CIVIL SERVICE REFORM
Great Place to Work Initiative
Modernization of the City’s civil service system began as a strategic initiative of the Business Council since in 2009 when, in recognition that a modern workforce is a critical part of helping New Orleans reach its highest potential, the Business Council sponsored a Capstone project at the George Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University in which graduate level students examined and made recommendations for improving the New Orleans’ civil service system. The results of the study led to a number of policy recommendations regarding strategies for dealing with the way the entire civil service system functions.
The following year, the Business Council offered both the results of the Bush School’s study and assistance to the City for any resources it needed to modernize existing civil service systems and functions. The Business Council partnered with the City to retain David Osborne and his firm, the Public Strategies Group, to develop a civil service reform model.
Osborne concluded that “New Orleans’ civil service system is broken.” His plan for streamlining the City’s civil service system and thereby enabling it to function more effectively and at a higher-level was favorably received by the Business Council and several other community groups and civic and business leaders.
Through these and other efforts, the Business Council drove the adoption of the civil service rules proposed by the Landrieu Administration, the “City of New Orleans Great Place to Work Initiative: Civil Service.” The revised rules comport with the goals and objectives of the plan advocated by the Business Council and Osborne. And they are in full accord with the movement towards a more effective government and brings our City in line with other cities across the country.