March 5, 2025 — At a joint State budget hearing on Workforce Development Feb. 26 in Albany, PEF Vice President Randi DiAntonio testified how the proposed Executive Budget can do more to attract and retain workers in state government.
“Recruitment and retention are a serious issue. It’s been an ongoing issue, but it is now a complete crisis,” Vice President DiAntonio told legislators. “We appreciate all the efforts on Tier 6 reform, but we need action.”
DiAntonio told members of the committee that while overtime paid by the State to its workforce are soaring ($1.2 billion last year), the hidden costs are the negative effects all that OT has on the lives of state workers who are overworked and unable to be with their families and loved ones.
“The agencies that pay out the majority of overtime will not come as a shock to you: DOCCS, OCFS, OMH and OPWDD. Seventy percent of all overtime work were in those settings and that trend continues,” she said. “Chronic short staffing is unsustainable. Our members are at their breaking point, they are overworked, and the impact on morale is overwhelming. Excessive overtime mandates are commonplace because they are doing the jobs of other people.”
“The safety of our members and the people we serve is PEF’s top priority,” DiAntonio testified. “At the end of the day, staff and clients have the same goal – do the work and get home safely to your family. Right now, staffing and resource levels do not provide ample opportunity to deliver the services needed to meaningfully reform the system. That, in turn, leaves too many staff and, at correctional facilities, incarcerated individuals vulnerable to violence and intimidation.”
Lawmakers asked DiAntonio and her fellow panelists why the state cannot seem to hire and retain enough workers.
“To the state’s credit, they have brought in a lot of people, but what we’re seeing is they’re not staying in state service,” she said. “We have OCFS facilities where they bring people in and in their first week they are being mandated to work 25, 30, 40 hours straight and after being trained and all of the resources that go into that, they leave.”
The New York State Department of Civil Service has been working on hiring through NY HELPS, a program that waives exams in favor of expediting the hiring process. While PEF supports NY HELPS as a temporary fix, there are still issues with the program and PEF believes it does little to address attrition.
“Civil Service has promised us many changes, but we still have 12 regional testing sites that are not open yet,” said DiAntonio. “We still have a salary study that was funded two years ago that just started last month. And while we agreed that HELPS was a good band-aid, as we’re seeing in Washington, abandoning the merit and fitness system is not going to help New Yorkers on a long-term basis.”
PEF’s submitted written testimony highlights critical points where the state should do more to bolster the workforce, including Tier 6 reform, building capacity at the Civil Service Department, strengthening protections against bullying in the workplace and delivering equipment and technology to enhance safety at facilities where assault has been reported.
“We know that these conversations always boil down to cost, be we also must consider the other costs the state, municipalities and school districts are paying in overtime compensation, the civil service exam and onboarding costs, and the costs associated with training and re-training new staff,” PEF wrote in the testimony. “When you have a workforce that is experiencing this high level of turnover, these are real costs.”
The Legislature will consider all the budget testimony they’ve received from various stakeholders and work together with the Governor to finalize the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 budget by April 1.
PEF members are encouraged to send pre-written letters to their local legislators in support of PEF’s budget priorities.
