Washington’s Great Workforce
Washington Works will improve a 40-year-old employment system and help the state's workforce move into the future.
We value the people who serve their communities and make government work. Washington Works will make Washington's great workforce even better—it's already one of the best in the nation in several state-by-state rankings.
Some examples:
- The Washington State Patrol has been named winner of the 2002 National Chief's Challenge and will also receive the prestigious Clayton J. Hall Memorial Award. Both awards are sponsored by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). The State Patrol finished first in the IACP's largest category of state patrol and police agencies, those departments with more than 1,000 sworn employees. The category had received 410 entries worldwide, the largest number in the National Chief's Challenge 12-year history.
- Washington is ranked tops in the nation in management of state government. We tied with two other states receiving the highest overall grade for management—an A minus—from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and Governing magazine. Two years previously—the last time the government-performance project rated state governments—Washington was among four states receiving the highest grade.
- Every year since 1987, the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to Washington State for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The Certificate of Achievement is a prestigious national award, recognizing conformance with the highest standards for preparation of state and local government financial reports.
- Washington was the first state to bill and to receive payments over the Internet—and the first to enable businesses to compute, file and pay taxes over the Internet. For these and other reasons, Washington was repeatedly selected for the nation's Digital State Award by the Center for Digital Government, Government Technology magazine, and the Progress and Freedom Foundation in the Digital State survey.
- Washington's WorkFirst performance program received the “Architect of Change Award” for innovation in customer service. The National Customer Service Awards Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Interstate Conference of Employment Security Agencies.
- As a result of Washington's WorkFirst performance initiative, the number of families on welfare in the state dropped by almost 50 percent since January 1997.
- In 1999, the Washington State Department of Health received an award for “significant achievement and innovation in state and local government” from the National Center for Public Productivity at Rutgers University. The award was for an electronic communication network for sharing public health information among local and state health officials. The state saves about $1.5 million a year in system maintenance because local health staffs have been trained to maintain the system.
Now, Washington State is laying the groundwork to perform even better—by removing personnel rules and roadblocks that date from the 1960s.
Under the Personnel Services Reform Act of 2002, Washington State government is on track to reform the personnel rules, give state employees and state government the ability to collectively bargain over salaries and benefits as other major employers and employee work groups do, and create opportunities for state employee groups and private business to compete for the privilege to provide services when state agencies determine that is in the public's interest.
A great workforce, getting better.