2017-03 Performance Audit Report: County of Hawai'i's Department of Human Resources Hiring Practices

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Audit Objectives The Office of the Legislative Auditor's fiscal year 2016-2017 annual audit plan included a performance audit of hiring practices at the Department of Human Resources (DHR). The objectives of the audit were to evaluate if the County's hiring practices were adequate to ensure equitable, uniform, and transparent selections of civil service candidates and to identify areas for improvement. The audit also looked to see if hiring practices complied with applicable laws, regulations, County policies, procedures, and industry best practices. Audit Scope and Methodology To accomplish our objectives, we: • Developed an understanding of the policies, procedures, processes, and document flows of the County's hiring practices; • Assessed compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and County policies and procedures related to hiring practices; • Compared the County's hiring practices to other local, state, and federal best practices; • Analyzed new hire data for calendar year 2016; • Tested departments' interview and selection processes (e.g., skill set criteria evaluation, interview, assessment exercises, practical tests, employment reference checks, etc.); • Corroborated information through interviews with appropriate personnel, reviewed documentation, and performed tests of documentation and controls; and • Reviewed additional human resources documentation (e.g., employment applications, referred lists, skill set criteria evaluations, interview and selection packet, employment reference checks, etc.) as needed. During the course of the audit, we reviewed and evaluated internal controls over hiring practices as well as policies and procedures. Based on our early audit planning, we initially selected seven County departments and one division for review (Human Resources (DHR), Aging, Immigration Division, Environmental Management (DEM), Parks and Recreation (P&R), Planning, Public Works (DPW), and Finance). These departments were selected based on the high number of recruitments, large referred lists of applicants, and the department's current hiring processes. We determined two of these departments and one division (Aging, Immigration Division, and Planning) had adequate internal controls in place for filling vacant positions. However, in addition to DHR the remaining four departments (Environmental Management, Parks and Recreation, Public Works, and Finance) required further review. We judgmentally narrowed the audit scope to test recruitments of four different classes of work in these four departments for calendar year 2016. Three of these (Clerk III, Laborer II, and Park Audit Objectives, Audit Scope and Methodology 7 1 P a g e