Efficiency Initiative - County of Los Angeles

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2010

The County of Los Angeles launched the Efficiency Initiative in May of 2009 to address the county’s increasingly dire fiscal situation due to the overall economic downturn and drastic funding reductions. Each county department was instructed to form an efficiency team with the goals of identifying ways to save money, streamline processes and reduce operating costs. An Efficiency Initiative website was also created to share ideas and projects across departmental boundaries, monitor the progress of all county efficiency projects and track real dollar savings and cost avoidance. Via the website, new ideas are solicited from departments and directly from its 100,000 employees for implementation consideration. With monthly postings by all departments, one department’s Efficiency Manager could review entries from other departments and consider adopting those for their own use, effectively promoting cross-department brainstorming. Thousands of ideas were received and discussed through town hall assemblies and management meetings. The information was shared via the website. As of December 31, 2009, over 400 projects have been initiated and are in various stages of implementation, with an estimated $132 million in annual savings resulting from the Efficiency Initiative. Over 200,000 hours in annual labor savings are also being produced, without sacrificing the level of service to the county’s nearly 10 million residents. The end result is a more efficiently-run government, one that is highly innovative and adaptive to current and future challenges.