Practitioner’s Guide to Managing TeleStaff (2024)

Fire department staffing is a critical, and commonly frustrating process. At times, fairness and consistency seems impossible. Fortunately, there is TeleStaff, a program that can fill vacancies, set schedules and manage phone calls. Over my 15 years of staffing a large fire department and consulting for 26 other agencies, I’ve noticed a lack of best practices and standards. Every organization I’ve seen has similar needs that can be summed up into three elements; people, process and priorities.

People

There is no substitute for good people. Individuals with differing contexts add to the groups ability to think critically and remain open-minded. In other words, every person, whether civilian or sworn, has a unique background that drives his or her perspective on the “right way to do staffing.” A staffing management team should consist of a diverse group of perspectives so then when it comes to policy analysis every aspect is considered.

Aquick note on civilian I.T. and administrative staff. I have noticed “dilutions of adequacy” among civilian I.T. and administrative staff concerning the administration of TeleStaff. A common belief is that since TeleStaff is software, it is best managed by civilian I.T. staff. These assumptions could not be further from the truth. And although civilian staff may be very talented, they simply lack the context to make unchecked decisions in the system. In the end, a management team consisting of only non-sworn administration workers and I.T. staff is destined for hardship and likely failure.

Forming you team

Whether it’s called a committee, task force, or specialized user group, your TeleStaff management team should consist of at least one representative for each internal stakeholder group. I admit, “stakeholder” has become a ubiquitous cliché used so often it’s meaning gets lost, but in this context I use stakeholder to mean any group of employees that will be directly and uniquely affected by the policies formed. For example, you should have someone represent the HAZMAT specialty if you have specific policies for Hazmat staffing. In addition, you should have someone representing HR if TeleStaff tracks personnel items such as payroll.

Training

TeleStaff training for the team is crucial to understand the abilities and limitations of the software. Kronos offers yearly conventions and specialized training for your personnel. If these options are unavailable or inadequate for your agency, you may consider hiring a consultant.

Dialog

Finally, your team must be able to have an open dialog on the issues. Issues must be discussed absent polarizing narratives and personal motives. In other words, your team must remain open minded to one other’s ideas and consider them from the context of the presenter and not automatically dismiss ideas because they do not agree with yours.

Once you assemble your team, they will need a process that guides them to creating and updating policies.

Process

Roll call policies change and evolve over time. This evolution requires a process for managing a living document called your “roll call manual.” For this process of evolution, we are going to borrow from the I.T. framework “change control.” Change control is a six-step process that ensures everyone affected by the updates understands the change and can give feedback. The following is an outline of a change control process.

• Record/classify

Policy change starts from a formal request for something to be changed from anyone in the agency. The management team then records and categorizes the request. This categorization would include estimates of importance, impact and complexity.

• Analysis

The management team then makes a risk analysis. Typically, this is done by answering a set of questions concerning risk, both to the department and to the process. This is followed by making a judgment if the proposal should be implemented or needs revising. If the change requires more than one type of assessment, the head of the change control team will consolidate these. Everyone with a stake in the change then must meet to determine whether there is a business or technical justification for the change. The change is then sent to the delivery team for planning.

• Plan

Management will assign the change to a specific delivery team, usually one with the specific role of carrying out this particular type of change. The team’s first job is to plan the change in detail as well as construct a regression plan in case the change needs to be backed out.

• Build/test

If all stakeholders agree with the plan, the delivery team will build the solution, which will then be tested. They will then seek approval and request a time and date to carry out the implementation phase.

• Implement

All stakeholders must agree to a time, date and cost of implementation. Following implementation, it is usual to carry out a post-implementation review, which would take place at another stakeholder meeting.

• Close/gain acceptance

When the users agree that the change was implemented correctly, the change can be closed.

With a formal process in place, the last tool your people need is guiding priories to base the policies.

Priorities

Finally, priorities balance conflicting needs while helping guide your policy. I suggest the following priorities.

1. Qualified relief by the end of shift

a. Ultimately this is the overall goal of roll call, to get off-going shift home. Typically, they just finished a 24 or 48-hour shift and should be relieved by qualified personnel.

2. Clear and consistent rules

a. Rules need to be written in a way that is non-ambiguous and can be applied consistently across the shifts. Policies tend to get convoluted the more people contribute to them. If you have to start writing numerous exceptions or need more than a page to describe the policy, it may be time to rewrite the policy.

3. Fair distribution of time and money

a. Finally, roll call policies ensure that overtime, specialty moves, etc. are evenly distributed across the workforce. Some moves, such as voluntary overtime, are sought by the employees, while others are aggressively avoided, including mandatory moves or moves onto an ambulance. All of these moves need to be recorded and fairly distributed.

Proposals for change to roll call policy tend to come from a single perspective focused on one problem. These priorities ensure that changes to policy will meet the needs of the agency as a whole without sacrificing the rights of one group for the sake of another.

If any proposal is submitted that does not meet these three priorities it should be rejected or revised.

Lastly, some situations arise where it is not possible to meet all three priorities. When this happens, the priorities should be taken in order. For example, getting qualified relief by the end of the shift should be achieved before fair distribution of time and money.

Conclusion

Every fire department faces staffing challenges which are manageable with the correct people, process and priorities. Choosing the right people for the project is critical. Ensuring proper training, an open dialog, and a mix of context is vital. A repeatable process of maintaining a living document of policies ensures your rules evolve with your needs. And finally, a list of guiding priorities keeps your evolution in check, ensuring that new rules meet the overall goals of the agency without getting hijacked by one group.