A Personnel Manual for Deinstitutionalization : Bronx Developmental Center Becomes Bronx Developmental Services

Pulver, Lewis R.

A Personnel Manual for Deinstitutionalization : Bronx Developmental Center Becomes Bronx Developmental Services

1991

New York Institute of Technology

Deinstitutionalization

English

PDF

Thesis (M.S.)--New York Institute of Technology

School of Management.

Department of Labor and Industrial Relations

Bronx Developmental Services is a unit of the New York state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. It serves the retarded and developmentally disabled in Bronx County. To this end it operates a developmental center, some community based residences, a day treatment center and a case management team which monitors the care that the clients living in the Bronx in voluntary agencies or at their family homes receive. The largest group of staff are assigned to the care of the clients living in the developmental center. The State has made the decision to close all developmental centers, and move the clients into community residences. Bronx Developmental Center is scheduled to close by June 1992.
The problem that this practicum solved was that there was no personnel manual for Bronx Developmental Center and moving the clients and the staff from the self-contained center into the community emphasized the needs for one. Communication among the various levels that made up the structure of Bronx Developmental was becoming harder as each group of clients and staff moved out of the Developmental Center and into the community.
By placing both the informal policies that had evolved over time and the formal written policies into one place, the Personnel Manual, we have improved a method of communication. There now is one place for administrators, supervisors and staff to look for answers to their basic personnel questions. This manual also ensures consistency for personnel issues within the agency.
In deciding what policies needed to be written, the researcher investigated what was required by the Health Department, which certifies our programs. In addition both Professor Robert Nobile's Guide to Employee Handbooks, and Edgar S. Ellman's Put It in Writing- A Complete Guide For Preparing Employee Policy Handbooks were utilized to acquire ideas on what topics were necessary to include in this manual. The policies were written in compliance with the requirements of the control agencies ( N.Y.S. Department of Civil Service, Division of the Budget, and Controllers Office). The writer reviewed the collective bargaining agreements of the three unions that represent the employees at Bronx Developmental Services to ensure that these policies were not in violation of these agreements.
The draft manual was then reviewed by a representative of Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) Central Office to ensure that it was in compliance with agency policies. The manual has now been submitted to the Director of Bronx Developmental Services for his final approval. However, as a result of the closure activities, the status of the Human Resources Office at Bronx Developmental Services has changed suddenly. Due to fiscal restraints, there was a decision made to consolidate the Human Resources, the Affirmative Action and the Business Office functions between Bronx Developmental Services and Manhattan Developmental Services, eliminating the head of one of each offices as a cost saving method. The writer has been reassigned by my Commissioner to take over the Human Resources Office at Bernard Fineson Developmental Services in Queens, effective October 31, 1991. The completion of this manual will be done by the new Human Resources Director of the combined office.