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HR reports lower vacancy rate, launches training programs and a voluntary separation option
Summary
Human resources reported progress on recruitment, a reduced countywide vacancy rate, expanded training and a repeat voluntary separation incentive; HR plans a dashboard, electronic performance evaluations and code updates.
Human Resources summarized 2024 accomplishments and 2025 priorities, reporting modest improvements to the countywide vacancy rate and a slate of workforce-development initiatives.
HR Director Sherry Johnson and managers said HR has 17 staff and presented a set of recent achievements: negotiated new contracts with most bargaining units; implemented annual performance evaluations tied to pay progression; launched a supervisor academy and management roundtable; and reduced recruitment advertising costs through media-vendor optimization.
Brandy Delzel (classification & compensation lead) said the county's overall vacancy rate improved by about 2.38 percentage points in 2024 to roughly 24.21% and that HR aims to reduce the countywide vacancy rate to 20% or below. HR said it has a renewed focus on position-control work, removing positions vacant for 18 months or longer and aligning staffing with current priorities.
HR announced it will relaunch the voluntary separation incentive program (VSIP) after a 2024 pilot that produced four separations across three departments. HR said the program freezes a vacated position for two years after the incentive is paid and stressed that not all departments can participate depending on operational needs.
Training and employee-development work includes a bimonthly "Coffee with HR" series, a supervisor-management academy (33 hours of instruction and 38 graduates in 2024), a leadership book club and an employee-engagement/retention working group that will analyze onboarding, anniversary and annual engagement surveys to surface improvement actions.
Operational upgrades HR intends to roll out in 2025 include an HR dashboard with recruitment, turnover and vacancy metrics; a recruitment SharePoint to centralize documents; electronic performance evaluations through the county personnel system; and revisions to county civil-service rules and county code updates. HR said it will bring updated policy and fee materials as needed to the Veil Service Commission and Civil Service Commission and present details to the board.
Ending: HR asked for continued board support on pay competitiveness, training investments and efforts to reduce vacancies and said it will return with more specific proposals (dashboard, policy and VSIP details) for board consideration.
