Workforce

Currently at TDOT, projects are passed through an assembly line moving from one discipline to the next, and no one person drives a project’s success. While TDOT is asking for legislative updates to help address growing challenges, it is important to note TDOT is taking significant steps to reorganize operations, streamlining the organization and moving toward a more efficient project delivery model to get projects on the street faster through Integrated Program Delivery (IPD). Through research, TDOT realized the existing organizational structure would not effectively and efficiently support PMs and their teams. In 2020, the Governor’s Office released a statewide analysis on government efficiencies, which revealed TDOT’s organizational structure was not operating as efficiently as peer states. This is when the concept of Empowering People, Influencing Culture (EPIC) was developed, which would become the backbone for successful IPD implementation.

We continue to lose people and their salaries, which are 10-15% below market level, are a main reason for their departure. As part of EPIC, we intend to eliminate a minimum of 500 vacancies to use those dollars, equating to $34 million, to increase salaries.

We are moving away from the assembly line, siloed approach as it causes delays and are moving toward a team-based approach that allows for faster and more efficient delivery of projects.

Watch the IPD video