San Mateo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved bonuses for hiring new employees, as well as other incentives.
County departments have increased hiring, although it is receiving few job applications following the hiring freeze that began in 2020 and ended last year.
Human resources director Rocio Kiryczun told the board that the situation is not unique to the county.
"We've all read and heard about the large resignation," Kiryczun expressed. "Nationally and locally, there has been an increase in the number of workers leaving their jobs. They are reassessing their situation in the constantly changing environment experienced during the pandemic."
Despite the county's recruitment efforts, its vacancy and turnover rates are higher than normal. The county's vacancy rate this year is 13 percent compared to the usual 10 percent.
So far, turnover rates are 11 percent this year, compared to 7 percent last year.
Kiryczun added that the turnover rate will likely increase as people retire.
Some of the most difficult positions to fill have been in the health and law enforcement departments, for roles such as social workers, nurses, doctors and sheriff's deputies.
County spokeswoman Michelle Durand said in a statement that while current job vacancies are not affecting operations at this time, departments are using more additional help and overtime.
"However, the use of overtime places an additional burden on employees and is not sustainable in the long term," Durand pointed out. "Since hiring and training new employees takes time, the County is looking for ways to fill vacancies as soon as possible so that we don't see a future impact on service delivery."
The board approved three recommendations to attract candidates for its hard-to-fill positions.
First, new employees hired for these positions would receive advanced benefits, such as 40 hours of vacation and up to 80 hours of sick leave, up from 48 hours previously. They may also be able to accrue vacation hours at an advanced rate based on previous work experience.
Second, a pilot program would provide hiring bonuses of up to $30,000 for individuals such as deputy sheriffs and nurses, or up to $15,000 for deputy sheriff trainee and correctional officer positions.
The hiring bonus would be divided into several payments, with an initial payment at start-up and the remainder over three years pending continued employment.
In addition, current county employees would receive a $1,000 referral award for recommending a candidate who is successfully hired into a hard-to-fill position and completes the probationary period. This is an increase over the previous referral award of $500.
The cost of these programs will be covered by the respective departments.
Surveys have yielded insight into why people stay and why people leave their jobs in the county.
"Essentially, what we hear from employees is that they want quality jobs, competitive salary benefits, flexible work environment, purpose and professional development opportunities," Kiryczun clarified.
The high cost of housing has also proven to be a challenge in recruiting new employees and one of the reasons people choose to leave.
To help employees with housing, the county has programs such as an employee down payment assistance program, which provides a $100,000 loan for eligible employees to use to purchase a home.
However, the demand for the program exceeds what the county can offer.
The loans are distributed by lottery and the number of people drawn depends on the availability of funds. Only four people were selected in the January drawing, according to the county's website. Kiryczun said sometimes employees don't accept the loan because of the cost of housing in the area.
A caller to the meeting, who identified herself as a county employee, said she hoped the supervisors would consider expanding the down payment assistance program.
The county also has an outside firm review its hiring and retention practices to provide additional recommendations. That study is expected to be complete by June of this year.
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