Short of staff, city looks to other hiring models

Valley News
By ADAM DRAPCHO
Laconia Daily Sun
Published: 7/1/2023 10:11:29 PM

LACONIA, N.H. — Staffing shortages dominated Public Works Director Wes Anderson’s recent budget presentation to city council, and City Manager Kirk Beattie said he is working with Anderson to identify a possible fix to get the department back up to full staff.

“We’re not there yet, but we are working on it to find some solutions,” Beattie told council. “When we’ve run into similar problems with other departments, we’ve found some creative solutions.”

A couple of other departments — one in the city, and one in a neighboring town — have found that padding the hourly rate can get staffing levels back up to normal.

At issue is a compensation package Anderson said is no longer as attractive to prospective employees, especially as private sector pay has risen, Anderson explained in a telephone interview.

While the city hasn’t performed a market wage study to determine what a competitive wage would be, Anderson’s experience tells him the DPW’s is well below the market rate.

“I can start (a driver) at $19.15 an hour. I know the waste management companies are starting entry-level drivers at $22, there are ads out there for up to $35 and $40 per hour,” Anderson said.

The DPW has space for 15 drivers, but for three months was down to 10. “I was able to hire one, but I suspect I have one that will retire before winter,” Anderson said.

Historically, the city has been able to compete with the private sector through a robust benefits package, including a pension and health insurance. Now, though, the construction and hauling contractors are adding retirement savings and insurance, at least according to their help-wanted advertisements, Anderson said.

Younger workers, in particular, are more interested in the hourly rate than the value of the benefits, Anderson has observed. A fix isn’t as easy as simply offering more money, as the DPW is subject to union contracts in place for the next two years. Any fix sooner than the expiration of those contracts would have to exist as a memorandum of understanding, created in conversation with the unions, which would exist outside of the negotiated contracts.

He related a recent job interview with someone who was making nearly $30 per hour, and the most that Anderson could offer was $10 per hour less.

“It’s really a sales pitch to convince a person that our overall package is right for them,” Anderson said. He added that having a low hourly rate can cut that conversation short.

“You need to have a starting salary to get them in the door,” Anderson said. “What I have found out, talking to candidates, I now start out with the salary and explain everything on that piece, early on in the phone discussion. I’m trying to determine early in the process if they’re interested enough to schedule an interview.”

The shortage has been existent for several months, and as the situation stretches on, so too has been the impact on city services. To prevent the losses from growing, he is asking council for a shortage stipend in recognition of the added burden on the remaining workers.

During Motorcycle Week, DPW leaned on Parks and Recreation staff to help empty the waste barrels on Lakeside Avenue, as there just weren’t enough Public Works hands to keep up. Many residents are still waiting for repairs to their lawns, with damage caused by city snowplows last winter, because available staff are directed to more pressing priorities, he said.

“What we do is focus on those that are life-health safety, and those that aren’t are pushed off until we have more people or until we have a break and we can get to it,” Anderson said

Anderson added he’s hopeful he and Beattie can find a solution that brings a few more workers before the snow starts falling again.

One such possibility might be the option for the city to pay for entry-level hires to gain their commercial drivers license, something that generally costs between $5,000 and $6,000. That might be the kind of perk to get the attention of a young worker.

“It would give us a better opportunity to attract people to the department,” Anderson said. He doesn’t expect it would completely reverse his fortunes, but it might help alleviate the situation. “I don’t know until we test the waters.”

Anderson won’t be the first to test those waters, and a couple of others who went before him say the public sector can still compete with rising private sector wages, so long as wages keep pace.

Beattie and Fire Chief Tim Joubert recently enacted a threefold adjustment of the city’s fire department compensation packages to help attract and retain firefighters. That adjustment included a $4,000 sign-on bonus for new hires; an agreement with the union to allow firefighters to be compensated for their experience at other departments, instead of forcing them to take the same rate that someone with no experience; and an increase of the allowance of training to 16 hours per fiscal year.

“I believe these three changes have helped make the Laconia Fire Department competitive in recruitment and retention,” Joubert said. His department has hired more than 30 people over the past three years, hires that have allowed LFD to replace firefighters who retired or who left seeking better pay elsewhere, busier departments or an exit from the profession entirely.

“I think the financial aspect plays a huge role, but ultimately, the individual has to enjoy where they work,” Joubert said.

Meghan Theriault, director of public works in Gilford, N.H., said her staff was facing the same challenges with which Anderson is currently grappling. An across-the-board raise was all it took, she said, to correct the situation.

The conversation started nearly two years ago, when she started to lose established employees who were able to make much more money working for private contractors. The problem accelerated while she was discussing the problem with the town’s selectboard, and she’s grateful that Town Hall leaders didn’t wait for it to get worse. The town took the unusual step of granting a raise to every non-supervisory DPW employee, even while their contracts were still in effect, then added to that raise again during the union negotiation process. The net effect was a raise of $5.50 per hour, representing a pay increase of more than 30% for some workers.

“That was a huge deal; it helped a ton,” said Theriault, noting the pay for entry-level workers jumped from just under $14 per hour to nearly $20.

“It got to be such dire circumstances that I was starting to lose people,” Theriault said, but noted she hasn’t lost any workers over pay since the raises began. In fact, she’s been able to fill nearly all vacancies since.

Theriault said, even with the raises, her staff likely could still make more working for a private contractor, but she can attract candidates as long as the pay gap isn’t too great.

“Municipal will always be less than private sector,” Theriault said. “The way we compete is benefits, longevity, stable work schedule; it’s just a different kind of job.”