Audit: City hiring is decentralized; agencies and HR roll out trackers, promise central Workday dashboard

A city performance audit found Baltimore’s hiring process is decentralized and inconsistent across agencies, hampering the city’s ability to track time-to-hire and identify bottlenecks, the city auditor told the Biennial Audits Oversight Commission. City human-resources officials and affected agency leaders described new trackers, training and a planned enterprise recruiting dashboard intended to improve hiring speed and transparency.

The audit, titled "Department of Human Resources: Efficiency and Effectiveness of the Hiring Process" and issued Dec. 2, 2024, found that fields and stages in Workday were not consistently used and that most agencies lacked formal, citywide policies to monitor the full recruiting and onboarding timeline. "Workday capabilities are not fully utilized to track and monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of the city's hiring process," City Auditor Josh Pash told the commission.

Why this matters: Council members said slow or uneven hiring affects service delivery and contributes to overtime and temporary staffing costs, especially in public-safety agencies. Commission members pressed HR and agencies for concrete timelines and comparable metrics so applicants get consistent communications and the city can measure progress.

Key findings and departmental responses - Audit finding: DHR and agencies were not capturing consistent Workday data or monitoring key dates across the…