State workers hold on to jobs

Actions by Gov. Jim Gibbons and the Nevada Legislature have caused two separate surges in state worker retirements during the past year, while those that remain are sticking to their jobs, leery of new ventures in a down economy.

Nevada Personnel Director Teresa Thienhaus said overall there was a significant drop in turnover among state workers in Fiscal Year 2009, which runs from July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009. The percentage of employees either leaving state service or changing jobs within state service was 24 percent in Fiscal 2006 and 22 percent in Fiscal 2007. The number fell to 17 percent in fiscal '09."The security that government affords in a time like this is pretty clear. We probably have people making life choices to stay with a certain thing rather than to move and take something less certain," Thienhaus said.

She said a good example is the number of people who listed unsatisfactory work conditions as their reason for leaving the state. It fell from 27 workers three years ago to just 11 this past year. And the number who left to start a private business, she said, was half that of previous years, when about 50 workers a year struck out on their own.

"A while back, I would hear people saying things like, 'I want to be my own boss, want the freedom having my own business gives me.' I think people don't say that when you have a recession like now," she said.

Thienhaus said that's good for the state, stabilizing the workforce. But, she said, once the economy turns around and private as well as other public jobs open up again, there's the possibility of a sharp increase in the number of people leaving.

While the state has traditionally lost numerous workers to local governments that pay better, this past year those governments had far fewer jobs available because of their own economic problems. The result, instead of losing 200 or more workers to local government in Fiscal 2009, the total was just 129.

Thienhaus said part of the problem for those making the move to another public entity is they are on probation again with no protection from dismissal and have no seniority to protect them from layoffs.

Changes spur retirements

But even as the economy helps the state retain experienced workers, some of the actions lawmakers and Gov. Jim Gibbons have taken over the past couple of years have pushed more longterm workers to retire.

Dana Bilyeu, executive director of the Public Employees Retirement System, said the two biggest changes were reductions to employee benefits proposed by the governor in January and, before that, the decision to ban retirees from joining the state benefits program unless their employer had active employees in the Public Employees Benefits Program.

The PEBP eligibility restriction that took effect Oct. 1 prompted hundreds of veteran teachers - whose active benefits plans are outside the state system - to retire early so they could join PEBP.

"We had over 1,800 retirements in September 2008," Thienhaus said.

She said, however, that the surge in retirees is "all people who would have retired soon anyway."

Bilyeu said the elimination of merit and longevity pay this biennium was an additional pay cut to longtime state employees, which prompted some of them to leave early. While about 300 retirements among teachers, state and local government employees is average for June, more than 500 did so this past June.

"For people with 28-30 years in, they did take pay cuts beyond the furlough," she said. Due to budget cuts, state employees are required to take one unpaid day a month, the equivalent of a 4.6 percent pay reduction.

According to Thienhaus, the number of state retirees jumped from just over 400 in each of the past four years to 572 this past year.