As remote work becomes the norm, California state employees wonder: What about promotions?

Even in the highly regimented world of state government, a handshake and a smile can help smooth the way to a promotion, some California state workers say.

With the coronavirus limiting in-person interactions, some workers are wondering how to show their bosses they’ve got the right stuff to move up.

“Prior to covid, you were able to shake hands with that person, look them in the eye, make an impression,” said an associate governmental program analyst at CalPERS. “And that’s going to be more difficult with telework.”

At least 10 state workers said they were worried about promotions in a recent coronavirus survey conducted by The Sacramento Bee. Several elaborated in interviews. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of concern about their careers.

“It’s much more difficult at home,” said an environmental scientist who works for the Department of Fish and Wildlife. “In the office you can see people, you can kind of feel them out, you can walk 10 feet and have a conversation with someone. At home it’s possible, but … you’re not quite building the relationships the same way.”

Most of the workers said they are happy to have secure employment in an uncertain job market. Many enjoy telework. But new impediments to promotion could aggravate existing frustrations with the state’s opportunities for upward mobility.

Reductions in hiring could exacerbate the issue. In his May budget proposal, Gov. Gavin Newsom said departments have been directed to fill “only the most essential vacant positions.”

Limited promotional opportunities

California’s civil service rules are meant to ensure workers are hired and promoted based on their skills and fitness for jobs, not on personal ties to hiring authorities. The state requires applicants — even those already employed by the state — to take qualifying exams before applying. If they get interviews, their responses are scored on a 100-point scale.

The process can confuse and mystify people who are new to state employment and those who bump up against walls in the system, according to workers, union officials and a state employment consultant.

Part of the drive to promote comes from the state’s pay structure. New employees are eligible for 5% merit increases each year, up to a maximum designated for their position. Most employees max out in five to six years. After that, the only raises they generally receive are those negotiated in union contracts, which typically are less than 3% per year.

About 230,000 people work for California state government. The average state salary for 2019, excluding legislators, the California Highway Patrol, members of the Office of the Inspector General and some judicial officers, was $67,836, according to State Controller’s Office data.

While a private sector employer might keep offering raises to retain a good worker, state managers don’t have that option once the merit raises run out.

Limited promotional opportunities sometimes contribute to employees’ decisions to switch departments or leave the state, according to exit interviews the departments of Public Health and Transportation, along with the State Compensation Insurance Fund, provided to The Sacramento Bee in response to a records request.

Among 72 Caltrans employees who filled out exit interviews from 2017 to 2019, 29 identified “few/unclear promotional/career path opportunities” as a factor in their decisions to leave. Names were redacted from the records.

“Caltrans actively supports career development for staff through training, rotational assignments and mentoring programs and tailors services to the needs of employees,” Caltrans spokesman Matt Rocco said in an email.

Rocco said the department recently launched a website with resources to help employees navigate career development opportunities and that it started a pilot program this summer offering individual coaching sessions to employees.

At State Fund, just 21% of departing employees said they were “most satisfied” with the availability of promotional opportunities, while 32% said they were “least satisfied” with their opportunities, according to a summary of exit interviews from 2017 to 2019 prepared by the fund.

State Fund has had 217 promotions and 84 outside hires so far in 2020 while making a rapid shift to working from home, spokesman Jonathon Tudor said in an email.

“We also make focused efforts to retain our talented employees,” Tudor said in the email. “Those efforts are centered on maintaining a culture of caring, collaboration, respect, and innovation. We also strive to provide fair compensation and benefits, high-quality training, and opportunities for advancement.”

At the Public Health Department, 5% to 10% of departing employees specified promotional opportunities contributed to their decisions in 2017 and 2018. The department didn’t provide a response by deadline.

Keeping good employees

The California Human Resources Department doesn’t have any specific statewide efforts to improve promotion in state service — it’s up to the individual departments, said department spokesman Andrew LaMar.

The department has, however, been reworking and consolidating job classifications and making other under-the-hood tweaks aimed at making state work more accessible.

Michelle Allen, a Sacramento-based consultant who specializes in state government employment, said promotions are available to employees who are willing to take the exams, apply for lots of openings and move among departments.

“It’s not who you know that’s going to get you a state job, but it is what you know once you’re in the door and you keep applying for those better jobs,” Allen said.

But while that might be a good strategy for employees who are focused on making more money, it doesn’t necessarily help workers who find their work meaningful and want to keep doing it, said Yvonne Walker, president of SEIU Local 1000, the state’s largest public employee union.

And if employees have to move to get promoted, departments lose important institutional knowledge, Walker said.

She said the union has made promotions an area of focus. In recent years it has created new apprenticeships to help workers promote from licensed vocational nurse to registered nurse, to move from office jobs to IT jobs and to promote from entry-level accounting jobs to the positions of tax auditor and tax compliance representative.

“It’s a win for employees and it’s a win for the state as an employer,” Walker said. “Now you have somebody who has even more loyalty and is not necessarily looking to leave.”

Bianca Petzold, staff director for the California Association of Professional Scientists, has made it a mission at the union to help state scientists optimize their applications and find jobs with growth opportunities in state government.

“It’s definitely something on everyone’s mind, even if they’re new to state service,” Petzold said. “They want to know what their pathway looks like.”

Often scientists don’t recognize all the ways their specialized experience or knowledge meets requirements for higher-level jobs, Petzold said. She reviews their applications and often pitches departments on reclassifying employees or seeking promotions in place, an alternative and more regulated route to better pay and more responsibility.

“Oftentimes departments are more than willing to take a look, because they realize as well that these are specialized, technical positions they’re hiring for,” she said. “They want to keep them around, because they’re good.”

Permanent telework?

The Fish and Wildlife environmental scientist said he was attracted by the stability of a state job when he started during the Great Recession.

He said he’s unlikely to leave, given the benefits he has accrued, and hopes his manager can gauge his abilities by the products of his work, especially if telework becomes a permanent part of state service as Newsom has proposed.

A Cal Fire manager said she is having more difficulty judging the competency of workers who have expressed interest in moving into management.

“I’m trying to come up with scenarios where they can demonstrate their knowledge and capabilities, but it’s not an easy thing to do,” she said.

She said she has started paying closer attention to employees’ responsiveness to emails and phone calls. If an hour or two passes without a response, she starts to wonder what they’re doing, she said.

“It’s not fair that the pandemic happened,” she said. “It’s not fair for them. Especially if we were coming up with a promotional track for them. But now this is presenting new challenges. I just want to make sure they do have those skills and competencies in a non-COVID environment where they can do the presenting and fulfill the requirements for the next level.”