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Human Resources Improvements and Success – 2021-2022 By Jaime Steenkolk, HR Manager Many consider the primary roles of Human Resources to include recruitment, onboarding and benefits. What might sur- prise those who don’t work in HR is the level of commitment and time invested in assisting employees with personal needs and challenges they face. These don’t show up in the form of successes and cannot be measured, but we consider them successes all the same. Over the past year, this employee sup- port has been challenging and a privilege. We’ve sat with those who’ve lost parents, children and siblings. We’ve walked through medical scares, offered sup- port to staff with aging parents who are struggling and we’ve listened to stories of fatigue and burnout. We keep tissues close by as we help employees navigate their resources and options following trauma. We assist supervisors and managers with discipline, team building and differ- ing perspectives. What walks through our door often resembles a complicated story problem, rarely quick and easy to solve. Assisting employees also includes helping navigate policies, launching investigations, and fielding complaints, incident reports and productive workplace violations. In response to COVID-19, we have fielded many calls walking staff through the COVID testing requirements, followed by the vaccination requirement. Hours were spent helping staff through their decision process related to whether to get vaccinated or leave their jobs. HR’s role in response to the pandemic has shifted several times as guidelines change from CTSI, OHA and the CDC. Improvements in recruiting: HR seeks to attract qualified applicants, which is accomplished primarily through adver- tising. During this past year, HR added Linked-In and Indeed platforms for recruiting. Indeed recently highlighted the Tribe as a responsive company and only 20% of companies using Indeed qualify! This is due to timely responses to Indeed applicants. Depending on the position, we have added state newspapers, colleges and journals to our advertising efforts. We’ve broadened our list of free posting options, including the Handshake app, which is great for our positions that require a col- lege degree. We have expanded the Work- Source Oregon postings to the Portland, Salem and Eugene areas. WorkSource previously only posted our positions to the Lincoln City/Newport area. Goodwill Job Connections now receives our postings and will send them to the Portland, Salem, Eugene, Lincoln City and Newport areas. Goodwill Job Connections will refer applicants to us, can provide help with résumés/applica- tions, can give applicants $25 to purchase clothes/shoes for interviews if needed and provides a $25 gift card if the applicant needs clothes/shoes for their new position. Between June 2021 and July 10, 2022, HR has processed 410 applications. HR calls references on all applicants to be interviewed, and most are – 410 appli- cants x 3 reference calls results in 1,230 phone calls. Last year, HR moved all applicant paper files to an electronic process and with the help of our IS Department, Tribal managers and supervisors have access to their files electronically. An electronic interview rating sheet was developed so our hiring committees can see all appli- cants and their scores on one form. All interview questions are being moved into a new format, providing inter- viewers with clearer direction on scoring, as well as access to electronically fillable forms. Reference forms were updated and are now fillable documents. We completed a flow-diagram to iden- tify how we can streamline and simplify our processes, and as a result, we reduced four tracking spreadsheets into one. Col- laborating with IS, HR now has an applica- tion that can be submitted electronically through the Tribal website. Onboarding improvements: Orienta- tion is currently a 6-7 hour process for employees new to the organization and this does not include the review of ben- efits. Due to COVID-19, we’ve been able to orient only one person per day (for the most part) and between June 2021 and July 10, 2022, we have on-boarded and provided orientation to 135 employees and seven summer interns. For comparison, for the same time period between 2020 and 2021, we had 65 new hires and six summer interns. We are in the process of updating and modernizing our orientation to be in alignment with the process at Chinook Winds. This should shorten orientation times and provide more meaningful infor- mation for our new employees. Benefits: The Benefits Department was previously housed in the Accounting Department for many years. In late June 2021, Benefits was moved to HR follow- ing the retirement of the previous benefits coordinator. We are excited to add this important department to the HR team and look forward to the cross-training oppor- tunities within the combined departments. As we modernize, we’ve completely revamped the look of the benefits package. Projects: HR developed a Telework Policy with input of Tribal managers. This has allowed hybrid work schedules during the pandemic and will be allowed after. We hope this will be a significant aid in recruitment. As we continue to update our systems and modernize our department, we have identified 37 processes with the opportunity to improve and we will address them as we are able. We have worked tirelessly on the sal- ary analysis and job description project, which has experienced many setbacks and delays. We anticipate this project to be completed in September. Other projects include the development of roughly 35 desk references and we are utilizing these references for cross training. We are in the middle of updating our filing systems in Laserfiche and have written an associated procedure for structure to ensure compli- ance. We have scanned and e-filed a large portion of our paper documents in an effort to digitize. In reflection, it is difficult to remem- ber all of the improvements made as so many were, and still are, needed. It’s a work in process, so we remind ourselves and anyone who will listen, “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” For an application, go to www.ctsi.nsn.us/heritage/pow-wow/ Hourly Rate $15.00 Positions Maintenance/Security & Kitchen (Multiple Shifts) Bring Valid Photo ID, SS Card, and Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination Per the I-9 form, there are other forms of identification that can suffice WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10TH 10:00 AM - 4:30 PM SILETZ COMMUNITY CENTER 402 GOVERNMENT HILL DR. SILETZ, OR 97380 For questions or more information, contact Buddy Lane at BuddyL@ctsi.nsn.us. or 541-444-8230; 800-922-1399, ext. 1230 August 2022 • Siletz News • 9
