Employee training requests and inquiries are on the rise. Human Resources has announced the opening of the new training facility in 380 City Hall and is planning to enhance training programs to benefit employees. In the meantime, we address your training inquiries with descriptions of training opportunities currently available in the FJD.

Employee Orientation
Human Resources provides all new employees an overview of the FJD in a 1/2 day orientation session. Normally held every Monday morning, the session includes an orientation video — produced in-house and narrated by Bill Harlow of M.I.S— which describes the structure of the FJD, the functions of the various courts, and what will be covered in the orientation session. Employees are then provided the Employee Information Manual, a 20 page booklet which also describes court operations and summarizes important employment polices on such topics as sick and vacation leave, hours of work, performance ratings, dress codes, residency requirements, etc. After reviewing these employment rules, HR staff addresses the financial issues — payroll information, medical benefits, the pension plan, Workers' Compensation, deferred compensation, and direct deposit.

At the end of the session, the new employee is directed to his/her assigned work location where job-related training will begin.

HR's Shanda Holloway at recent training session.

District-Wide Training
Human Resources also conducts training on matters relevant to all employees. These include such topics as sexual harassment in the workplace, stress management, customer service, policy updates, Windows training, and employment law updates. An example of the latter was the training on Family and Medical Leave this spring.

"We established a very ambitious training schedule this summer on employment law and the recent FJD policy revisions," reports Training Coordinator Shanda Holloway. "We will be training all supervisory and management personnel on the changes in both the substance of the policies and related new procedures."

Municipal Court —
Civil Operations
Similar to the Trial Division's recent efforts in informational workshops (see our Spring issue), Municipal Court holds monthly training sessions to keep employees abreast of court activities. Guest speakers from other divisions of the FJD are routinely invited to speak on procedures and activities unfamiliar to MC staff. Speakers have included judges, administrators, and operational supervisors from other departments. This program has been successful in providing new perspectives to employees' daily tasks.

Municipal Court's Dispute Resolution Program developed a training program on dispute resolution skills to teach its mediation staff how to effectively resolve conflicts between parties. The program was expanded to train volunteers who mediate housing, small claims, and minor criminal private complaint matters one or two mornings a month.

It occurred to managers that the program could be effective for other employees in the Court. The training was expanded to include all interviewers in the First Filing Unit and many other Court employees who routinely find themselves in conflict situations with attorneys or the public.

Juvenile and Adult Probation
Both Juvenile and Adult Probation receive state grant-in-aid funds which help fund employee salaries. To qualify for these funds, each department must comply with operating standards established by their respective state agencies — the Juvenile Court Judges' Justice Commission and the State Board of Probation and Parole. Both sets of standards call for 40 hours of training for their professional staff and 16 hours of training for their clerical staff. To meet these standards, each department created its own training unit.

Adult Probation and Parole Department: The APPD Training and Staff Development Unit complies with its training standards through both mandatory and elective training programs. The staff — Director Jacquelyn Manns Smalley, Jacqueline Brown, James Irving, and Lisa Heyman — designs, develops, coordinates and implements internal training and coordinates participation with city and state training programs and external training consortiums. With this support, APPD employees logged 12,380 hours of training in 1997.

To remain current with employee needs, trainers attend "Training the Trainers" programs and periodically conduct an employee training needs assessment. The trainers have, on occasion, provided one-on-one training for an employee with a specific need.

A representative sampling of training provided to staff includes: Probation & Parole Supervision Techniques; Lock and Track; Drug Subculture Competency; Security Policy; Reorganization Plan; Crisis Intervention; HIV Basic Counseling Techniques, and Project Management.

In addition to internal training responsibilities — including maintenance of a training library, disseminating information, and coordinating conferences and workshops — the trainers coordinate volunteer and college intern programs, conduct probation seminars for new judges, represent the department at school "career days," and oversee a "Speaker's Bureau" which provides speakers to a variety of community organizations and schools.

Juvenile Probation: Juvenile probation continues the HR orientation process with a four week orientation period for new employees. New employees spend their first week in the Youth Study Center learning the Intake process and the Pretrial and Clearinghouse Project. This is followed by courtroom observation in which employees visit each judge's courtroom to view courtroom activity and judicial expectations of probation officers.

Concurrently, they are trained in the overall juvenile process, the new Juvenile ACT, Juvenile Court Standards, office decorum, interviewing techniques, and the preparation of numerous reports and plans required of probation officers.

New officers also do four internships — two with geographical units and two with specialized units. They are then paired with a veteran officer who serves as a mentor during their six month orientation period.

A Specialized Training Calendar is established to provide workshops for all employees in such areas as : courtroom procedures, direct filing, certification, stress management, drug and adolescent aggression, safety, and dealing with the angry public. A monthly Staff Development program ensures that staff are kept abreast of current information about community agencies and programs. In-District Presentations are offered to staff on request so that agencies or community groups may conduct information sessions.

Domestic Relations
Training for the employees at Family Court Domestic Relations Division is in full force. The Training Coordinator, Karen Shakiba, has been providing various workshops focused on the needs of new and seasoned employees. Several sessions have been held to instruct Hearing Officers and Clerical personnel on the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act. In addition, workshops have been scheduled on Interviewing Techniques, How to Handle The Difficult Client, and Diversity Issues in the Workplace.

PARENTS computer system training is done by Edward Lehmann. This training is mandatory for all new employees. Ed also offers refresher courses throughout the year. Training for WordPerfect and how to navigate through Beyond Mail is conducted by Daniel F. Madonna, Esq., Director, Systems & Program Development, Ann DiGuglielmo, and Jeanne Schroeder.

Recently, employees were invited to a training on the amendments to the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure governing Protection from Abuse.

Domestic Violence Supervisor Margaret Sweeney provided an informative presentation. The workshop was enhanced by a lecture on the History of the law in the area of domestic violence presented by Judge Ida Chen.

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Occasionally, external training is made available to employees:

Law Library
At a time of rising expenditures for legal reference books (average cost of a law book approaches $100), administration has long sought to increase utilization of electronic information. Last November, Law Librarian Jim Clark took advantage of a tuition scholarship from the PA Department of Education, Commonwealth Library Bureau to attend the National Center for State Court's "Managing Court Libraries in the 21st Century." The major workshops of the conference included: "Networking CD-ROMS," "Legal Research on the Internet," "Resource Management," "Using Statistics Effectively," and "the Changing Role of the Court Librarian." The overriding theme was "managing for change."

"The training was very helpful in providing added direction to our plans and in preparing for negotiations with vendors," said Jim.

M.I.S.
Maintaining nearly 2,000 computers requires a skilled staff which is knowledgeable of both equipment and software. Recognizing the value of training, Director Cliff Baumbach arranged for M.I.S.. staffers Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Billy Schwartz, and Joe Moore to attend Dell University last October. The five day course covered the repair and maintenance of all Dell product lines — including all servers, desktop computers, and laptop computers.

They didn't teach this at Dell U.: Bill Schwartz tries a non-spec tool on a stubborn problem as Joe Moore and Kathleen Fitzpatrick look on.

"It's a busy week," reported Kathleen. "The training was held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with mornings dedicated to classroom instruction and afternoons for labs, which is the hands-on piece of the training." A review of the 25-page Student Course Guides for each of the three product areas will dispel any notion that this course was just a pleasant diversion from the office.

"The afternoon labs tested us on what we learned in the morning," said Billy. "As a team, we were required to completely disassemble the product and then reassemble it. Instructors would then sabotage each team's machine with several different problems for us to diagnose and repair. If you aren't successful, you don't get certified." Kathleen and Billy were recertified on this, their second trip to Dell U. This was Joe's first trip and certification.

"It's great to be certified," noted Joe. "We are not only recognized by Dell as qualified technicians, but we also have Premier Access status which allows us to directly order parts for overnight delivery. If we do encounter problems, we have access to technical support geared to technicians."

[Contributing to the training article: Emil C. Guaraglia, Adult Probation and Parole Department; William H. Joyner, Juvenile Probation]