Courts need good people, people who are competent, up-to-date, professional, ethical, and committed.  High-performing courts get the very best from their judges and employees no matter what their particular assignment or job.  As courts carry out recruitment, selection, employee relations, job analysis, job evaluation, and position classification; the administration of pay and benefits; and performance management, they demonstrate what the court believes in, its values, and its standards.  The aim is not good Human Resources Management in an otherwise mediocre court.  It is a high-performance court.

Changing environmental factors and a changing labor pool likewise challenge courts and their leaders.  Current trends include an aging labor force, younger workers with different values and expectations, more women, more racial and ethnic “minorities,” more immigrants, and more diverse life styles.  Challenging issues include telecommuting, benefits, work rules, work schedules, competing with other employers, both public and private, and leadership practices.  Environmental factors, a changing labor force, and public demands for accountability challenge courts and their leaders and mandate a sense of urgency about court Human Resources practices.  But the court culture is usually quite conservative.  The top court professionals, judges, speak and dress in ways that are staid, mannered, and unmistakably traditional, but the issues they address are complex, dynamic, and challenging. Who gets custody?  How do we balance public safety against the presumption of innocence and reasonable doubt?  A rightly conservative culture need not produce unresponsive judicial decisions or tired court management and human resources practices.  Waiting for difficult environmental and workforce issues to go away was never appropriate; now it is untenable.

Court Human Resources Management must be dignified but not stodgy, proper but also energetic, and correct but also creative.  The highest quality service providers, whether they are in the private sector (current examples include Nordstrom and Wal-Mart) or in the public sector, set the standard by which court services ought to be measured.  Recruitment; selection; education, training, and development; and fairness must be equal to or better than all other employers, both public and private. The court should be a model employer.

Effective Human Resources Management not only enables performance but also increases morale, employee perceptions of fairness, and self-worth. People who work in the courts are special.  Their jobs and the work of the courts are not too small for the human spirit.  With proper leadership, court Human Resources Management contributes to meaning and pride over and beyond the reward of a paycheck. It reflects the enduring purposes and responsibilities of courts.