• Determine the business plan for the department or area.
• Determine the new departmental structure and position requirements needed to meet the new or changed operational objectives. Develop Job Information Questionnaires (JIQ) if the remaining positions are new or significantly different.
• Review Handbook of Operating Procedures policy 5.15 Reduction in Force (RIF).
• Develop selection criterial for retained or re-designed positions based upon the criticality of the position to the department's overall function. Since a RIF normally results in fewer positions to perform more functions, it is important that the remaining positions are the ones which are more critical to meeting the goals of the department. Criticality determines which positions will be eliminated. The following criteria may be used to deteremine which individuals are impacted by the RIF:

1. Depth of experience across different areas of responsiblity within the department. A RIF normally results in fewer employees performing more functions. Therefore, an added factor can be the employee's overall experience and qualifications for a wide variety of responsibilities within the department.
2. Quality of Job Performance. Performance appraisal or other supervisory ratings of performance (documented) can be used as selection criteria only to distinguish among employees qualified for a position. This factor has been viewed by some courts as the least objective so it is critical that if this criterion is used, it is well documented and objectively determined. Only performance during the past year or evaluation period should be considered.
3. Seniority. This criterion may be the sole criterion employed if all employees meet the minimum qualifications for the remaining positions. Also, institutional seniority within the job classification can be used to determine the employees to be retained if employees within the sme job classification are otherwise equal based upon other criteria.
4. Employee qualifications. Retention decisions should be based on the match between employee qualifications and position requirements. Employees must at least meet minimum qualifications for a position in order to be considered for a match to a position. It is preferable to retain employees with the greatest preponderance of required qualifications for a given position.

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