It's not unusual for city governments to benefit occasionally from the expertise and resources of its major employers. In fact, in these tough financial times it can make fiscal sense for taxpayers if a partnership improves government efficiencies.
Such is the case with a proposal the City of Monroe's Salary and Personnel Committee will consider tonight. The committee will discuss a proposal from Swiss Colony to conduct an audit of the city's human resources (HR) functions.
It's an offer the city should consider. It's a generous proposal - HR audits can be time-consuming and expensive, especially if done by an outside professional firm. Swiss Colony would do the audit as a service to the city.
Apparently, City Hall could use a lot of direction and guidance in its HR endeavors. The topic has been at the forefront of city government news in recent weeks - first with the termination of City Administrator Mark Vahlsing for what was described as a failure to perform HR duties, and now as the Monroe City Council debates how to handle HR functions in the future.
As Swiss Colony said in its proposal to the city, "the human resource area is very specialized and is sprinkled with many mine fields that can prove both costly and ineffective if not handled properly."
Which should give council members pause as they consider whether to continue wrapping HR functions into the administrator's responsibilities. If aldermen truly want the administrator to lead economic development for the city and manage daily operations at City Hall, they should farm out the HR responsibilities to another employee or an outside firm.
The Salary and Personnel Committee also will be discussing making job performance evaluations more uniform at City Hall.
According to Alderman Mark Coplien, who is the committee's chairman, some department heads have been "fantastic" and consistent in conducting evaluations of employees. Others have never done them. Some people have been getting raises without performance evaluations, and "some people had issues and they were never written up."
HR professionals would shudder at all of this. And it explains why an audit of city policies would be warranted.
Aldermen cannot continue to let HR functions be the Wild West of job responsibilities at City Hall. Performance evaluations and other HR functions must be done consistently and constantly by city employees. In the future, department heads who don't do performance reviews should no longer be city employees.
The city ultimately must have clearly-drawn policies, and adhere to them. Swiss Colony can play a valuable role in establishing those policies. But its involvement should be limited to evaluating and establishing procedures and guidelines.
Such is the case with a proposal the City of Monroe's Salary and Personnel Committee will consider tonight. The committee will discuss a proposal from Swiss Colony to conduct an audit of the city's human resources (HR) functions.
It's an offer the city should consider. It's a generous proposal - HR audits can be time-consuming and expensive, especially if done by an outside professional firm. Swiss Colony would do the audit as a service to the city.
Apparently, City Hall could use a lot of direction and guidance in its HR endeavors. The topic has been at the forefront of city government news in recent weeks - first with the termination of City Administrator Mark Vahlsing for what was described as a failure to perform HR duties, and now as the Monroe City Council debates how to handle HR functions in the future.
As Swiss Colony said in its proposal to the city, "the human resource area is very specialized and is sprinkled with many mine fields that can prove both costly and ineffective if not handled properly."
Which should give council members pause as they consider whether to continue wrapping HR functions into the administrator's responsibilities. If aldermen truly want the administrator to lead economic development for the city and manage daily operations at City Hall, they should farm out the HR responsibilities to another employee or an outside firm.
The Salary and Personnel Committee also will be discussing making job performance evaluations more uniform at City Hall.
According to Alderman Mark Coplien, who is the committee's chairman, some department heads have been "fantastic" and consistent in conducting evaluations of employees. Others have never done them. Some people have been getting raises without performance evaluations, and "some people had issues and they were never written up."
HR professionals would shudder at all of this. And it explains why an audit of city policies would be warranted.
Aldermen cannot continue to let HR functions be the Wild West of job responsibilities at City Hall. Performance evaluations and other HR functions must be done consistently and constantly by city employees. In the future, department heads who don't do performance reviews should no longer be city employees.
The city ultimately must have clearly-drawn policies, and adhere to them. Swiss Colony can play a valuable role in establishing those policies. But its involvement should be limited to evaluating and establishing procedures and guidelines.
