Articles

Recruiting in a National Health Crisis

I recall the coronavirus being discussed for the first time last year, shortly after the holidays. Who knew that it would affect the many facets of our lives? I was at a conference in Columbia, MO, when I began to understand that things would not be the same. I had recently become a permanent employee with the City of Jennings, and I found myself amidst the largest undertakings of my professional life. Before 2020, the words “pandemic” and “social distancing” had no tangible meaning. The word pandemic was something that we used when referring to periods when our ancestors dealt with Scarlet Fever, Spanish Flu, and Smallpox. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic became so incredibly tangible that our very way of life has changed to make room to cope.

Early Pandemic Impacts

In early February of 2020, the City Clerk’s Office discussed with our HR and payroll provider exploring all the benefits that we perhaps were not utilizing.

By March 2020, it was plain to see that the COVID-19 issue was a danger to the public and the City’s employees. By the end of March, Mayor Austin acted most fittingly in response to the pandemic, sending the City of Jennings staff to work remotely except for public safety and essential workers.

Looking back, I do not believe that any entity - public or private, would have been prepared for what life during a pandemic would consist of.

Working remotely was quite a challenge. Not only did we have to overcome technical trials but now how does one continue to recruit, ensuring that the City has all it needs to continue to function?

This was certainly the time to get creative with how business was conducted. I think that the most commonly used piece of software that made business proceed “as usual” during the pandemic is the use of video calling and messaging from platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, Cisco WebEx Meetings, and Google Hangouts Meet.

These platforms enabled us to continue to conduct interviews without the loss of a face-to-face meeting, meeting consistently with our department staff, and host City Council meetings and Committee meetings.

An obstacle that we did face during the pandemic was the lag in the physical exam and drug screen step of the onboarding process.

The Challenge of Onboarding New Employees

In the past, our process included paperwork that a candidate would report to City Hall to retrieve before their appointment. Our chosen screening vendor provides us with the ability to schedule online or contact each location via fax or telephone.

Yet, with COVID-19 case numbers on the rise and the public flocking to urgent care clinics, there were times in which screenings would be scheduled out almost two weeks in advance and walk-in visits were tricky for those candidates who were currently still employed.

Unfortunately, this brief lag in the momentum was completely unavoidable and strictly circumstantial.

I was beginning to understand - this is the world we are living in now. I recall a case in which a candidate was not allowed into the urgent care clinic to conduct their physical exam and drug screen due to a mild fever when their temperature was taken as they entered the establishment. Their heightened temperature was due to an underlying health issue unrelated to COVID-19, but they could not return unless they got a COVID test indicating that they were not carrying the virus.

Looking back and reflecting on the number of times I have had to take a COVID-19 test myself, and in the effort to keep everyone safe, obtaining a COVID-19 test has almost become normal.

While working remotely and City Hall opened to the public by appointment, the City’s goal was to keep its employees and the public safe. How could we in-process a candidate with minimal contact with the HR staff?

The Solution & New Process

We found that solution through our HR and payroll vendor who offered an electronic onboarding wizard. The beauty of the electronic onboarding was that a new hire could fill out their contact information, tax documents, form I-9 to be matched with verification documents, direct deposit account information, and electronically read then sign the employee handbook.

This is all accomplished by sending the candidate a link via email through the wizard.

Configuring the onboarding wizard was no small task. Each employee handbook policy document had to be uploaded to the HR platform, designated to different onboarding groups, for example, Fulltime, Part-time, and other groups that have specific codes of conduct documents, and then configure the necessary information to add a new hire to the HR and payroll platform.

One of my favorite features with electronic onboarding is that the new hire is electronically signing and dating that each policy document has been reviewed before their start date, and HR representative could go into the HR platform and print the employee handbook they have signed and give the handbook to them on their first day with their benefits packet.

This is also where any policy acknowledgment and code of conduct documents that must be kept in their file may also be printed.
With all the capabilities that the wizard offers, it is hard to fathom a way that the process wouldn’t run smoothly. I did hear on occasion from new hires that they had an issue uploading their tax or form I-9 information, I was able to work around the issue by having those documents completed on their first day.

Upon reflection, I realize that this was a user error and not the system.

On occasion, I would come across a candidate that did not have internet access or have an email address. This is almost unbelievable that in current times that someone did not have either of those things, but those situations were the exception to this onboarding process.

It was important to ensure those people were treated fairly and given every opportunity in obtaining the position, so they were scheduled to meet with an HR representative in a socially distanced environment.

Even with a few hiccups, it truly has streamlined the process.

Now that we have been back in office as of June 2020, I foresee this strategy to be relevant to how we treat the new hire in-processing procedure. I know that virtual recruiting and electronic onboarding could be intimidating but allow these new processes to free your entity to accomplish more and free your mind to think more out-of-the-box.

Khianna Ward
Deputy City Clerk
City of Jennings