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Ann Arbor HR director outlines staffing, compensation study restart and equity priorities
Summary
Monica Boot, Ann Arbor’s human resources director, briefed council on HR reorganization, recent contract negotiations, a planned restart of a citywide compensation study, recruitment and retention work, and efforts to implement anonymous hiring and equity goals. Councilmembers asked about implementation timing and technology constraints.
Monica Boot, the city’s Human Resources director, summarized recent HR activity and a work plan for 2025, telling the council the department has prioritized internal restructuring, cross‑training and a renewed compensation study.
Boot said HR supported recent contract negotiations, including a new agreement with district court employees, managed an efficient open‑enrollment period, and filled a new deputy human resources director role. She said about half of HR staff are new hires and the department is focused on knowledge sharing and reducing internal silos.
Why it matters: The HR update lays out work that will affect recruitment, labor negotiations and compensation across the city workforce. Councilmembers identified equity, anonymous hiring and managing background‑check confidentiality as near‑term priorities.
Key initiatives and timeline
Boot said the department will re‑energize a paused compensation study and begin manager and supervisor engagement in the coming month. She listed 2025 priorities including AFSCME negotiations (contract ends year‑end), recruitment and retention efforts, performance‑management improvements, and training and development to help retain employees near top of pay scales.
Equity, anonymous hiring and confidentiality
Councilmember Bernhardt asked how the department will maintain commitment to equity amid national political shifts. Boot said HR is auditing job‑posting channels, expanding candidate‑pool outreach, improving manager training to reduce bias and building post‑hire surveys (stay interviews) to understand retention drivers. On the council’s March resolution about anonymized hiring, Boot said she expects movement in 2025 and that the technology platform is a constraint but being studied with IT.
Ban‑the‑box and background checks
Boot said the city has moved to collect criminal‑history information later in the hiring process, limiting access to sensitive information and reviewing it only for job‑relevance. She said some background processes were shifted out of panel interviews to reduce exposure.
What remains unresolved
Boot described the technology limitations of the current HRIS and said staff are researching improvements. The exact budget or timeline for a full anonymous‑hiring rollout was not specified.
