2022-10-27 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

Home

Merit Appeals Board October 27, 2022 MR. KUNZ: I have a quick question or comment—I'm not sure what's going to come out—but I like what you just said. And then, on the flip -side, it's like be careful what you wish for because then, if you start getting all these people coming in that we need so desperately and you're short-staffed to process them, then we're back at this catch-22 thing. So, I admire, I think the direction because the shortage of getting qualified applicants in to fill a lot of the jobs—at the same time, then it falls back on the department—your department to drive those new applications forward. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Right. MR. KUNZ: So, it'sI'm not sure the strategy that how that's going to play out. Hopefully, they both play out and you have staff back in on board where they're helped. The other comment I wanted to, kind of, throw in there was—is there—are you able to see, like, where everything was a year -and -a -half ago, let's say, 18 months? And what percentage or the level of progress that recruiting and processing and getting people in positions, like, let's say a year ago—compared to, like, now. If there has been an improvement? Is it trending that it's improving? Or is it still, kind of, maybeI don't want to use the word "spiraling"but more challenging? Or do you see it changing that there's a wave of change where there's, like, "Oh, we're taking care of more people. We are—we see that we've been able to fill more"—or is it getting harder and harder with all the different circumstancesstaffing, recruitment—and if you do I know it's going to be hard to predict whether or not you can see that trend changing for the better or for the worse. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Okay. So, yes, we can. And that's part of the package is the metrics, right. So, we propose implementing all of these things but it's great to have all these things in place—but we also want to make sure that it's actually working. So, the system that we haveNeoGov—does offer a report—it's a "Time to Hire Report." Basically, it picks up on all those points that you mentioned. And we can do a comparison. I haven't had the opportunity to do it. I don't have access to NeoGov as the director, but that's, definitely, part of our reporting and we are moving into that because we've already initiated. I think it's been a couple months since we initiated a lot of these new engagements. So, want to monitor that and then take some metrics at that point. So, yes, we do have that opportunity and I think those points are very valid. And your first point about the unintended consequences our staff could experience with all these new efforts, we've been engaging with the recruitment staff as much as possible pretty regularly—and that concern has come up. And so, we're monitoring. We're paying close attention to any kind of spike or anything like that, so we can try and address it as best as possible. But, yes, we have recognized that. So, thank you. MR. KUNZ: Will the department ever get to a point where you come so saturated with recruitment, which is a good problem to have where people are applying that it actually will Page 12