Kane County HR flags workplace dissatisfaction in exit interviews; workers' comp costs trend down

Human Resources told the Kane County Human Services Committee that a notable share of recent exit-interview responses identify dissatisfaction with the work environment or workload as reasons for leaving, and that the county's workers'comp cost-per-claim has shown a positive downward trend.

Christine Davis of Human Resources presented the monthly applicants and staff-changes report, including a graph of exit interviews covering May 1, 2024, through April 30, 2025. John Greif, a committee member participating online, asked the staff to provide more detail about the "dissatisfied with work environment" category; Greif said that if the issue is correctable the county should pursue it. "We want to keep the good people we've got," Greif said.

Staff cautioned the committee that the exit-interview sample is small: they noted 15 responses in the time frame and said the county must preserve confidentiality when reporting department-level detail. Jamie Juby said elected offices did not opt into the county's exit-interview process and instead run their own exit procedures, so those results are not included in the county's report.

David Larson, the human resources risk manager, reported that fiscal-year-to-date workers'comp claims show a declining overall cost per claim and that staff are doing more detailed department-level reporting to raise awareness of incident costs and preventability.

Committee members asked for trend reporting over time and for department-level indicators where confidentiality permits. Staff said they will follow up by emailing more detailed, de-identified responses when possible and by monitoring trends for systemic issues that would warrant departmental interventions; they emphasized that small sample sizes and confidentiality limits can restrict what can be publicly reported.