Job and Family Services director proposes $500/$1,000 retention bonuses to stabilize county workforce
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Summary
The Job and Family Services director asked the Morrow County commissioners to approve a retention plan that would pay $500 after six months and another $500 after one year for new hires, and semiannual $500 payments for employees with more than a year of service, funded from banked incentive funds.
The Job and Family Services director proposed a countywide retention bonus program to address persistent staffing shortages. The director said newly hired employees would receive $500 after six months and an additional $500 at the end of a year; employees who have served more than a year would receive $500 in June and $500 in December, funded from previously banked incentive monies, including Medicaid-related incentives.
The director told commissioners that JFS employs about 50 people and that over half of them have under eight years of experience. She said recent state policy changes added a lengthy quality-control review that increases supervisors’ workloads, and that hiring and retention are becoming difficult: “If they complete 6 months, they get $500. And after a year, they get 1000 dollars,” she said. She added that some positions require two years before staff can act independently on cases.
Commissioners asked how the plan would fit into existing budgets and whether the funds are available. The director said the county has been “banking” incentive payments and that some of those funds can be split across fiscal years to cover payments for transit and JFS staff. She noted the program can be implemented without a formal resolution by issuing internal paperwork and that the county could revise or withdraw the policy depending on future budget conditions.
The director also described operational challenges that the bonuses aim to address. She said the state’s new review tool can be time-consuming: in a sample, it took 54 minutes to review a single case, increasing oversight demands on a small staff. The director emphasized the need for quality-control capacity and for incentives that make positions more competitive, while acknowledging the approach will raise recurring costs if continued long term.
Commissioners expressed mixed views. One commissioner said he had “never had a job where I get a $500 or well, 1000 dollar incentive just to come to work,” calling himself “old school,” while others said they would support efforts to recruit and retain employees. The director said she planned to issue bonuses using the banked funds and would return only if further board action was required.
The discussion ended with the board signaling informal support but with questions about formal adoption and long-term affordability left to be resolved.
