Taking care of folk! Geri Sue Blackford (left) and Kathy Duffy insure that the best team members are taken care of and that those who don't make the cut are too.  LA-RFO Photo by Spec. Larry Gleeson. Back to Features

Dynamic duo manages the ins and outs of staff rotation
By Dave Harris, public affairs specialist, Louisiana Recovery Field Office

NEW ORLEANS, LA …Most co-workers here will tell you that 72-hour weeks of tackling Army Corps of Engineers Louisiana recovery operations means working long and hard at perhaps the best and most satisfying job there is – a job staffed by people who are not shy of sound work ethics, not lacking in commitment and not losers.    

That’s because losers don’t make the cut, leaving only the cream of the crop. The barebones, no-nonsense human resources arrangement – whether planned this way or not – results in the rigor and simplicity of cut-loose tools that are the envy of the world of public service, or at least anyone who ever bogged down in the “regular” staffing headaches back home. 

If you’re a kid in a military community overseas, you notice that your schoolmates behave themselves. It doesn’t take long to find out why. The ones who mess up get a free one-way plane ticket home. 

It’s the same here at the Louisiana Recovery Field Office. Only the workers who want to be here, do good work and keep their noses clean get to stay. You can find lots of reasons to stay or go home, but the rare troublemaker quickly discovers here that there are no performance improvement plans. No nasty letters. No appraisals. No demotions. No suspensions. No appeals. No probations. No question. No work. No stay. No pay. No way.  

It’s a free one-way ticket home for accident-prone rabble-rousers, grouches, slouches, wimps, gimps, users, boozers, laziness, craziness, sickly and hell-raisers. Oh yes, some of those need all the help and sympathy they can get. Just not here.

The RFO isn’t equipped and the focus on mission, safety and personal and professional ethics is razor sharp. The best counseling and bedside manner is, well, back home.  

“This is not a real HR office,” said Kathy Duffy, mission manager. “It’s very, very simple. Our job is making sure taskers are filled, the person is processed in, provided with awards and checked out – and we answer employee questions when they arise.”  

Kathy’s cohort personnel specialist, Geri Sue Blackford, agrees. “This is nothing like the real world. You take care of the person who comes in front of your desk with a smile. We see them when they come in and when they leave.” 

No retirement. No workmen’s comp. No promotions. No job announcements. No RIF notices. “We don’t have classified job descriptions,” Kathy said. FTE – full-time-equivalent numbers? “I don’t make that determination. Just give me the taskers, and I’ll go out and look for the people.”  

CEFMS – the Corps of Engineers Financial Management System? “I don’t have access to CEFMS.” No benefits changes. And no official personnel file. “We don’t process any personnel actions here; all that’s done back at home base.” 

And for reemployed annuitants there’s no sick leave. No annual leave. No comp time. No holiday pay. No problem.  

Kathy has seen it all, having arrived at the RFO in Baton Rouge Oct. 14, 2005, and serving multi-tours here and there. In the beginning, hundreds reported for recovery duty. 

“We had a bigger staff then, six people. But we don’t do near the work here, keeping track of pay and benefits, things like that,” she said. 

What if someone gets sick? 

“If you’re a permanent employee, sign for sick leave. If you’re an RAO, just go back to the hotel and get better. People do get sick from the long hours and not eating right.” 

So, worry no more. If worries, sickness or mismatches persist, take one plane trip home. 

Kathy said one person arrived Wednesday and went home Friday. “Work was not what they expected. Or people have returned to home early because of personal problems or a situation at home.” 

She hasn’t had to deal with many quandaries that other HR offices deal with, Kathy said. On a former job she delivered a reduction-in-force letter and the recipient responded with a death threat. “Needless to say, I didn’t want to deal with that gentleman any longer. RIFs are not a pleasant part of the personnel job.” 

Most situations in Baton Rouge and Louisiana have been pleasant for HR; however, one man who left accountable property in his hotel room couldn’t get it signed off by Logistics.  

“He was very upset and took it out on us,” Kathy said. “He was so loud and verbally abusive that the armed guard next door heard him and came over.” 

Those incidents are rare, she said. 

Some experiences are heartrending. “Especially in the early days as people were leaving, hundreds of people had stories they told me about how they helped people,” Kathy said. After Rita, one person told me how she saw a lady digging through piles of stuff and found only a spoon. Almost everybody sat down and they’d tell you a story.” 

Geri noted the lack of permanence in the mission, saying that even record-keeping has a relatively short life. “We don’t make [permanent] folders. Personnel to me is history.” 

But she likened it here to a famous Nevada saying. “The history that starts here stays here when they leave.” 

Both are past worrying and understand there’s life after recovery missions. 

Geri talks of spending another winter with her husband in Florida and extols the virtues of RVs - she knows all about trailers, camper shells, 5th-wheelers and motor homes. “You have to be a little mechanically minded,” she’ll advise you. “You have to be with the right person. We’ve been in a lot of strange places and always had a good time. You can be a little adventurous but be a little savvy, too.” 

And oh, by the way, she doesn’t like watching a float bob up and down. “I like fly-fishing.” 

As for Kathy, “I plan to travel – anywhere - and enjoy my family. My son and I are going on a Caribbean cruise in January. I don’t have any big adventures planned. I’m just going to see what happens.” 

You get the feeling Kathy and Geri enjoy life on or off the job. 

“I like fun jobs – I don’t work where I’m upset, Geri said. “I’m past working for money. It has a lot to do with it, but I enjoy working. I’m just sort of easy-going. I don’t scream and yell or stomp my feet. If I see things done not correctly, I hold my tongue. 

“I’ve been around this rodeo a few times.” 

That goes for after work. “No sense being out after 9 o’clock,” she said. “I’m past that partying stage where the younger folks go down to Coyote Ugly and jump up on the bar – I don’t do that. Maybe they think I’m an old fogey. My husband says, ‘You’re not joining the Army. If you’re not happy, you don’t have to stay.’ But as long as I can enjoy what I’m doing I’ll stay. I enjoy working for Kathy, too.” 

Geri added, “HR means happy reunion for all the persons who continue to accept missions.” 

Kathy’s of the same ilk, savoring the experiences past, present and future, and ready for any eventuality. 

“We HR folks can deal with just about everything,” she concluded.