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In 1999, the Akron Public Utilities Bureau (APUB) had the highest water and sewer rates forcities of similar size across the state of Ohio. Debt service was high and getting higher. TheMayor issued a challenge - APUB needed to streamline operations and fix the rates.APUB handles a variety of functions including: water and wastewater treatment, waterdistribution, sewer maintenance, billing and collection, meter reading and engineering/inspections. Surface water is collected from the Upper Cuyahoga River via three reservoirs, anddistributed to 80,000 homes in the city of Akron and surrounding communities.Soon after the Mayoral mandate, APUB initiated a Competitive Action Program. This programredesigned the entire utility including water and wastewater treatment plants, water distribution,sewer collection, customer service, and engineering.Today, Akron's water and sewer rates are stable. APUB has made tremendous progress inimproving the service delivered to its customers. In addition, APUB has achieved its desiredparticipation goal - 70-80 percent of all employees have participated in the program. Just overfour years into the Competitive Action Program, APUB has already saved $13 million exceedingits five-year goal by 30 percent. This paper discusses six majorworkforce strategies that APUB used to transform the utility:establish a labor-management partnership based on the belief that a new, positive workenvironment will be created if everyone works together to achieve the common goal ofbecoming a best-in-class utility;develop a new participation model that includes employees, unions, and management, thattargeted at least 70 percent of all APUB employees and management for participation inthe redesign of new work practices;reduce resistance to change by establishing an aggressive communications programcalled "Tool Box Talks" that includes regular informal meetings to shareinformation and provide an opportunity for two-way communications;change the organization's structure from hierarchical to teams that are trainedand certified in multiple areas and are empowered to make decisions pertaining to thescheduling work, setting team goals, and evaluating performance;provide extensive training for employees and for team leaders, all teams received trainingon how to work in teams and Team Leaders received training on leading teams;pilot new work practices and implement quick wins. The objective of new workpractices is to test the designs, develop flexible workers and move employees closer totheir work. Quick wins are essentially best work practices that can be implemented inless than 30 days Includes figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 06/17/2004 Number of Pages: 7File Size: 1 file , 450 KB