The cost of losing trained employees is a significant one for Haywood County — one that led to a $1 million loss last year alone.
Haywood County Manager Bryant Morehead asked the leaders of the three largest departments in the county — the sheriff’s office, the department of health and human services and EMS — to come up with the cost of turnover in their departments.
“It is certainly a calculable cost,” Morehead said. “They all followed same approach, and the cost varied depending on who you lose and the cost of training. For a detention officer it’s in the $4,500 range. A paramedic is close to $18,000 and there’s a broad spectrum for social workers, with some up to $36,000.”
Morehead said the sheriff’s office has three divisions — patrol, telecommunication and detention, and noted the county lost 15 detention officers just this year.
“It’s a tough job,” he said, “and a 911 switchboard operator is the first line of public safety. It’s a high-stress job, too. Turnover hurts us there. Many times you hire people who must be trained in those jobs. Efficiency and accuracy are key.”
Morehead called the social work field “a pressure cooker” when it comes to the traumatic circumstances personnel deal with on a daily basis.
Salary an issue
Part of the reason for the high turnover is that Haywood County wages are well below the market rate when compared to both the private and public sector, Morehead said. Since training is a somewhat specialized field for government employees, those counties with lower salaries are more likely to see employees jump ship to work in a neighboring area where the pay is quite a bit higher.
“When you ride up and down Russ Avenue and see Burger King at $12.50 an hour and Sonic in Canton paying $17.50 an hour, you can see we are for sure competing for talent. We have lots of employees under $17.50 an hour,” he said. “We offer a great state retirement plan, have excellent health insurance and a good wellness program, so we can compete when folks look at total compensation. But if someone can get $4 an hour more, they might in a place where they can’t consider long-term. They could be tasked with paying the light bill, rent or mortgage and $4 more an hour is significant.”
To address the issue, the county has commissioned a salary study, something Morehead said hasn’t been done in the last 20 years or so.
While the overview shows the county salaries are about 12.5% behind the going market rate, the particulars of which job classifications are the farthest behind are still being calculated.
Fixing the issue
Morehead has estimated it will cost the county about $2.4 million annually just to get to the mid-level competitive rate with other counties of a similar…
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