Overall staffing numbers for Shawano County are improving, but there remain concerns in certain departments, as well as the reasons people are leaving their jobs.
June Hasser, human resources director, told the executive committee July 16 the 12 open positions are an improvement from the 20 open jobs the previous month.
“Last year, we had only eight open positions,” she said. “Some of them are the same as last year including dispatch, corrections, health.”
She noted there has not been a single week in 2025 in which at least one employee didn’t quit.
Recent openings include a crisis worker and a social worker at the Department of Health Services.
“Both of those positions at DHS will take us months to fill,” she said. “They’re very, very hard to fill.”
Corrections and dispatch positions also have vacancies, as they have had on and off the past few years.
The annual turnover rate for the county is up from the previous year.
“Last year, we were at 16.05%,” Hasser said. “This year, we’re at 20%.”
Hasser said she has seen a few changes in why people are leaving the county — some good, some not so good.
“The culture number is down to 22%; last year, we were at 34%, so we’re doing some things right,” she said. “Also, people leaving just for that personal reason, that’s also gone down to 25% from 34%.”
So, where did those numbers go? That’s the “not so good” part.
“Last year, I didn’t even have on your pie chart that people were leaving because of pay and schedule. This year, it’s on there, and it’s at 13%,” she said. “The other jump-up we need to be aware of is last year, people were going to our competitors only 8%; this year, it’s up to 12%.”
Because of so many vacancies this year, the county’s payroll expenses (wages and benefits) are under budget for 2025. One consideration is to use those funds to provide pay raises to existing employees earlier than the standard Jan. 1, when the new fiscal budget goes into effect.
Jim Davel, administrative coordinator, said a few suggestions will be brought to the committee in August.
“Next month, we’re going to bring what we think is going to fix the overall problem in terms of pay,” he said. “There’s other issues — leadership issues, scheduling issues — it’s just not pay that is the driving force for a lot of this.”
As of June 30, the county has 344 full-time employees, 58 part-time employees, 55 limited term employees and 80 committee and board members for a total of 537.kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
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