Baltimore officials outline hiring fixes, salary-study negotiations and payroll limits at budget hearing

Interim Director Tanya Brinkley of the Department of Human Resources and Labor Commissioner Deborah Moore Carter told the Baltimore City Council Budget and Appropriations Committee on an ongoing effort to speed hiring, implement results of a 2023 citywide salary study through union bargaining, and examine payroll practices.

Brinkley said the DHR has begun regular tracking of the share of new hires who are Baltimore City residents after previously pulling that data only on request. “This has been done a different way in the past. It's only been done when it was requested. Now we're tracking it on a regular basis,” Brinkley said.

Why it matters: Council members said the hiring process is a bottleneck for filling the city’s thousands of funded vacancies, contributing to high overtime and strained services. Committee members repeatedly pressed DHR on measurable improvements after a December city auditor report that found the city lacked the ability to track hiring efficiency and identify bottlenecks.

Recruitment and candidate communications: Conrad Samuels, chief of recruitment and talent acquisition, described the new service-level targets for DHR referrals and candidate notices. He said DHR aims to refer applicants to agencies within 14 days on average, with a goal of 11 days. “Once a candidate applies, after they complete the application, they do receive a communication, obviously, thanking and acknowledging receipt, of that application,” Samuels said. He added that a later notice informs candidates when they have been referred to the hiring agency but that the referral message does not establish agency timelines for next steps.

Training and retention: Theresa Grundy, chief of learning and development, explained changes to the Leadership Pathway training that lowered the program’s annual reach because it returned from fully on-demand instruction to an in-person cohort model. “We run them 4 times a year at 25 people each cohort. So that means we're only going to hit a hundred people every single cohort annually,” Grundy said. She also said the program still offers a fast-track, on-demand Supervisor Essentials option and that DHR is open to adding cohorts or hybrid modalities to expand access.

Wellness and internal metrics: DHR officials cited performance targets for benefits and development services. The department reported a 59% participation rate in wellness events for fiscal 2024, up from a 25% target; DHR set a 62% target for fiscal 2026 in benefits engagement. The department also maintains a 60% target for new hires who are city residents and a 90% target for completing classification-and-compensation projects within the deadline.

Salary study and collective bargaining: The 2023 citywide salary study — completed by the administration and referenced repeatedly in committee discussion — is being implemented through collective bargaining with unions, the labor commissioner said. “In order to provide the compensation… we have to negotiate those wages with the unions,” Deborah Moore Carter said. City staff told council members the study had been shared earlier with the council president’s office; the administration said it must protect the city’s bargaining position while negotiations continue. Committee members requested broader access to the study for all council members, and staff pledged to coordinate with the mayor’s office to follow up.

Payroll frequency and costs: Council members asked whether paying some employees more frequently (weekly or daily) could help recruitment and retention, especially for seasonal roles. An unnamed finance staff member explained that weekly payroll is already processed and that the city cuts payroll weekly for more than 10,000 permanent employees and additional seasonal and part-time employees. “There are 18 positions in payroll, to do that, and that's an increase from 11 positions,” the finance staff member said, adding that moving to daily payouts would be “a monumental cost that will have to be funded with a significant staff increase within the Department of Finance.” The staff member said any detailed cost study would take months, not weeks.

Fire promotions and Workday fixes: Committee members pressed DHR on recent delays in pay after promotions in the Fire Department related to differing certification levels (ALS/BLS). Brinkley and other staff said many positions were reclassified at higher salary levels so promoted employees with advanced certifications can be placed without additional delay; some implementation details remain under discussion with the Fire Department and the Office of Labor Counsel.

Next steps and oversight: Committee members asked DHR and the administration for follow-up materials, including hiring-timeline data once Workday recruitment features run long enough to show trends, clarification on why the salary study has been embargoed for broader council release, and a fiscal analysis from Finance on the feasibility and cost of more frequent payroll. No formal votes or policy changes were taken at the hearing.

The committee recessed and said it will continue oversight on recruitment, bargaining implementation of the salary study and payroll analysis in subsequent meetings.