CINCINNATI — In a tight job market, the most critical positions in Hamilton County are the ones most likely to be empty.
The county needs 911 dispatchers, jail and youth detention officers, probation officers and child abuse caseworkers. These jobs often involve high stress, long and irregular hours, and a quick burnout rate, but are also crucial to community safety. So officials are boosting perks and pay.
One of the highest vacancy rates is in the children’s services division of Job & Family Services, where abuse and neglect calls are assessed and the fate of children who have been placed in protective custody is managed.
“This has been a very unique, unprecedented time for us. When we get to a point where we’re seeing 40 percent vacancy rates, we want to make sure that we’re doing whatever we can to address that,” said JFS director Michael Patton, who is looking to fill more than 100 job openings in child welfare.
County officials are doling out large bonuses, paying for downtown parking, and adding to what is already a generous benefits package of paid parental leave and tuition reimbursement, to stop the staffing hemorrhage.
“We know a strong team of public servants is critical to a strong community,” said county administrator Jeff Aluotto. “Specifically, we are offering signing and retention bonuses in Children’s Services through a state grant, casting a wider net on job postings and exploring supplementing our workforce with part-time workers in critical areas.”
To make matters worse, caseworkers are seeing more severe abuse and neglect cases now than before the pandemic began.
“It’s really, really critical work so when we have these kinds of vacancies, it puts a strain on the system,” Patton said. “Anytime when you have fewer people to do the work, it has an impact.”
JFS workers from other divisions are filling in to perform clinical work, to free up caseworkers to assess homes for abuse and neglect, and visit children who are in their custody.
The situation isn’t much better at the Hamilton County Youth Center where juvenile criminal offenders are housed. With 39 open corrections positions, director Brian Bell said the staff is working a lot of overtime and other juvenile court workers are being asked to fill in.
Bell is hoping that substantially higher salaries, referral bonuses, flexible schedules, and new staff appreciation events, will help him fix a near 40 percent vacancy rate.
“It’s tough, day in and day out, seeing the hardships that our kids experience. It weighs on you, it wears on you,” Bell said. “The staff that I have is amazing … They’re aunts, uncles, moms, dads, mentors, brothers, sisters, they are everything to the youth here. It’s incredible.”
The severity of the cases has worsened with many teenagers facing murder, rape or high-profile drug dealing charges, along with longer stays at the center. Recidivism and seeing youth come back to the center after their release with new charges, is hard, Bell said.
But the rewards are just as emotional – like seeing former residents come back to visit who are attending college or playing professional sports.
“You definitely get to witness the impact that you may have had,” said Andrae Jones, deputy director of housing who has been at the youth center for nearly 20 years.
For Jones, who grew up in a similar background as many of the teens he oversees, this work is his calling.
“I enjoy ministering to them, speaking with them, trying to teach them, encouraging them to do better,” Jones said. “You have to love kids. You have to like being around kids.”
To boost hiring, the youth center has held open and group interview events and currently offers walk-in applications.
Meanwhile at the Hamilton County Justice Center, there are 67 vacancies for corrections officers.
“We are fighting the same challenge that many in law enforcement are seeing across the country, and that is a struggle to recruit and retain talent. It has been an uphill battle, but we remain hopeful,” said sheriff’s office spokesperson Kyla Woods.
This fall the sheriff’s office piloted a marketing campaign and their recruitment team has attended many community events. And there are new perks – such as paid PEACE officer training, new equipment, and a wellness program that is coming in 2023.
“We are actively recruiting and want anyone with a heart and mind to serve to consider a career with HCSO and pursue a life a service and success,” Woods said.
County commissioners are expected to approve a 2023 budget next week that includes a 3.5 percent cost of living raise and an additional 1 percent optional merit raise for non-union employees.
In recent years the county has added benefits such as eight weeks of paid parental leave and tuition reimbursement and expects to add more in 2023 such as child care and parking, according to the proposed budget.
The budget noted the high vacancy rates in critical positions for jail and juvenile court corrections officers, children’s services caseworkers, court probation officers and 911 center dispatchers, with a combined total of 271 job openings.
In children’s services, recruiters have brought virtual reality simulators to college events over the past year to show potential hires what it’s really like to be a caseworker.
“What it means to walk into a house, do an assessment based on the conditions of the house and make a decision about the health and safety of the child,” Patton said.
What else is the agency doing to address the high vacancy rate?
“We’ve had to think differently. We’ve had to look at targeted pay increases for specific classifications in child welfare … anywhere from 10 to 20 percent targeted pay increases to sustain the kind of workforce that we need to do the work,” Patton said.
Employees now get reimbursed for parking downtown, which can be more than $100 a month. The state is also funding $3,000 hiring bonuses, and $4,000 retention bonuses, which just started in December.
Caseworker Desiree Dixon admits the job can be stressful and may require long hours. But she said the rewards are deeply fulfilling.
“The reward comes in through the progress that you see with your families, with the children,” Dixon said. “The children, seeing their faces, seeing that sense of safety, seeing that sense of that they’re feeling like that their needs are being met.”
After seven years as a caseworker, first in Charlotte and then in Cincinnati, Dixon will be transitioning to manage an intern program next year with the hope of attracting college students to the profession.
“It’s not cliché. It’s a serious thing. We’re dealing with lives, we’re dealing with children,” Dixon said. “Just knowing that that child that I spent an extra 10 minutes with is in a safe environment, that works for me.”
