The State Personnel Administration (SPA), formerly the Georgia Merit System, was established in February, 1943 (SB 17), as the central personnel agency of the state of Georgia, providing human resource (HR) and benefit programs, products and services to all state entities and employees. The core responsibility of the SPA is to establish a system of personnel administration that will attract, select and retain the best employees based on merit with incentives in the form of equal opportunities for all. Source: OCGA 45-20-1 (a). SPA is also the state's central record keeping agency for state employee data and the central means of monitoring state personnel practices.
The State Personnel Administration has 133 employees and nine divisions and offices.
Although the role and structure of the State Personnel Administration have changed since the Merit System Reform in 1996 (SB 635), its leadership and responsibility to provide services that enable a productive state workforce have not. Reform ushered in a new role for the State Personnel Administration, from regulation driven to customer driven; serving more as an expert human resource consultant and a facilitator of workforce planning and policies that cross agency lines. The State Personnel Administration works with state agencies to hire, train, develop and retain their workforce, enhance organizational performance, and provide employee benefits and financial security services through the administration of the State's flexible benefits program.
State agencies work with the State Personnel Administration as enthusiastic partners in planning, designing and implementing strategic HR initiatives in the areas of absence management, leadership development, human capital management systems, performance management, recruiting, policies and procedures, succession planning, workforce planning, and employee engagement.
In striving to provide a seamless point of service for both job applicants and state agencies, the State Personnel Administration administers an Internet-based job vacancy posting and application site known as The JobSite. The JobSite allows applicants to apply on-line 24 hours a day and gives agency hiring officials immediate access to applicant resumes.
