New Recruiting Ideas for the Personnel Department Residents Deserve a Fully Staffed Workforce

Requiring candidates for difficult to fill positions coordinate with Personnel rather than directly with hiring managers in departments slows the hiring process and reduces candidate interest.

The Personnel Department recruiter training does not provide recruiter skills to the hiring managers necessary in today’s job market.

Outdated personnel “candidate pool” rules and Civil Service recruiting policies inadvertently force long term vacancies for supervisory and credentialed positions.

By not sending candidates for difficult to fill positions directly to hiring managers the chances of hiring well qualified candidates are reduced.

Most county departments lack dedicated hiring managers leading to overloaded administrators.

The Personnel Department has not changed policies and procedures in the face of fewer candidates applying for County positions resulting in additional vacancies and slower recruitment and hiring processes.

The Personnel Department’s website advertising continuous open positions without regular updates makes it very difficult for candidates to find opportunities on search engines because the information is stale and not up to date.

Continuous improvement for promoting existing employees in departments with difficult to fill positions can help to maintain effective staffing levels.

Promoting employees within departments with many difficult to fill positions can limit the damage caused by attrition, especially at more senior levels.

The months-long hiring process is frustrating to candidates and jeopardizes the County’s chances of hiring good candidates.

The time required for complex paper processes steals time from creative recruitment and ongoing contact with candidates.

Despite the finding in F9, having leadership in Personnel Department positions filled by long-time employees that have spent most of their career in the department has led to limited acceptance of ideas that have worked elsewhere in hiring for difficult to fill positions.

The 8-county salary comparison in place since 2002 is no longer a useful benchmark for wages and salaries given the high cost of living in Santa Cruz County resulting in many vacancies.

To attract a wider pool of candidates for difficult to fill positions, pay needs to be at least 90% of what Santa Clara County offers.

The County Personnel Department was consistently unable to provide comprehensive hiring statistics. Without accurate data, Personnel and other departments cannot make sound judgements on how to measure improvements in the hiring process for difficult to fill positions.

The Personnel Department expects the department units themselves to track hiring and recruitment metrics and keep important data such as turnover statistics and vacancy rates. This leaves the Personnel Department and oversight bodies without a clear picture of the situation and depth of the problem.

By not filling essential positions for months at a time, services for residents suffer harm when vacancies persist.

The Grand Jury recommends changes that improve efficiency and effectiveness of the county’s hiring processes. This is done to improve service levels for County residents that support the local agencies with hard-earned tax dollars. All of the recommendations below are specific, but do not call out the elephant in the room: County services for residents suffer because management is not able to prioritize staffing levels, or deploy time-saving integrated software, or fix broken processes. Residents deserve the improved services that fully staffed departments can deliver. For county residents, the “just business as usual” attitude of local agencies towards filling these critical vacancies is very concerning. The Recommendations in this report anticipate continual improvement in County hiring and recruiting. These will result in more completely staffed agencies and departments that deliver high quality services on time with improved morale. The County will accrue cost and time savings through integrated data and processes. Time is money and the clock is ticking. The Grand Jury thinks this problem is urgent and needs to be addressed now. New Recruiting Ideas for the Personnel Department published June 27, 2024 Page 15 of 24 Findings and Recommendations Group 1: Fast-track Candidate Pool Quality / Quantity Add Department-level Recruiting Expertise and Bandwidth F1. Requiring candidates for difficult to fill positions coordinate with Personnel rather than directly with hiring managers in departments slows the hiring process and reduces candidate interest. F2. The Personnel Department recruiter training does not provide recruiter skills to the hiring managers necessary in today’s job market. F3. Outdated personnel “candidate pool” rules and Civil Service recruiting policies inadvertently force long term vacancies for supervisory and credentialed positions. F4. By not sending candidates for difficult to fill positions directly to hiring managers the chances of hiring well qualified candidates are reduced. F5. Most county departments lack dedicated hiring managers leading to overloaded administrators. R1. The Grand Jury recommends that by December 31, 2024, in order to reduce the backlog of difficult to fill positions, the Personnel Department creates dedicated recruiter positions for the HSA, HSD and Public Works departments. (F1–F5) Improve Marketing to Candidates F3 applies to this area as well. F6. The Personnel Department has not changed policies and procedures in the face of fewer candidates applying for County positions resulting in additional vacancies and slower recruitment and hiring processes. F7. The Personnel Department’s website advertising continuous open positions without regular updates makes it very difficult for candidates to find opportunities on search engines because the information is stale and not up to date. R2. The Grand Jury recommends that by December 31, 2024, the Personnel Department update recruitment and hiring procedures. For example, requiring the updating of job postings on a regular basis in order to improve search engine visibility. (F3, F6, F7) R3. The Grand Jury recommends that by December 31, 2024, the Personnel Department begin publishing per-position candidate pool policies and hiring results on a semi-annual basis. (F3, F6, F7) New Recruiting Ideas for the Personnel Department published June 27, 2024 Page 16 of 24 Promote from Within F8. Continuous improvement for promoting existing employees in departments with difficult to fill positions can help to maintain effective staffing levels. F9. Promoting employees within departments with many difficult to fill positions can limit the damage caused by attrition, especially at more senior levels. R4. The Grand Jury recommends that by December 31, 2024, the Personnel Department, in collaboration with HSA, HSD and Public Works, embrace continuous improvement and publish a skills and advancement plan to accelerate promotion from within, including budget requirements and goals. (F8, F9) Group 2: Improve Hiring and Recruitment Results Adopt Integrated HR System F10. The months-long hiring process is frustrating to candidates and jeopardizes the County’s chances of hiring good candidates. F11. The time required for complex paper processes steals time from creative recruitment and ongoing contact with candidates. R5. The Grand Jury recommends that by December 31, 2024, the Personnel Department publish a cost/benefit analysis comparing their current approach with that offered by integrated HR solutions. (F10, F11) Embrace Continual Improvement within Personnel Department F6 applies to this area as well. F12. Despite the finding in F9, having leadership in Personnel Department positions filled by long-time employees that have spent most of their career in the department has led to limited acceptance of ideas that have worked elsewhere in hiring for difficult to fill positions. R6. The Grand Jury recommends that by December 31, 2024, the Personnel Department develop a plan detailing how they will solicit and evaluate employee recommendations that could help reduce the backlog of difficult to fill positions. (F6, F12) R7. The Grand Jury recommends that by December 31, 2024, the Personnel Department publicly document how they have engaged external expertise which would likely improve hiring and promoting processes. (F6, F12) New Recruiting Ideas for the Personnel Department published June 27, 2024 Page 17 of 24 Evaluate Peer Counties for Best Practices F6 applies to this area as well. F13. The 8-county salary comparison in place since 2002 is no longer a useful benchmark for wages and salaries given the high cost of living in Santa Cruz County resulting in many vacancies. F14. To attract a wider pool of candidates for difficult to fill positions, pay needs to be at least 90% of what Santa Clara County offers. R8. The Grand Jury recommends that by December 31, 2024, and annually thereafter, the Personnel Department conduct a salary comparison study based on nearby counties. It is recommended that this study include counties which have routinely recruited Santa Cruz County employees and residents. (F6, F13, F14) Create a Public Dashboard of Key Hiring and Recruitment Metrics F15. The County Personnel Department was consistently unable to provide comprehensive hiring statistics. Without accurate data, Personnel and other departments cannot make sound judgements on how to measure improvements in the hiring process for difficult to fill positions. F16. The Personnel Department expects the department units themselves to track hiring and recruitment metrics and keep important data such as turnover statistics and vacancy rates. This leaves the Personnel Department and oversight bodies without a clear picture of the situation and depth of the problem. F17. By not filling essential positions for months at a time, services for residents suffer harm when vacancies persist. R9. The Grand Jury recommends that by December 31, 2024, the Personnel Department post a public dashboard, based on real time data, to include time-to-hire and vacancy rates for difficult to fill positions in County departments. (F15, F16, F17)

C1. The Grand Jury commends the Personnel Department for testing ways to improve recruiting for difficult to fill positions. These include preparing a video selling the lifestyle of Santa Cruz County, attending job fairs, having a booth at the County fair, attending conferences where professionals meet, advertising in magazines that target professionals with needed skills, reaching out to universities and meeting students about to graduate. C2. On the recommendation of the Personnel Department, the Board of Supervisors eliminated the civil service requirement for a top ten list for a set of hard to fill positions. Department hiring for those positions accelerated since managers were able to interview candidates more quickly. New Recruiting Ideas for the Personnel Department published June 27, 2024 Page 18 of 24