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Human resources reports ADP rollout, improved retention and looming insurance cost pressures
Summary
HR Director Tracy Humphrey reported March 4 that Lincoln County completed an ADP payroll and HR rollout in 2024, saw lower turnover and increased wellness participation, but faces potential 17–23% health insurance premium increases without market action; commissioners were briefed on staffing and budget considerations for 2026.
Tracy Humphrey, Lincoln County human resources director, told commissioners March 4 that the county completed a full ADP payroll and HR platform rollout in 2024, recorded improvements in employee retention and wellness participation, and is preparing for possible larger health‑insurance cost increases in 2026 budget planning.
Humphrey said the HR office manages about 180 employees and that the ADP system now supports payroll, timekeeping, recruitment and personnel records. "Since we started our ADP process, our applicant pool has increased by about 15%," she said, and the county recorded 36 new hires in 2024 from 27 job postings and roughly 572 applicants.
The director reported a decline in turnover from 18% in 2023 to 15% in 2024 and described wellness programming and mental‑health coaching through vendor Well365 as contributing factors. Humphrey said the county's wellness score fell from 20 in 2023 to 17 in 2024 (lower is healthier under the wellness vendor's scale) and the office aims to reach a score of 13.
Humphrey said the county negotiated a multi‑year insurance cap that limited the 2025 renewal to about an 8% increase; without that cap she said the insurer estimated an 18% renewal. Looking forward, she told commissioners an underwriting exercise indicated a potential 17–23% premium increase if current utilization patterns persist. "If we stood were to do it today, would go up by 17 to 23%. That cost would be 75% on the county and 25% on our employees," Humphrey said; she said the county's broker, Brown and Brown, is pursuing market options and alternatives including a medical bridge, captive purchasing or self‑insurance and will present proposals as early as May and more refined numbers by the usual August renewal schedule.
Humphrey also described internal improvements: moving employee performance evaluations to employee anniversary dates (to spread workload for department heads), increased onboarding work, and expanded training modules available through ADP. She said both HR staff earned SHRM certification and that the department tracked FMLA and other personnel metrics.
For 2026 planning Humphrey said she will request reclassification of the HR technician to an HR generalist/specialist to reflect expanded duties and asked commissioners to expect continued focus on insurance-market solutions and management training.
Commissioners asked about ADP time-entry usage; Humphrey said 20 county employees use punch clocks while others enter time manually and that policy decisions about expanding punch‑in use would be up to the commission and departments. No public comment was offered on the HR presentation.
