Recruitment, Retention, and Hiring Support

Department

Human Resources

Amount

$7,000,000

Staffing Needs

Associate Representative

HR Recruiter

Previous ARPA Funding

No

Problem Statement

The pandemic, the overall view of Minneapolis as an employer, and the subsequent racial uprising after the murder of George Floyd, has inhibited the ability for the City of Minneapolis to hire, recruit and retain a number of critical positions. In 2022 job postings have increased by approximately 30%, while the number of applicants to jobs posted by the city has dropped 30%, both from a 3-year, pre-pandemic average. Before 2020 the 3 year average vacancy rate in April was 8.5%. In 2022 the vacancy rate at the city in April is 19%

Proposed Action Summary

The funds will be used to create a comprehensive strategy to recruit, hire retain employees for the City of Minneapolis. We have unprecedented numbers of employees leaving including substantial staff responsible for providing basic public safety services for our community. Human Resources would spend these funds to help with this challenging issue.

Proposed Action Detail

This creates a new initiative to rebrand, recruit, hire, and retain employees. We would target Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, and LGBTQIA candidates looking to be a part of the enterprise making a difference by leading equitable changes internally and providing support to the community of Minneapolis. The proposal would;

• Build capacity with the Business Partner Solutions team to support the overall hiring and recruitment for the City of Minneapolis.
• Support employee retention efforts in order to keep staff and maintain critical service levels.
• A new initiative around targeted hiring for hard to fill positions including Police, Fire and 911 Dispatch. This would include additional staff and funding to create a new recruitment campaign. We would likely hire a consultant to help with the advertising and targeting for a more racially diverse and racial equity driven candidate pool looking to help the enterprise move towards being an antiracist institution.
• Support current classification and compensation work by increasing capacity and outsourcing some of this work. Classification and compensation work is required for class maintenance studies and is compliance work to ensure equity in pay for all of our union and non-union employees. The City has been unable to fill classification and compensation positions because of the job market and the specific skill set needed.

Racial Equity Impact

We must do more than recruit racially diverse candidates, we must create an environment that fosters psychological and physical safety and embodies a sense of belonging by shifting the internal culture of the enterprise. We will create and implement a specific targeted strategy to hire and retain, and promote racially diverse employees for the City of Minneapolis. The goal for these initiatives would be equity in pay, targeted strategies to increase the number of applicants, and specific retention policies and practices. Funds provided will allow for more consulting and collaboration with specific outreach from a recruiter specifically focused on racially diverse recruitment.

Results

The result of this funding would build targeted recruitment strategies for hard to fill positions, public safety staffing, and increase the overall number of racially diverse candidate applying for, and hopefully, accepting employment with the City of Minneapolis. This funding would also ensure equity and fairness in compensation and pay for all employees. We have many levels of analytics to review the number of applicants, the diversity of applicants and hires, and the internal and external market comparisons of compensation for all employees.

Implementation at the City - Temporary Staff in CPED

Department

Community Planning and Economic Development

Amount

$115,000

Staffing Needs

1 - Recovery Coordinator

Previous ARPA Funding

Yes. Phase 1 through 2023

Problem Statement

Staffing resource is needed in 2024 to continue the coordination of implementation and reporting of the American Rescue Plan Act (APRA) program allocations

Proposed Action Summary

The American Rescue Plan Act has awarded funds to address the impacts of COVID-19, including assistance to households, small businesses, and nonprofits, or aid to impacted industries, such as tourism, travel, and hospitality. CPED will be implementing many of these programs and initiatives and will need additional staff to roll out and manage these allocations. This position is funded through 2023 and the additional funding will support staffing need in 2024.

Proposed Action Detail

CPED’s mission is to grow an equitable, vibrant, livable, safe built city for everyone. CPED establishes, develops and support investments in housing development and preservation, business growth, employment and training, and the City’s tax base. The COVID-19 pandemic and prevention measures created harmful economic impacts to residents and businesses due to mandatory closures, capacity restrictions, and other measures to slow the spread of the virus. The APRA funding is designated for substantial, multi-year investments to mitigate these economic impacts and set us on a course of rapid, equitable economic recovery through targeted investments in homelessness response and prevention, housing development and preservation, small businesses, emerging and community-based entrepreneurs, employment and training, and community vitality in designated cultural districts, stacking multiple types of supports for maximum impact. This funding compliments much of the work that CPED is already doing; however, additional staffing resource of $115,000 in 2024 will be needed to continue the coordination and reporting of all the recovery and rebuild efforts.

Racial Equity Impact

The staff coordination of implementation of these programs will ensure that APRA investments achieve equitable, measurable outcomes. The ARPA program investments were identified and recommended using demographic and market data to target resources to serve persons most impacted by the economic impacts of the pandemic – primarily BIPOC residents and BIPOC-owned businesses. The ARPA investments implemented by the staff will advance the City’s Strategic Racial Equity Action Plan goals to prevent involuntary displacement among BIPOC residents and businesses and support BIPOC-owned businesses to form, grow and thrive. Staff will continue to help advance new policy and initiatives, including anti-displacement policy and new single room occupancy housing and other innovative models to prevent and end homelessness and improve housing stability. The staff will also support the outreach efforts and provide assistance with recovery work to the impacted community members and businesses.

Results

This additional staff is necessary for successful implementation of APRA funded programs and initiatives. Staff will be tracking data for each program regarding outreach and outcomes which will be regularly monitored and reported.

ARPA Grant Subrecipient Monitoring

Department

Finance & Property Services

Amount

$100,000

Staffing Needs

None

Previous ARPA Funding

No

Problem Statement

Based on recent RFP requests and contract awards, we are finding that departments require assistance with subrecipient contracts. This assistance ranges from from determining what a subrecipient is to understanding the departmental obligations of working with subrecipients.

Proposed Action Summary

A short term (18 month) contract would provide the additional front end assistance needed to meet subrecipient monitoring and assist departments.

Proposed Action Detail

See Proposed Action Summary

Racial Equity Impact

Engaging a consultant to assist with subrecipient monitoring will allow for consistent review of subrecipient contracts fairly across all programs.

Results

The City is required to meet subrecipient monitoring for Federal programs. This contract will supplement grant team staff who do not have the time to monitor the volume of subrecipients receiving ARPA funds. Without this contract, it is not possible for the grants team to meet Federal subrecipient monitoring requirements. Additionally, fraud risk will be reduced through additional monitoring of subrecipients.