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Data Definitions

Age: Calculated at the end of the fiscal year.

Agency Voluntary Turnover: When an employee willingly separates from the agency. Calculated as the number of employee resignations, retirements, transfers and voluntary buyouts divided by the agency’s fiscal year beginning headcount.

Baby Boomers: Individuals who were born between the years of 1946 and 1964.

Classified Employee/Position: State employees and positions under the jurisdiction of the Oklahoma Merit System of Personnel Administration.1

Civil Service Employee: A person employed in the public sector by a government department or agency whose position is neither considered political nor judicial.2

Exempted Employee: The law defines exempted employees as: (a) Persons employed by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Oklahoma House of Representatives, Oklahoma State Senate, Legislative Service Bureau or the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency; (b) Elected officials; (c) Political appointees; (d) District attorneys, assistant district attorneys or other employees of the district attorney's office; (e) The state judiciary or persons employed by the state judiciary; or (f) Not more than 5% of an agency's employees designated as executive management as determined by the agency director. Exempted employees are not governed by the Civil Service rules.

Fiscal Year (FY): The period of time from July 1 through June 30 of the following year.

FY Beginning Headcount: The number of actual full-time employees on July 1 of the fiscal year.

FY End Headcount: The number of actual full-time employees on June 30 of the fiscal year.

Full-time Employee (FT): Represents a full-time employee with the State of Oklahoma Executive Branch excluding higher education. Does not include temporary employees, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Senators, State Representatives, board members or active duty military personnel. Defined as a regular part-time or full-time employee receiving benefits. Not to be confused with full-time equivalency or whole-time equivalent which is a unit based on hours worked to measure workload in financial or other contexts.

Full-time Equivalent (FTE): A unit based on hours worked to measure and translate workload into financial or other contexts. Typically one FTE is equivalent to one full-time employee. Example: three employees work the respective hours – 40, 25 and 10 on a weekly basis. The hours worked total 75 hours. 75/40 = 1.875 FTE. The total hours of the three employees are summed and then divided by 40 because a typical full-time employee works 40 hours in a week. The result is the full-time equivalent. The three individuals worked the equivalent to 1.875 employees working at a rate of 40 hours per week.

Generation Xers: Individuals born between the years of 1965 and 1980.

Generation Z/iGen: Individuals born in 1997 or later. An official end date for this generation has not yet been set.

Involuntary Turnover: When an employee separates from the organization unwillingly. Calculated as the number of employee discharges, deaths, unclassified appointment expirations, resignations for cause and reductions in force divided by the fiscal year beginning headcount.

Millennials: Individuals born between 1981 and 1996.

Minority: Individuals who identify as Black/African-American, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander.

New Hire: Full-time employees hired during the fiscal year (July 1 through June 30).

Retirement Eligibility: Calculated using OPERS rules for normal retirement eligibility. Does not consider early retirement or hazardous duty retirement rules. Determined at the end of the fiscal year.

Statewide Voluntary Turnover: When an employee willingly separates from state service. Calculated as the number of employee resignations, retirements and voluntary buyouts divided by the statewide fiscal year beginning headcount.

Traditionalists: Individuals born between the mid-1920s and 1945.

Turnover: The total number of separations during the fiscal year divided by the fiscal year beginning headcount.

Unclassified Employee/Position: State employees and positions excluded from the coverage of the Oklahoma Merit System of Personnel Administration.2

Years of Service: The number of years an employee has been employed full time with the state. Years of service is used in the calculation of employee longevity and retirement eligibility. Calculated at the end of the fiscal year.


Footnotes

1 Effective Jan. 1, 2022, the classified service and unclassified service are now called state employees and are governed by the Civil Service Rules.

2 Effective Jan. 1, 2022, state employees are no longer classified or unclassified.

Last Modified on Nov 07, 2023