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County presents AB 2561 hiring and vacancy report; overall vacancy rate below 20% threshold
Summary
Human Resources Director reported on AB 2561-required hearing covering vacancies, applications, hiring times and retention; no bargaining unit exceeded the 20% vacancy threshold and county reported progress on reducing time-to-hire and other recruiting improvements.
Contra Costa County Human Resources presented the AB 2561 report required by state law and the board held a public hearing on May 13 covering county vacancy rates, recruitment and retention efforts.
HR Director Anne Elliott told the board the county-wide vacancy rate has improved and that no bargaining unit exceeded the 20% vacancy threshold set in the state law. Elliott reported vacancy rates by union: AFSCME locals ranged from about 10% to 14%, the Deputy Sheriffs Association was 13.79%, and the Physicians and Dentists Organization (PDOC) posted the highest vacancy rate among bargaining units at 18.85% for full-time positions. Elliott said the county continues to receive robust application volumes and has shortened its average time-to-hire compared with peer Bay Area counties, citing multiple process improvements and pilot programs.
Elliott outlined several recruitment and retention measures: modernizing job postings to emphasize mission and "why" rather than tasks; increasing the use of recorded screening interviews (HireVue) to speed initial screening; re-evaluating continuous recruitments to ensure fresh candidate pools; reducing appeal timeframes for candidates from five to three days; offering remote I-9 verification and other remote onboarding tools; deploying dedicated HR recruiters for large departments (notably Employment & Human Services); and launching a professional and organizational development (POD) team to provide leadership training and career pathways.
Physician representation: David McDonald, a CCRMC physician and PDOC president, spoke during the hearing to highlight physician vacancies. He said PDOC's 18.85% full-time vacancy rate includes longstanding gaps across primary care, hospital/ED, detention health and behavioral health; several child psychiatry positions had been vacant two, seven and nine years respectively. McDonald urged the county to shift contractor spending toward recruiting and retaining permanent staff and noted the upcoming West County Reentry Treatment and Housing Facility will require additional medical staffing.
After public comment and questions, the board voted to accept the AB 2561 report. Elliott told supervisors several longer-term initiatives are underway, including a new AI-assisted comp-and-class benchmark tool, continued improvement of PeopleSoft/NeoGov processes, and a countywide performance-management rollout planned for the coming fiscal year.
The board accepted the report (vote recorded as 4-0 with one absence).
