Because of countywide growth, additional responsibilities and staff retirements, the Sherburne County Human Resources (HR) Dept. is looking at re-organization.

 

During a workshop in June, HR Director Tammy Bigelow said current staffing is not adequate to support all the projects and day-to-day operations of the department. 

 

Over the last two years, HR has centralized employee medical records, assumed responsibility of Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) administration and participates more in the recruiting process. In addition, over the past year-plus, HR has implemented new software and made major changes to performance evaluation software.

 

Bigelow said the department needs more support for personnel labor relations issues, and she personally needs more time to oversee projects and research strategies and processes to improve HR functions.

 

 “It’s difficult considering the time constraints for the other focuses of my job,” she said.

 

Currently, Bigelow and Grant and Risk Coordinator Lynn George report directly to Assistant Administrator Dan Weber. Three HR generalists report to Bigelow, meaning the department has four total HR staff supporting 667 full-time equivalent employees, or one HR staff for every 166.75 employees.

 

Other counties have a lower ratio. Carver County has 8.8 HR staff for 700 employees. (1:79.5)

 

Scott Co. has 8.6 HR staff for 740 employees (1:86) and Stearns Co. has 8.5 HR staff to 930 employees (1:109.4)

 

Bigelow said there is another issue - retirements. HR generalist Diana Barr is retiring this week. Lynn George is retiring in April, 2018.

 

Bigelow said under the proposed reorganization plan, the county would hire an HR coordinator this month who can assist with personnel issues and labor relations. The position would work with Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust (MCIT) to handle insurance and workers compensation claims, and oversee projects like electronic personnel files.

 

When Lynn George retires next April, the county would hire an HR technician to assist with day-to-day operations. Since the new positions would replace existing positions, no additional staff would be required.

 

But with five HR staff instead of four, the ratio would drop to 1:133.4, still high, but better than before.

 

Bigelow said the additional cost would be between $1,000 and $2,500 in 2017, but there would be a budget decrease of between $11,600 and $21,600 in 2018 depending on health insurance.

 

The proposal will be brought before the commissioners for a vote at the July 11 meeting.