Sherburne County has been very efficient and cost-effective when it comes to adding employees.

 

The county is known for a very low number of staff compared with the county’s population.

 

But that efficiency is being challenged by the changing times and a lower number of job applicants.

 

At a county board meeting in June, Human Resources (HR) Director Tammy Bigelow asked the board to consider adding an HR position to try to make sure the county can keep many of its staff positions filled.

 

She said some jobs are getting more and more difficult to fill because of a lack of applicants.

 

She showed the board an example of the number of people who applied for a corrections officer position. When the county tried to recruit for the position three times between 2009 and 2011, the number of applications they received were 209, 231 and 255 respectively. 

 

That number has continued to drop. In 2016, when the county tried to fill spots on four occasions, the number of applications were 94, 108, 64 and 33.

 

“Our most recent posting, we had 39 candidates and that was for three positions,” said Bigelow. “And sometimes the candidates are screened out because of physical agility requirements and background checks.”

 

Another concern is social worker/child protection positions. Bigelow said there is an adequate candidate pool for the position, but because of the difficulty of the job, there is a high burnout rate and the turnover numbers are increasing.

 

In 2015, the turnover rate was 13%. So far in 2019, that has climbed to 25%.

 

“The ideal would be single digits,” said Bigelow. “It’s creating a lot of extra stress on employees.”

 

She said it’s a similar situation with custodians, where the turnover rate is 33% so far this year.

 

“We have a very, very small candidate pool and the turnover rate here is massive,” she said. “We’re really struggling to find custodians.”

 

Bigelow said the new HR position would have specific duties to help keep county positions filled: identifying recruitment and retention strategies; developing school partnerships so the county could “grow its own;” overseeing workforce planning and employee development programs; identifying training opportunities for employees and managers and also promoting diversity in the county’s workforce.

 

Bigelow said compared with similar-sized counties, Sherburne County has a very high ratio of employees to HR staff.

 

Carver Co. has nine HR staff that supports 710 full time employees, a ratio of 1 to 79.

 

In Scott county it’s 8 HR staff to 740 employees (1: 92.5).

 

Stearns Co. has 9.5 HR staff to 960 employees, (1:101).

 

In Wright Co. it’s 6 HR staff ro 745 employees (1:124).

 

Sherburne County has five HR staff supporting 695 full time employees, a ratio of one to 139.

 

“If you were to approve this position today, we would be at one HR staff per 116 employees,” said Bigelow.

 

Commissioner Raeanne Danielowski said adding the position would save the county in the long run. “The job pool is getting small, so in order to reach out and get applicants, it’s important that you do start to strategize and do some really creative thinking processes,” she said.

 

“I view it as a long term opportunity to not have it cost us more money by not having enough people in these positions.”

 

Commissioner Lisa Fobbe agreed.

 

“I think it’s really important for us as a board to support our staff, and the ratios that you presented, I’m not comfortable with,” she said. “We might make good records when we’re looking at county staff numbers, but I think this definitely shows we need to add this position.”

 

The new position will cost the county $31,500 in 2019 and $94,500 in 2020. Bigelow said the Enterprise will cover the cost in 2019-2020.

 

Starting in 2021 the levy would begin covering the position at 20% and would continue to increase until the levy covered the position at 100% by 2025.