H OU STON OR GANIZ ATION OF PUB LIC EMPLOY EES

For Members Only:

FY 2011 Survey Report
PA R T IC IPAT IN G
City employees are willing to share D E PA R T M E N T S
the sacrifices needed Admin. & Regulatory Affairs
Affirmative Action
HOPE regularly collects personal income. City Council
surveys and informational Although the data from
City Secretary
questionnaires from this survey was
CNL
members. This survey unscientific, the results do
asked both members and show that the city could Controllers
non-members to give their count on a significant Conventions & Entertainment
opinions on several number of employees to Finance
options that could do what’s necessary to Fire
potentially effect their save city jobs. General Services
Health & Human Services
Most city employees will take one HOU/PDC
Housing & Community Devlpmnt.
volunteer day per month Houston Airport System
Houston Emergency Center
Human Resources
70% Information Technology
60% Legal
50% Legal/OIG
40% HOPE Library
30% Mayor's Office
Non Hope
mcd/psc
20%
Municipal Courts-Admin.
10%
Municipal Courts-Judicial
0%
NSD
Yes No OEC
Parks & Recreation
Results from question 1 of the survey. Well over half of the HOPE members and
non HOPE members answering agreed to take 1 furlough day per month. Planning & Development
Police
When asked, “Would you be members said yes. Public Works & Engineering
willing to take one voluntary These results support HOPE Resource Management
furlough day each month for and Mayor Parkers view that Solid Waste Management
six months, even if your municipal employees will do
manager would determine their part to share some of
the day you are off?” most the burden during tough
HOPE members and non- economic times.
 Workers prefer furloughs to any layoffs
Houston Organization of
Public Employees
100%
4299 San Felipe Street.
80%
Houston, TX 77027
60%
Phone: 713-403-8888 40%
Fax: 713-877-8087
Email: Info@hopetx.org 20%
0%
Furlough
Over 90% of HOPE members answering the survey do not want to see other employees laid off.
$on-HOPE members agreed with 88% preferring furloughs to layoffs.
We Make Houston Our results show that most
Work municipal employees will
choose furlough days to layoffs
when asked, “Would you prefer
mandatory furlough days
(possibly up to 12 between
January and June 2011) for all
city workers, or layoffs for some
Workers offer creative ideas to cut the budget
We asked, “What do you think
We’re on the web! is the single best thing the city
can do to be more efficient and
www.HOPElocal23.org save money?” Out of over 1,000
responses, we’ve provided
some of the bright ideas here:
• Implement more webinars to
eliminate unnecessary travel
expenses.
• Implement furlough days on
holidays to reduce holiday pay
expenses.
• Shut the entire city down for
one whole day.
• Reduce the number of gas
facilities
• Change the work week
across departments (except
HFD and HPD) to 4/10 hr days.
• Curtail overtime hours.
HOPE
Non Hope
Layoff
city employees?”
The overwhelming difference
between the choice of layoffs
and furloughs lead us to
conclude that furlough’s should
be the top option before job
losses are considered.
• Consider increasing property
taxes
• Allow early retirements for
workers withing18 months of
their retirement age.
• Stop paying consultants
under contract and via purchase
orders, and bring the work in-
house. We are blessed with
many talented employees but
do not fully utilize them. The
challenge will be finding the
people with the right talents in
such a large organization. The
workforce may need to be
loaned from another department
or division a/k/a silo.
• Reduce paperwork and
make administrative process
more efficient.