Johnson County Kansas: Human Resource Department

Glossary Of Terms:

Budget Analyst: Every department/agency has a designated Budget Analyst within the Department of Budget and Financial Planning who serves as their point of contact on budget-related issues. With regard to this procedure, the Budget Analyst is responsible to conduct analysis and verify the availability/non-availability of funds that would be obligated by the approval of a position change.

Classification/Compensation Specialist: The HR staff member assigned to classification and compensation responsible to assists departments/agencies to complete the Position Description Form, conduct job audits, facilitate discussions regarding organizational design/staffing-related issues, ensure compliance with the Position Review Request Form procedure, etc.

Creation of New Position: FTE does not currently exist. Funds may or may not be available (e.g., grants, CIP, RAR).

Full Time Equivalency (FTE): The full time service equivalent for a position, also referred to as a position’s “percent time.”A position’s FTE is calculated by dividing the actual number of hours (if nonexempt) or days (if exempt) worked per year, by the hours or days represented by the position’s full time equivalency base.

Head Count: The total number of employees in the organization. An employee may be referred to as a “head,” and the sum of all employees in the organization is normally called the “head count.” This number reflects the total number of people currently employed, without regard to the number of hours or days the person is scheduled to or actually works. It does not differentiate among full-time, part-time, on-call, or seasonal. It does not include vacant positions.

Job Audit: An external review of a position’s duties by the classification/compensation specialist to reconcile and/or ensure the accuracy of the information reported in the Position Description Form and/or to document position duties. Job audits may be conducted when positions are updated or created, and they may also be conducted randomly.

Management and Budget Analyst: Every department/agency has a designated Management and Budget Analyst within the Department of Budget and Financial Planning who serves as their point of contact on budget-related issues. With regard to this procedure, the analyst is responsible to conduct analysis and verify the availability/non-availability of funds that would be obligated by the approval of a position change.

Personnel Action Form (PAF): Form completed and submitted by a department/agency to HR to document a personnel change and initiate the change in the computerized personnel-payroll database.

Personnel Review Committee (PRC): An advisory committee reporting to the County Manager. The purpose of the committee is to review designated requests (as indicated on the Contact/ Recommendation/Approval Matrix) to ensure due diligence prior to approval by County Management and the BOCC. The PRC reviews requests in three different areas: Annual Budget Capital Improvement Program (CIP) requests; Annual Budget Requests for Additional Resources (RAR); and, Immediate Action Requests (IAR).

Position: A “slot.” Positions are assigned FTE and money in order to be filled.

Position Change Form (PCF): Form completed by departments/agencies and submitted to HR to document a position change and initiate the change in the computerized personnel-payroll database.

Position Review Request Form Form completed by departments/agencies and routed to Budget and Financial Planning, County Management, and the Department of Human Resources, to request the review of a position, including a position description update, reclassification, a new position, a replacement position, a redistribution of FTE, a reduction, or a reorganization.

Reclassification: Enough of a change in the job to impact its classification level, but a majority of the duties remains constant. In general, there is at least a 30% change (either upward, downward, or laterally), but no more than a 50% change. Incumbent is assumed to meet minimum qualifications and remains in the position. Frequently, reclassifications impact 2 positions simultaneously (e.g., 1 position gains duties previously performed by another position).

Redistribution: Consolidating/combining or separating FTE (e.g., combining part-time or on-call positions into 1.0 FTE with benefits).

Reduction: Eliminating a current position (the FTE and funds are no longer available for use by the department/agency). When positions have incumbents, this results in a “reduction in force”(RIF).

Reorganization: Department/agency duties are added, deleted, and/or realigned with a simultaneous impact on 3 or more positions. Size of the department/agency is a consideration (changing 3 positions in an office of 10 may be a reorganization; changing 3 positions in an office of 100 probably is not). Changes may or may not impact classification or pay.

Replacement: Eliminating one position to create another position. At least 50% change in the job such as focus, type, or level of duties. Incumbent is required to meet minimum qualifications to remain in the position.

Tercile: Each pay range has been divided into thirds, called “terciles.” Each tercile has a descriptive label designed to help supervisors make pay rate determinations – whether at the time of hire, reclassification, promotion, etc. The terciles are labeled as follows: developing (Tercile 1), experienced (Tercile 2), and career (Tercile 3).

Work-Time Equivalent (WTE): The number of hours expected to be actually worked in a given position throughout the year. WTE is normally used to plan actual staffing coverage in an organization or operational unit. Full-time regular employees receive 12 paid holidays and at least 12 vacation days annually. Nonexempt employees would calculate WTE as follows: 2080 – 96 – 96 = 1888 hours/year. Exempt employees would calculate WTE as follows: 260 – 12 – 12 = 236 days/year.

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This page last updated: July 20, 2006