00:00:11,400	S1:
Welcome to Bismarck Insights with mayor Mike Schmitz, a transparent and engaging conversational dive into meaningful topics impacting local government in Bismarck, North Dakota. Bismarck Insights is dedicated to removing barriers between the city of Bismarck and the citizens we serve every day.

00:00:30,240	S2:
Welcome to Bismarck Insights with myself, mayor Mike Schmitz. Today we are going to focus on our human Resource department, and I have with us Leanne Schmidt. Thank you for joining me today. Um, first, just give us a little background as to what brought you to this position and how you learned about human resources.

00:00:48,960	S3:
Sure. Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here. Yeah, I have a business degree. I started out in college not really knowing what I was going to do, and this is kind of interesting. I thought I'd be an accountant. Quickly realized that I was not an accountant. I ended up getting my first job out of college in human resources, and it was in a long term care facility. I worked there for a while, then moved to another town, worked in the acute care hospital, and about 20 years ago I moved to Bismarck and worked for Saint Alexis. I was their first employment coordinator, and I worked there recruiting for physicians and everything in between. And then I worked for the State Office of Management and Budget, and I was the HR in their HR division, and I served many of the 60 plus different agencies in a variety of different HR capacities. And then this job came open and I applied, and the rest is history. And I'm glad to be here.

00:01:47,270	S2:
And that was just over a year ago.

00:01:49,390	S3:
About a year and a half. That's correct. It's one of those where the person leaving the job said, well, why don't you check it out? And I'm like, well, I don't know. And then I did, and I'm certainly glad that I did.

00:01:58,230	S2:
That's great. And for most people to understand, you know, for, for your role, you're really servicing the city, not necessarily the citizens, but like all the other departments.

00:02:11,510	Correct? S3:
Right. Yeah. We have a staff of six folks, including myself, um, that take care of payroll, benefits, recruiting, employee relations, safety training. Um, we help all the departments, the 15 different diverse departments and all the employees get onboarded, learn about their benefits, make sure they have the training that they need. Um, you know, culture is very important working with the supervisors, managers, directors. Um, we have a lot of internal customers, which are those folks. And then we also have the applicants, um, that we work with and then also the entities that we go out and we recruit from as well, including job service and some of those.

00:02:50,830	S2:
So when it comes to the training component or that technical piece of helping job enhancement.

00:03:02,380	Are you coordinating that or are you tracking it? I mean, what's your process and role in that? S3:
We do some of both. There's some annual training that's required of all employees across the city. And so we facilitate those processes and then also um, track that. And then we also work with some of our partners at the North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund, North Dakota Safety Council. We have some resources for training and ensure that the departments have access to those, and then they can utilize those in their departments.

00:03:24,100	S2:
So that would be the citywide, more annual training. What about, um, training for a particular profession within their or their skills training is are you tracking that as well for those departments or are they handling that. So like a heavy, heavy equipment operator.

00:03:41,180	S3:
Right. So those technical trainings related to their positions, the departments are are training. However, we've got some things in the works regarding leadership development, interpersonal skills, those kinds of things that we're rolling out across the city because you can lead from whatever seat you're in. And so communication is very important. And so we take care of that.

00:04:01,980	S2:
And you mentioned you handle the payroll functions, which is not always probably typically part of my human resource department.

00:04:09,940	S3:
That's correct. And my prior jobs they were separate. But there's really an advantage to them being together because there is such a crossover. We actually process for payrolls. We have a pension, payroll, city police and fire. And so we alternate. We have different schedules. We have two people who do our payroll and a third who actually does a real big support function. And of course, then all the all the annual reporting, all the statements and we they work very hard and are very dedicated to get it right because everybody wants their paychecks to be correct.

00:04:41,540	S2:
And you mentioned we have four different payroll cycles and there's reasons for that. There are and I don't know how much people know about that, but let's just talk about that a little bit. What why do we have that many.

00:04:57,570	Because that would seem, you know, to a normal business person, they scratch their head and say, why? S3:
Why? So the pension payrolls is what employees get on after they leave. And so that's a monthly payroll. Then we have our fire payroll, which is a 27 day cycle. And then we have our police cycle, which is a slightly different and then a city cycle. So we run our payroll and our police alternately. And so one payroll is going to be reconciling their benefits, their accruals, their overtime. And then the other payroll is going to be estimating. So those are the two that probably take up the majority of the time. And then of course timekeeping. We have a timekeeping system. And so we're auditing all 800 plus time cards okay.

00:05:33,370	S2:
And part of the function then would be not besides the payroll now with your other staff is coordinating annual reviews I would imagine. Yes. And the process around that. And then if there's any disciplinary type actions.

00:05:46,130	S3:
That's correct. Yes. So we are actually entering our appraisal season in the fall here. So we're working with the departments to get that rolling to set up the timeline so everybody has time to get those done. Um, everybody knows where to access the information. And then, of course, we're working on a salary administration associated with that as well. And, um.

00:06:09,010	S2:
So, so when it comes to the annual reviews and performance evaluations, do you coordinate that? Do you have us do we have a set process and inquiry or inventory, so to speak, for the for the staff members?

00:06:24,090	S3:
Well, we do have an established form. Um, and so the managers and directors use that for the evaluations. We do have a peer part of it, but that's informal peer eval where we get feedback. And of course there shouldn't be any surprises in an evaluation. Um, so really the goal is to get the conversation and the dialogue going throughout the year. And so you have the evaluation come up and it's really a review and everybody is on the same page if there's any kind of disciplinary or performance kinds of things. We're working through that throughout the year. Okay.

00:06:57,240	S2:
And that's and that's where your department comes in, is helped to document the positives. Hopefully there's lots of positives. Right. Right. Um, obviously there can be struggles or challenges at once once in a while. And it would be your your staff that would help document that.

00:07:12,000	S3:
Absolutely. Provide training to supervisors. You know, you might be really good at what you do, but when you become a supervisor, it's a new skill set. And so we want to make sure people are set up to be successful and have the skills that they need to to step into that role. And having those conversations and being able to understand that people receive and give information differently is very, very important.

00:07:32,920	S2:
Okay. And as as an HR department, are you not also a resource for employees if they have a concern or an issue or about how they may be treated? What's our processes for that?

00:07:47,440	S3:
Yeah, absolutely. We have an open door policy. We're here to listen to concerns and questions. We have a grievance policy that employees can follow. Of course, we hope to deal with it at the closest level that we can. So we certainly encourage communication between the employees and their supervisors. Their managers follow the chain of command. A big part of what I've been involved with is facilitating conversations among those people, because some of it is just getting people to realize that I didn't know that that's what you thought I meant, but I didn't mean. And so that's a big part of it. If we get to something more formal, then we do have an appeal to our Civil Service Commission. And we've had some of those as well throughout my time here.

00:08:26,430	S2:
And let's talk about the Civil Service Commission just briefly, because that's made up of who.

00:08:32,190	S3:
It's made up of three HR people in the community who are selected and appointed to terms. They need to be residents of the city of Bismarck. And so there's a chairperson and then two others. And so they are charged with determining that the process was followed and making sure people are heard, giving them the civil servants, the administrative process.

00:08:56,950	S2:
So and they're independent from the city. They are there. They're not employees of the city. So it is that independent kind of look to make sure we're protecting the employees who have a grievance, so to speak, and, and also the city.

00:09:11,790	S3:
Absolutely. That's correct.

00:09:13,110	S2:
Okay. Um, that kind of covers kind of that routine type daily stuff. But we have obviously 650 ish full time employees and another 2 to 300, maybe seasonal, part time.

00:09:37,310	What's the you know, what's the challenges that we as a city have that in hiring people and finding qualified applicants and filling all those positions? S3:
I know I hear stories about the departments receiving multiple, multiple applications in the past, and they've seen a decrease in that. So we're competing with everybody else, and there's so many more jobs than there are people. So we have to make sure that we are out there marketing and selling ourselves. Every person that works for the city should be an ambassador and someone who sells our our employment and our culture. And so we have 15 different diverse departments. We have a recruiter that works with each of those departments to fill the positions. We're on track to probably have about 140 positions posted this year, and that doesn't include the the part time seasonal ones. And so we work really hard. We have seven websites that we push all of our job openings out to, just as a rule. And then if you have a position that is more technical in nature, then we reach out to those associations, maybe their websites, or if there's a news email group that we can get to. We're also starting a pipeline or what we call early pipeline recruiting, getting in front of those middle school and high school students to get them thinking about what their jobs and what opportunities there are. We're actually going to be hosting a City of Bismarck career fair at the end of October, where we're going to showcase not only opportunities that are available at that time, but careers that we have across our 15 different departments. We also are participating in career fairs, obviously with universities and colleges. There's a T4 event called tool called Tools Tech Talk and Trade, and they do similar things across the state. And so we're participating with that with a number of our departments. And so it's just really important to get out there and make the connection to get them to know about the city, know about the city as an employer. And also then part of being a public servant is is the service that you provide to the citizens and the dedication that the, the employees have.

00:11:24,060	S2:
So we have 15 departments. Some of them might be easier to hire for than others where our maybe our struggle points.

00:11:34,540	Where are we really struggling to find that talent? S3:
We've had some struggles or some challenges with some IT positions lately, although it really kind of cycles. We have actually ended up filling those, but GIS it admin were a little challenging. Engineering, engineering, tech interns. Those can be really niche. Um, administratively, we get a fair number of applications. Depending on the department. I don't want to jinx us, but we do have some difficult to recruit positions. Planners have been a challenge where we basically interview everybody that qualifies because we want to make sure we're not missing an opportunity.

00:12:12,490	S2:
So professional trades or professional? Yeah, I guess I'll call them professional trades, whether they're actually a licensed professional or, you know, a technician. That's one area. What about, um, our, our health and safety, public servant, public protection. Sure. Positions.

00:12:32,370	S3:
Sure. Fire department was one of those departments and even police where they used to say, oh, we used to get 100 applicants when we'd do testing and, you know, we'd take half of those and we'd still end up having, you know, a large number we could certify. Those numbers have dramatically decreased. We found that the frequency with which they need to open those jobs up. Um, is, um, more often also, you know, the police department typically it's, um, it's a challenge for them bringing people in. Their recruiter, their lieutenant does a great job. It's just a matter of getting out there and letting people know about why our our opportunities and serving our citizens are going to fulfill them. I mean, wages, salary, benefits, all that's very important. But I think culture and and service are really important as well.

00:13:17,960	S2:
What other things are we doing? Obviously career fairs are important, but what else do we do to try to recruit and attract and then also retain.

00:13:28,080	S3:
Right. So you know, again I mentioned salaries, salary, administration benefits. We need to make sure that we're we've got excellent benefits to be able to attract and recruit for employees and their families, keep our, our salaries competitive. Uh, inflation has really been quite something the last couple of years, so we've been able to make some strides, but it's not a one and done. Salary administration has to be an ongoing thing that we do, and we want to be able to, um, you know, we're a diverse employer. We're a large employer. We need to be able to do those things throughout the year.

00:14:02,600	S2:
So when it comes to the public safety, fire and police, is there are there schools, training places that we can go to to try to attract those entry level or maybe not necessarily entry level, but more senior level positions or we I mean we just trying to grow them through our ranks.

00:14:22,960	S3:
Yeah. I mean typically I think what we see is we are unless we happen to get somebody that's experienced from another department in another city, um, we do typically end up bringing them in and kind of growing our own, developing our own. There's a law enforcement academy that they go through a variety of kinds of specializations that they can, um, work towards in terms of job diversification. Um, you know, leadership, like I said, you lead from every seat. But, um, not that we only promote from within, but that seems to be more typical. Doesn't mean we don't.

00:14:54,590	S2:
Sure. And on the in the streets department, obviously that requires another skill set when it comes to operating some of that equipment.

00:15:06,910	And what kind of struggles do we have attracting people there? S3:
Well, we've been really fortunate. We do have a couple departments set up to, um, the requirements for obtaining a commercial driver's license changed. And so there's more expense, more time for employers. Um, so we're working through that. We've been fortunate to be able to hire folks with the CDL, but we are also working to develop and grow some of our own within our departments. And, um, you know, we're competing with other public sector, private sector, the state and some of those folks, you know, will can go across town for, you know, several dollars an hour more. And so, uh, our streets department and our public works department work really hard for work life balance. I mean, when it's snowing, you're going to work. But during the summer, they really try to give them that work life balance, which in the private sector you may not have with that kind of job.

00:15:56,790	S2:
So if you're going to kind of line up and compare our, our package, I mean, salary is one thing, but there's also the benefit package.

00:16:13,310	How do you feel we compare and compete with those individuals or companies that that we are competing against from a benefit standpoint? S3:
I think we have a really good benefits package compared to other public and private sector. Obviously, like you said, salaries sometimes sky's the limit in the private sector. But we have a defined benefit plan which is in really good standing in terms of funding. We have fully paid health insurance, we have generous leave. We have um, health and or vision and dental that people can take out on their own. Um, I think our package is definitely in the top. grouping. It's not the top, but I think we're definitely. Definitely.

00:16:50,620	S4:
Do you spot.

00:16:51,580	S2:
Do you find that that's a critical component to hiring or is salary the critical component? Because I believe it's a total package personally, but.

00:17:00,500	S3:
It really is. I've in my time here, I saw somebody come to work for one of our departments that literally almost cut their salary in half, but came to work for us based on the work life balance, being able to be in the same community as their family, not having to travel to their work site.

00:17:15,340	S2:
That's wonderful to hear because I do believe it's, it's it's the benefits that are maybe not all dollars and cents that are important. And we need to make sure we do that. Absolutely and offer that. So we're a fairly diverse organization. Um, lots of different skills that that we need to secure.

00:17:40,020	What opportunities do we have for people that come to work for us? S3:
Oh, we have we have a wide variety of opportunities. We have technical, we have administrative, we have it, um, it changes, we have seasonal opportunities for people. We're actually typically you would start recruiting for those maybe after the first year. We're finding now we're going to be doing it this fall. We're going to encourage our managers and department directors to think about what our needs are next, next spring, start making those connections as we make these, um, as we do these efforts for recruiting this fall, um, we have tuition reimbursement. So if somebody does start with us, they start out their landfill and they they work as a carrier and decide to move over to another department. We're still keeping them as a city. We still have the investment in them. And so we want to make sure that we encourage, well, you know, you hate to see somebody go from one department to another. We're keeping them.

00:18:27,780	S4:
Yeah.

00:18:28,180	S2:
So talk about that tuition reimbursement because that's not a typical benefit that's out there in the private sector for sure. Right. What do we provide.

00:18:36,100	S3:
We provide dollars towards expenses for employees pursuing their master's in their bachelor's degree. They need to get, um, permission or approval, I should say, from their director and manager. Um, whether it's related to the job, it's really in general nature because like the example I just gave you, as you could start out in one department, but maybe you're going to move and and serve in another department. Um, if I recall, I think it's about $3,000 a year for your bachelor's that you can apply for that's funded through the HR department. Um, some of the departments might have some funds where they might send somebody for certification kinds of things, but okay.

00:19:14,610	S2:
So how many vacant positions do we have right now?

00:19:17,450	S3:
Right now I've been gone for a couple of days. I would say we probably have about six full time openings and probably a handful of part time openings, which are seasonal, part time.

00:19:27,850	S2:
So does that stay fairly consistent throughout the year?

00:19:31,130	S3:
That's probably pretty standard. I think the most I've seen is about 2021 openings, but that was a combination of both. But typically the numbers were sitting at right now, uh, spring and fall seem to be real times for things to turn over once the winter starts or ends. Then it seems like people are more likely to make those switches. The other thing is, sometimes people have jobs that are kind of transitionary where they're going to school, and maybe they're doing something as an engineer check. And now they're looking to, you know, be a surveyor.

00:19:58,640	S2:
And my point to that is, you know, because we want people to understand that we generally probably have a half a dozen to a dozen openings at any given time throughout the, the, throughout the year. It may not always fit what you're looking for, but for those of you who are listening, you know, we're certainly looking. And we'd love to recruit people to come back to Bismarck if they aren't currently in Bismarck. And because we have opportunities and we do.

00:20:21,800	S4:
Absolutely.

00:20:22,880	S2:
Let let the listeners know. Um, let's talk about a little bit. Title six and the Civil Rights Act.

00:20:32,600	How are we complying? What are we doing? What's our plan? S3:
Okay. So we as a city has a title six plan. And that protects employees and job applicants from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Public entities that receive federal funding need to ensure that they have a title, that they meet the requirements of the title six plan, and so that includes having interpretive services. You can imagine we have quite a variety of folks who are here, not necessarily all English speaking. And so we have an interpretive service that we use for all the departments. We do training on limited English proficiency access, you know, all those kinds of things. We ensure employees go through annual training. Regarding title six, we have the plans posted. We have, um, can use a QR code if you have questions or find want to find the information about how to raise a complaint or raise a concern. And so we provide that to employees. And we we try to, um, make it as engaging as we can, because a lot of times it is a bit of a review every year. But we try to make sure everybody knows because we because of our diverse departments, because of the people in all the different positions. We're reaching out to so many places in the community. We got to make sure we have those resources available.

00:21:43,150	S2:
And I'm glad to hear you talk. You know, certainly diverse of ethnicity and language, speaking individuals. And how is our cooperation with, say, the Bismarck public school systems? Because those individuals probably are either trying to learn the English as a second language or a secondary language for them, but they may have families too.

00:22:04,670	And how are we getting them integrated? S3:
You know, that's a good question. So we I've seen well, Bismarck Public Schools is a separate entity to us. We do work together. And I've actually seen some questions come through whether it was through we had someone in the police department who was a new officer who was learning English, had some, um, struggles, reached out to the community, and we had people from BSc, from Bismarck Public Schools from all over that responded and ultimately were willing to work together with that individual. So I feel comfortable in saying that when we have a need, we we reach out and and also then we'll provide a resource to.

00:22:39,230	S2:
Yeah. and that's important. I mean, yes, we're different entities, but we're one community and we all want to work together. And what is good for the city of Bismarck as a government or for just the community is also good for Bismarck Public Schools or the.

00:22:55,630	S4:
Parks and Rec, parks.

00:22:56,590	S2:
And rec, or the universities and colleges. And so I'm glad to hear that, you know, we we make sure we utilize our services. So as we look to the future and as the city of Bismarck grows, not just in population, because that will then drive how we need to manage that and service our our citizens. And knowing that the city of Bismarck provides public safety and health, that's our primary function between whether it's police or fire or streets or public health, which is a lion's share of our budget.

00:23:30,710	What are the challenges you see? S3:
Well, I think we're going to continue to have to compete for the talent, retaining the talent, ensuring we have competitive salary, administration and recognition for people who want to diversify and pick up and continue to grow and learn, even if it's lateral. Our benefits ensuring we're keeping our benefits competitive and funded, which is so important. Our total compensation package. We started doing those statements again, and it's really, really nice to be able to show the employees the investment the city makes in them. Um, and so I think we're going to have to continue with our early pipeline recruiting, getting out there in front of people earlier, um, helping our all of our employees to become ambassadors. Everybody should be selling the city of Bismarck as a place to work.

00:24:16,420	S2:
Well, wonderful. Liane, thank you for joining me today on Bismarck Insights. Um, it was a pleasure to have you. And we look forward to what you can help us in attraction and retention for our staff.

00:24:28,580	S3:
Thanks so much for having me.

00:24:29,660	S4:
Appreciate it. Yep.

00:24:42,500	S1:
Thank you for watching Bismarck Insights with mayor Mike Schmitz. If you have specific topics or questions you'd like addressed in future episodes. Email Mayor Schmitz at Bismarck Handgun or call the City of Bismarck at (701) 355-1300.

00:25:00,460	S1:
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