Letter: “The way we’ve always done it” won’t work anymore
With all the publicity surrounding the recent decision regarding our county engineer, I would like to express my stance on the issue. Along with the commissioners and a couple of other council members, I fought hard to give Jason Heile the raise he deserved at our annual budget meeting.
The problem isn’t just with Jason’s salary, but with the way the raises are determined in the first place. Regardless of education, experience, or hours worked, each full-time employee receives the same raise and each part-time employee gets half of what the full-time employee receives. It has been referred to as a cost-of-living adjustment.
Merit based pay was discussed along with a system that would take into consideration the number of hours worked. This would cause the raises to be more fairly distributed, but the conventional system won out. Ultimately each employee received the same amount, with the exceptions of a few individuals, such as Jason’s, who were given slightly more.
This system must be changed and I believe the best place to start is by hiring a human resources director for the county. The county currently has over 250 employees with 191 of them being full-time. I don’t believe that a business of a similar size would be found anywhere that did not have an HR Director.
Although it would cost Dubois County another salary it would keep us up-to-date on wages, keep us current on employment laws, and save us money by keeping us out of lawsuits that arise from unfair labor practices.
The idea of hiring an HR Director was floated at a past meeting and was quickly dismissed as being too expensive. The individuals who were opposed to the idea claimed that it is the County Auditor’s job to handle the human resources for the county.
While it may be customary, human resources is not listed in the Indiana Code as a function of the auditor’s office. Having an elected official in charge means that every time we elect a new auditor we will be at risk while they educate themselves of the employment laws. An HR Director could help bring the newly elected auditor up to speed much more quickly.
Dubois County needs to be proactive in order to keep our best individuals at home.
We can’t afford to lose another great member of our team to the “It’s always been done that way” mentality.
Nick Hostetter
Dubois County Council-at-Large
Bravo, Nick! What a GREAT piece (of advice), and not just in the literary sense but in both common sense and financial sense (cent$). The good ol boys and/or an old-school mentality and philosophy have been all-too evident on many county issues for far too long, but of late it’s really making the county look bad and disconnected with the 21st century, and it hurts the county, plain and simple. The days of the highway are gone, as in “my way or the highway.” It’s not enough anymore to simply feel that by offering someone a job (employing them) they should be ever-thankful and loyal for a one percent raise each year (for someone making $15 per hour, that’s $6 a week, a bit more that $300 a year), not to mention pay parity with others. I could go on and on, but YES, a qualified HR director makes all kind of sense and rest assured that the benefits will be long-term, and much more than with pay. It’s one of the best things the county could do to invest in its future.
I have to agree with Nick based on the facts that have so far been presented. As long the need can justified, his statement has merit.
My husband recently retired after thirteen years as the Shelby County HR director and in his first year alone saved the county over $300,000 in insurance costs. His value to the county proved invaluable in preventing personnel actions turning into lawsuits, setting up job descriptions and pay scales, and taking care of all the paperwork required in hiring and firing. Unfortunately, Hancock County, where we live, also refuses to hire an HR person for reasons unspecified. Go to this website to see all the areas a human resources person has to deal with: http://www.humanresources.shelbycounty73.us
Excellent points, Caroyn, and from Debra, also. When I went to work as a supervisor for a local DC government entity nearly 20 years ago, I asked many questions of why – reasons – things were being done in the ways they were, and all anyone could tell me was, “it’s the way we’ve always done it.” No matter that anyone really understood why – or cared to understand why – but simply that such a mindless answer like a broken record made perfect justification and was accepted (until then) as if perfectly logical.
Fast-forward to 2014 and you have Dubois County. I hope they swallow their pride, humble themselves, and seize the moment for what it can do for the future of county government and operations.
It’s hard to believe that an entity with that number of employees does not have someone in charge of HR. It’s also very unfair to everyone to offer blanket raises. My mindset would be, “Why should I do an excellent job if I will only be treated as an average employee?” I realize that the entire issue is foreign to this county, but our county really should step up a bit closer to the current way of doing good and effective business.
They need to get this addressed as soon as possible to get a HR person in the office to help guide their employees. They need someone to check their work, be a sounding board for the workers, and a go between the workers and the council It’s not fair if a hard worker doesn’t get the much deserved raise due to this. You need to treat your employees like you actually appreciate them. They have a tough job they go out in the cold, the wet, and the stormy to fix all….not to mention if they are working on a road they have to pray people pay attention to the signs. So lets get someone in there NOW, not over think something that is so simple.