The Public Defender provides legal defense services for the county’s indigent and those unable to otherwise afford legal counsel. The Public Defender initiated the project to work with his staff to develop and implement specific recommendations for productivity improvement. Project staff reviewed all work processes for clerical support and investigators.
This project defined the tasks of the three major groupings of employees: legal secretaries, records clerks, and investigators. This was the first time work measurement techniques measured actual work within the Public Defender’s offices supplemented by employee input. The value of a study of this technical nature is to align the support staff required to the current staff levels of attorneys they assist.
During the project, all work activity was identified in each of the departments included. Department management then reviewed the submitted activities to eliminate redundant items. Some of these redundancies resulted from different interpretations of “the same” job by different individuals. Department staff collected a minimum of three weeks’ data by recording daily occurrences of each activity. The majority of areas recorded four to five weeks’ data and made changes to the task lists during the early weeks to enhance the listed tasks. While the employees recorded task activity volumes, project staff observed and determined the average time required to perform each task. The task observation phase gave project staff personal contact with each staff person and provided an opportunity for project staff to verify task steps. It also reassured the employees that project staff would pay careful attention to each performed task.
Span of control and organizational structure analysis revealed that, not only would significant savings result from reducing the number of investigator groups, accountability and control within the investigator groups would improve. In the Records Section, project staff determined that eliminating one of the two supervisors would yield a span of control within acceptable limits.
Among methods improvements recommended and implemented during the study, project staff created a computerized data base system to replace manual card files. This new system allowed faster responsiveness to the client and user community and eliminated a perceived pressing need for additional staff in the Alternative Indigent Defense Program. Altered work assignments balanced the work load among legal secretaries and among records clerks.
After thorough analysis, project staff recommended against privitizing records storage based on lower in-house cost and improved access to and accountability and control over archived records.
A staffing model based on measurable work volumes led to staffing adjustments and reduced county expenditures per unit of service provided.