Narrative: d. 2. I. i. I. a.

The Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) has a strong commitment to employing and retaining an adequate workforce of qualified vocational rehabilitation personnel, both professional and paraprofessional.

Collection and Analysis of Data

DVR currently has access to three existing data systems that identify the number of persons employed by DVR by personnel category. The primary one is maintained by the Department of Human Services’ (DHS) Personnel Office. This is the database that maintains payroll information on employees including their dates of hire, official job classifications, and home addresses. An additional spreadsheet is maintained internally within DVR by the Human Resources Liaison. It contains information on offices and regions to which staff are assigned, functional job titles, and other information about the position. Finally DVR’s electronic case management system, CO–AWARE, also contains staff information about positions to which employees are assigned. DVR uses a combination of these three data systems as well as supervisory records to continuously gather and analyze information about the qualifications of the 229.7 full time equivalencies (FTEs) assigned to DVR staff. As DVR transitions from DHS to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) by July 1, 2016, both Departments are working together to ensure a seamless transition of all relevant personnel data. DVR will continue to have access to needed personnel data through the CDLE Human Resources office.

Currently, 105 of the 229.7 positions are vocational rehabilitation counselors. The remaining 124.7 positions consist of 28 administrative assistants, 2 office managers, 19 district and regional supervisors, 11.5 orientation/mobility & vision rehabilitation therapists, 10 business outreach specialists, 7 Business Enterprise Program professionals, 2 assistive technology specialists, 8.5 rehabilitation technicians, and approximately 36.7 central office managerial and infrastructure staff.

In addition to these positions, DVR also has the following federally or “other” funded program positions:

§ BOND program has 1 rehabilitation counselor and .20 supervisor

§ ASPIRE Program has .25 central office management staff, 2 central office professional staff, and 8 case managers located in field offices.

DVR continues to work to develop a business plan that outlines necessary staffing levels. At the current point in time, DVR has the following vacancies: 10 rehabilitation counseling positions; 2.5 administrative assistant positions, 3 business outreach specialist positions, and 5 central office professional staff positions.

The ratio of the number of vocational rehabilitation counselors to the number of clients currently being served in applicant and active statuses is approximately 1 vocational rehabilitation counselor for every 75 clients. The ratio of vocational rehabilitation counselors to field support staff is approximately 3.5 to 1.

Projections of the number of individuals to be served including those with significant disabilities are based on projected increases for the general population and incidence rates for disabilities, using Colorado census data and state demographics. These projections, in combination with DVR attrition and retirement rates, are used to predict personnel needs for the next five years.

The rate of attrition of DVR staff averages about 10–12%, or approximately 25–30 staff per year. It is projected that DVR will need to recruit approximately 30 new rehabilitation counselors during the next three years. In addition, DVR anticipates the need to continue to recruit high quality support staff; approximately 10 during the next three years given the average attrition rate for the agency.