The below post is taken from the Video Blog, the Subject Matter Minute. If it’s a little hard to read, it’s because it’s taken from the spoken word. You can view the episode on YouTube if you would like. Find it here: Episode #23 – HRD vs Agency HR
If YouTube is blocked for you or your agency, you can scroll to the bottom of this post to view it from Google Drive. (I would prefer you view in YouTube, so I know how many people have watched)
You can also listen to an audio version.
Hello and welcome to another SMM, I’m Matt Nagy, thanks for joining me. Today, I’m going to get right to the topic at hand. I have to admit, I got my first, somewhat negative, comment last month about my ramblings about my personal life, and I’m going to spare that person this month and jump right in. 🙂
Ok… lemme ask you. Where do you go for answers about state employment, about our state jobs? This is a huge organization, and there are tons of things to know about. In fact, I asked today and the total number of folks currently working for the state is 8,387! Big organization… so, benefits, procedures, rules, etc. where do you go? Well, besides straight to the Subject Matter Minute archives!
Well, we happen to have a bunch of people who are here to help us. Today I’m going to talk about them. They are…. (musical graphics with Agency HR and HRD)
Alright, so we have both Agency Human Resources and the Human Resources Division. What’s the difference? What do they do?
First of all, they both work together to support the state employee. They are two different entities, in a way, but they work together for us.
First of all, let’s talk about the Agency Human Resources folks. These are the HR pros that work for individual agencies. Now there are some smaller agencies that share an HR person, and there are some even smaller agencies and boards that do not have their own HR person, so they can contact HRD for questions. But most state employees have access to an Agency HR person.
Agency HR is the go to for questions regarding payroll, benefits, workplace issues, ESS password resets, retirement, PMIs, disciplines, FMLA, sick and annual leave, address changes, name changes, etc. Agency HRs will often times will be familiar with an agency’s employees and therefore the best first point of contact.
The Human Resources Division is part of the Dept. of Administration & Information and is Enterprise wide. They work for everybody. HRD works closely with agency HRs to work through issues regarding compensation, classification, PMIs, Personnel Rule interpretations, grievances and appeals and more. Most times agency HR will be able to answer questions related to these topics. If clarification is needed, they can request assistance from HRD. HRD is always happy to talk to state employees, however depending on the situation, HRD may request that the employee to speak with their Agency HR to try to resolve the issue.
HRD is governed by Wyoming Statute § 9-2-1022, which says that they are in charge of classification, compensation, employer-employee benefits, maintaining employee information, recruitment for all state agencies, training, etc. They also have to approve any agency changes related to personnel. So things like compensation, position class, transfers, job titles, positions and leave, personnel rules, grievance, appeals, performance appraisals, etc.
Ok? So everything that comes out of agencies in those areas, have to be approved by HRD.
HRD also works closely with the Governor’s office and the State Auditor’s office to implement any employee related directives. So, for instance, if there is a pay increase passed by the legislature, HRD, with SAO, will work through the legislation and determine the percentage increases. Then, as part of that process, Agency HR implements the pay increase via payroll transactions, and then, again, HRD will review the implementation.
So, through these sorts of processes… HRD is attempting to promote consistency state wide, which is the main goal for HRD.
Ok… so there is HRD, and there are Agency HR folks. You now know the difference. If you don’t know who your agency HR person is, please find out now. They are there to help you with almost anything.
Of course you can always check out episodes of the SMM to find answers, but I promise you that the HR folks know WAY more than I do. They are HR folks for a living and I just play one on tv!
Ok… thanks for joining me on the subject matter minute. Come back next time where I promise I will talk about my personal life!!