the Human Resources Department.
Effective Date: July 1, 2022
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