Director's Message

Nov. 17, 2006

To: All DHS employees

From: Bruce Goldberg, Director

"I look to the future because that's where I'm going to spend the rest of my life."
~George Burns

During my meetings with DHS staff throughout Oregon these past several months I've been impressed with the level of understanding and support I see for our mission, goals and values. It goes far beyond mere lip-service. Rather, it's a taking to heart of what these words mean to the lives of the people we serve.

I believe the strength of any organization is found in the shared vision of its employees, particularly at an agency such as DHS, where at the heart of the services we provide are people working with people. The more we can function as one team with shared goals and values, the better we can serve Oregonians.

As a large agency with nearly 10,000 employees it can be a challenge to develop and maintain a shared vision. Each year we see a staff turnover of 1,000 employees through retirements, departures and new hires. That number likely will rise in the coming years as fully half of our staff become eligible for retirement. That amount of turnover makes it essential to not only attract and hire talented staff, and train them well in their new jobs, but also to ensure that those who join DHS understand what it means to be part of the DHS family.

Fortunately, our Office of Human Resources staff are up to the challenge. During the next few weeks they will begin introducing a revamped new employee orientation system designed to introduce new DHS employees to the technical requirements of their jobs, agency policies and processes, and the core values that guide our department.

I'm very excited about this new program, and I encourage all managers to ensure every new employee participates. The new program contains two major components -- local orientation and classroom orientation.

The local orientation component is provided at or near each new employee's work location, and is conducted by either the employee's manager or someone delegated locally to provide an introduction to the workplace. Tools for providing this part of the orientation process include NetLink and computer-based training, videos and other materials.

The classroom orientation component will be offered each month in Salem or Portland, with occasional sessions held elsewhere in the state depending on the locations of new employees. Our agency's core values – integrity, stewardship, responsibility, respect and professionalism – are infused throughout the contents of the curriculum, as is a focus on our mission of assisting people to become independent, healthy and safe.

I think this new process offers an excellent method for providing the right combination of job-specific information and an agency-wide perspective, both of which are important to doing high-quality work. The end goal is to help every new employee get off on the right foot by providing them with the training, tools and information they need to succeed and to effectively and respectfully serve our customers.

Our customers include everyone in Oregon, and we owe it to Oregonians to give our employees the training and tools they need to provide excellent customer service. I think this redesigned new employee orientation system makes big strides in moving us in that direction. My congratulations to the staff involved in developing this new process.

To provide feedback email: DHS.Directorsoffice@state.or.us