 Welcome to Sheboygan County government working for you. My name is Adam Payne, Sheboygan County Administrator and co-host of this program with Chairman Roger Distruty and as you know every month we strive to bring a new guest to talk about some of the important roles of county government and today you're gonna see a new face. We have a new HR director, Human Resources Director for Sheboygan County, Miss Jean Gallimore. Welcome. Good morning, thank you. Jean started in April so it's about three months and we're very pleased to have her aboard. Jean why don't you start with sharing a little bit about yourself and your background. Absolutely. From a human resource perspective I've been in the business for just over 20 years and really started within the banking industry so a little more financial background and and so forth within that within that industry. Probably the most common denominator that I've seen throughout my human resources career is is really guest service or customer service so as I think back at my 17 years within banking although human resources was a common thread guest service certainly really kind of drove you know the focus of that. Within that time I traveled to several banking locations and certainly provided leadership and direction in terms of the human resources role recruitment hiring performance appraisal processes and that of nature. Following my stint certainly in banking which provided an excellent foundation within human resources I joined hospitality so went from a very serious human resources role to a much more interactive I will say a little more fun water park type environment water park type environment so with that being said again guest service very important so supported about 12 department heads was the human resources director during my tenure there just over seven years and again supported really the human resources function in terms of balancing the employee needs and the organizational needs and how legally all of that you know makes sense so that really sums up and then about a year and a half or so ago I joined the county just as a limited term employee to help create some policy and proceed your handbook processes so that was about a six month opportunity to join and understand county government a little bit better in terms of you know really putting the human resources tool in effect within government so had a little bit of experience there and really give you a leg up in the interview process not only did you bring excellent private sector experience but you had a feel for the how the county operates and some of the key players and staff and did a nice job with our with their employee policy and procedures set the stage for our viewers a little bit how many employees the Sheboygan County have and and then what is the budget of the HR department how many staff do you have okay you but currently we have approximately 830 employees about 19 departments that comprise that number and that number comes really fluctuates just a bit in terms of some summertime where it might go up a little bit and we need some summer seasonal type help but typically about 830 in terms of the budget we have a human resources budget of approximately 468 thousand dollars okay and you have how many staff currently for four staff right so four staff helping 830 so employees and a breadth of roles and responsibilities what are the key responsibilities of a human resources department right and that's ever changing every day however I like to explain it Adam from the standpoint of really our mission is to create an inclusive environment for our employees with excellent guest service and customer service to help balance the needs certainly human resources has to understand the business if you will so those 19 department heads that I referred to earlier it's very key that we understand an overview if you will of what those departments do so we can help be that strategic business partner at the table help making decisions internally if you will for those key department head managers supervisors and then those employees I like to describe human resources as kind of the life cycle of the employee we do our best to from the onset recruit talented staff for Sheboygan County once we have them recruited we certainly onboard them and the entire hiring process balancing the legal ramifications certainly within those processes and once we get them on board it's our responsibility to help ensure that proper training really the policies the procedures the manuals all of those important rules if you will that apply to Sheboygan County our communicated appropriately and a timely basis we ensure that safety is is key to our employees and that they're trained you know as they're onboarded on those types of things as you move through that life cycle of that employee they're now on boarded they're trained they're enjoying their time at Sheboygan County and we ensure them that anything from their payroll check in conjunction with the finance department and payroll human resources helps make sure that because we want to pay employees correctly that's important to them that we participate in that process the employee benefits is a huge section of which human resources plays a role making sure that our employees employee benefits are working for them as well as balancing the county professional training and development is critical and that's something that I'd really like to focus on in the coming year making sure that we are you know professionally training you know our management staff to move forward and prepare them for the future for Sheboygan County and I know you also have some the more challenging roles with you know it's fun to hire new people and help people improve and gain the skills they need to be successful but from time to time you need to step in and help department heads or managers deal with discipline or or sometimes letting people go and that is obviously not a fun part of being a manager or an HR department but an important role nonetheless right it's probably more the serious side certainly however I view that as as really coaching opportunities we want everyone to succeed at Sheboygan County so when the time comes when there is that opportunity for improvement if you will we certainly do our best engage our employees and want to make it right so we have it an excellent I believe due process policy if you will in our hand book that walks us through those tough times and speaking of the handbook I mean you really got engaged with county government at a incredible time in the history of Wisconsin with Act 10 as I think most of our viewers are probably aware of or heard of created a lot of buzz at the state level really changed how we interact and negotiate with our employees to a fair extent set the stage for us a little bit what what is Act 10 and what were some of the significant changes that you came in and needed to address as both the employee handbook as well as just now your day-to-day operations right very good Act 10 the Act 10 changes really the most significant piece that employers or Sheboygan County government had to really take a look at hard was the changes relative to really eliminating the action the changes really eliminated most of the collected bargaining you know opportunity for the majority of our employees so it was very much of a concern as we those changes came aboard for the county and the county took that very seriously however as we talk about the employee handbook and what that change meant I believe that we took a very sensitive and respectful approach to those changes for those groups of employees and had to do a very good job to balance what are those employees that are not in those collective bargaining units prior to Act 10 changes and how do we bring these groups together and I think the neat part of that was being part of that policy development process last year which really allowed me to gain the knowledge and really truly again the respect to that basic human kindness for each employee and understanding how they fit individually into those changes and we were able to I believe put together an employee handbook that was is positive promotes employee engagement open and honest communication just as we had before but we had to redefine that a little bit to ensure to those employees that were perhaps losing those collective bargaining rights that we are an employer choice we care and we will engage and respect and have an open door policy for those their opinions and speaking of open door I know that personally chairman distruty and I wanted to make sure that as this policy as these new policies were prepared as this HR manual was developed that we allowed for a lot of input from our staff what was that process because from time to time you'll hear about a local unit of government creating a new HR manual and they may be criticized because the employees didn't have any opportunity for input but I know we did just the opposite here right again being part of that process from almost the onset it was so enlightening to me because I have never been part of such an engaging process from the employees standpoint at first I was like wow this is this is interesting but really what a learning experience I believe for all of us as we stepped through that we had a number of policies and from the beginning split those policies into three sections what we did from their atom is we identified key players a diverse group of of employees who could sit in those three different groups to really peel the onion if you will in each of those policies what's working what's not how can we add better value in light of the potential changes coming with act 10 how can we get really an employee handbook that is inclusive so we really did a nice job at getting at the table having great open discussions putting together drafts of those policies and from there the drafts were put together they were put on our intranet the shaboin county intranet site for all employees to view so if they were not part of that meeting in that committee if you will for the that set of policies they could add value they could comment on the intranet they could email human resources and then in conjunction with that as we continued to take their concerns and advice we then continued to fine tune those policies in those drafts and the really neat part again and I was a little hesitant but it worked very well was that we went to then employee open forum meetings and we said all right everyone invited come on in and we reviewed policy by policy line item by line item and continued to to the very end seek out additional you know concerns adding value whatever the employees wanted to to voice we were open to so that as an end result I believe created a very fine handbook that spoke to the issue of truly engaging our employees I think you and the others involved handled it very well our employees have been complimentary of the opportunities for input it certainly was a balance however I mean it wasn't just what the employees wanted clearly it was organizationally how do we position ourselves for success this year and going forward and fiscally there were some changes made that for some employees were difficult to swallow but but overall I think it was a balance and one that is serving us well will continue to make refinements as we move forward I'm going to transition to Roger because of course German just Rudy knows that another key initiative for the county was our in health clinic so Roger I'll turn it over to you yes thank you Adam and good to have you with us Jean and looking forward to you working many years with the county when did the county establish the in health clinic and why would you explain some of that absolutely the in health clinic was established in 2008 and really as as we look back and put some history together about the why's of that Roger it really comes down to again what's best for the employee as we talk about the human resources role and understanding you know why a number of our employees are working is because certainly we need to take a look at their their health benefits and what what can we provide so as we looked at both balancing what's best for the employee what's best for the county what's best for the taxpayer we realized that our costs were quite high and how do we take a look and control those costs in a more efficient manner so we were able to to develop this this really in-house clinic if you will through Ontario health and basically what that does for the employees and for the employer and taxpayers is really a common thread and that is to say lower because we're such a large organization lower health care costs in general we were able to provide primary health care to our employees at a much more effective and efficient cost for the employee so very low out of pocket costs for the employee which in turn then for the taxpayer as we focus the clinic on wellness and coaching and controlling any disease management issues really minimizes hopefully minimizes more longer term care issues and concerns which relate to dollars so hopefully we're minimizing future health care you know costs and risks with the clinic and as you know the city of Sheboygan and the Sheboygan school district have joined us and we're glad to see that that helps pay the operating costs and reduce the cost for the taxpayers of all those entities would you explain how that's been working absolutely we're excited to have both the city of Sheboygan and the Sheboygan area school district join our clinic it does a number of things for us certainly it encourages and fosters great employee relations with you know certainly employees across the board with those three entities however it also from a community standpoint is certainly the right thing to do you know as as we work with our partners we were able to again maximize additional savings as they came on board because we were able to share as you mentioned really equipment costs our overhead costs in general were now shared by three entities instead of just Sheboygan county as a whole carrying that that weight if you will so not only from a a right thing to do in the community perspective as well as really the taxpayers on a whole and allowing those two groups in and there are those employees to start certainly enjoying the benefits of lower cost you know health benefits and so forth now the federal health care reform is a big challenge also how is Sheboygan county reacting to that and what are we doing to prepare right federal health care form and the health care reform act affordable care act certainly has employers and in particular Sheboygan county taking look at how we provide affordable health care to the majority of our employees so we're responding to that certainly understanding a number of changes still yet to come this year that we don't have specifics on we are working with our benefit consultant certainly and understanding where our plan is today what are the costs associated with what today is trying to understand certainly and will have a better understanding and handle on that in the next couple of months in terms of cost going into 2014 and beyond however we continue now to take a look at our plan design for 2014 what the costs are associated with that but also balancing the cost to the county with the needs of the employees and retirees at this point in time so really in the middle of balancing what's the right thing to do and what's you know for the employee and the taxpayer at the same time and I just always a concern how much are the employees paying toward their insurance and how much is the county paying would you explain that to our viewers right overall we have a couple of different plans because we still do have two collective bargaining units active we have about 237 employees out of our 830 that still remain within the collective bargaining unions if you will so that in answer to your question we've got a couple of different percentages that employees do pay toward health care on the average though Roger we are we have our the majority of our employees paying between 15 and 17 and a half percent of that health care cost with the county picking up the balance and we're fortunate to have a very good safety record in the county from all the different departments but how are are we trying to strive to improve and and things better if possible very good safety is is a number one priority and I was encouraged as I came on board to see really that we do have very good safety controls in place and very minimal claims if you will on both the employee and the guest you know from those perspectives however there's always opportunity to improve and enhance those processes what we've done since my arrival is we've kind of picked up that safety initiative we now have put together a safety committee who meets once a month it is comprised of a member of all 19 of our main departments and really a diverse group of employees managers supervisor and department heads on that committee we take safety very seriously here at Sheboygan county from a few perspectives one from the employee's perspective we certainly want to offer a work environment that is safe for our employees to come to so whether that has to do certainly with the chemicals they might handle and on the job tools if you will lock out take out on equipments and so forth we're focusing on those types of efforts we're also focusing certainly on those how do I say natural disaster type safety so tornado warnings fire drills things of that nature we need to have Sheboygan county prepared in the event we have the unexpected happen so we're focusing on those policies those procedures those manuals are being put into place as we speak and furthermore will continue to develop really from a broader perspective contingency action plans in the event we do have a more major disaster will Sheboygan county be ready yes we will so really in a nutshell the the committee continues to meet we have a target date of September 1st to have those policies as I mentioned among others put together in our department heads hands we will have our management group trained in September and then we'll roll out the first ever all employee annual safety training required for all of our employees so we can educate and be ready in the event of any safety concerns very good thank you gene nice overview and I really appreciate it jeans leadership on this as well as Steve Steinert our emergency management director the two of them have been co-chairing this effort the last few months and it's very important to success of our organization and it's not only you know as you said those natural disasters I think most people think a tornado drill or fire drill or you know working with chemicals or what have you but we live in a day and age where unfortunately we have to be more concerned with a bomb threat or someone calling in making that prank call or threat that there's a bomb or someone in the building with a gun we we we've had situations and people certainly have seen us on the news where you might receive a letter or a package in the mail that may have anthrax or at least we could we it could possibly have something in it these are just different threats that we read about in the paper see on the news that it seems to always happen in that other community or that bigger city but it could happen here and obviously we want our staff prepared you know how do you respond to that if you pick up the phone that day and you're being threatened or your building is being threatened how do you respond when you when you get that piece of mail that looks dangerous and again it's something that I wish we didn't have to spend time and resources on but it's very important that we do so so I really appreciate your work and the committee's work you mentioned earlier professional development and I think it goes without saying in our organization that we're always striving to improve I mean continuous improvement is part of our philosophy but it doesn't just happen you know we need to we need to work at that we need to give employees the skill sets they need to improve so Jean you've really brought in some you know fresh ideas and some juice behind we've got to enhance our professional development opportunities what do you have in mind professional development happens to be my passion so I kind of light up when you talk about that Adam I believe again when we look at the future of whether that's human resources or Sheboygan County as a whole we need to be ready we need to be ready for the future whether that means education tools that we might provide we have our employees who are out hopefully you know learning and on the job and preparing themselves for the future we need to help that effort along the lines of what I said earlier in terms of human resource management and how we need to set a stage legally for Sheboygan County to be successful we need to train our managers and our leaders about what to do what not to do what is okay and what are those parameters so I'm excited to be able to offer as we move forward more interviewing hiring employer relations management leadership guidance we have great leaders as our department heads but we need to look forward and develop we are looking forward to perhaps putting in place a succession planning process within Sheboygan County what does that mean we want to make sure that we know who the next are we grooming someone internally to be the next HR director and the next planning director and so forth do we have people internally with those skill sets if not perhaps we should look at how we can get those skill sets so again long term really looking out for the taxpayers Sheboygan County's bottom line to promote from within to encourage to educate our staff in-house if you will at a very minimal cost we want the best and the brightest we want to be able to to attract good employees and when they're here we want to be able to retain them and obviously that equates to providing the best service we can to to the community you've focused more on professional development we're going to provide those opportunities but of course compensation is important in order to attract and retain good employees as well and to the county board's credit and to the HR department's credit we have had some checks and balances over the years to you know make sure we're competitive with other counties but this year we're going through a comprehensive compensation study what's in play there very good we are working with with a consultant as we take a look at the importance of where are our salary ranges number one are we competitively priced number one with our surrounding counties in the job market but also taking a look at both public and private sector what does that mean we have to be competitive as you talk about recruitment attraction and retention of those employees and so what we're doing the process that we're hoping to really have an end result and and and get to is taking a look at job descriptions making sure that our job descriptions are up-to-date accurate and and completely define the roles and responsibilities of positions marrying that then Adam with our study that we're doing through our consultant we're actually taking a look at comparables so we're going out and we're saying all right other counties what are you paying for like jobs private sector what are you paying for like jobs at the end result where we will present a salary and a pay structure that really is in in the year if you will very up-to-date and we'll speak to the competitiveness of our ranges as we look at that process and our goal is by the end of the year to have those ranges in place the job descriptions in place and then we were able to really tie that to performance and hopefully we're looking at what we call a paper performance plan which is really rewarding recognizing those employees who are top performers who are really doing an excellent job for Sheboygan County and we will tie then those pay ranges those job descriptions and that performance appraisal process together hopefully by by this time next year because we know overall our you know our grades are probably in pretty good shape and obviously 830 employees that's a lot of position descriptions most of them are probably fine but over time adjustments do need to be made but we also know we have some areas of of concerning compression in the sheriff's department or you know where an employee is supervising someone that may be making as much or more because of overtime would have you so those tweaks are ongoing and it's a credit again to the county board for encouraging this consultant to come in and give us that snapshot so we can improve the competitive nature of our county we don't want to be average we want to be the best and we're striving to get there last question if someone has an interest in working for Sheboygan County how do they get more information what can they do to learn what positions are open very good we have a number of ways primarily really the number one means of communication is our website Sheboygan County website sheboygancounty.com and basically you can go on and you will see in the day what is available you'll see a job description you'll have an idea of really the scope and dimension of what's expected what's required and so forth so I encourage anyone to go on our website and take a look at that if you don't have access to a computer you can certainly give our human resources department a phone call we'd be happy to walk through that with them as well as our local job service if you're down and using that resource it's an excellent resource and again provides great information on the employment opportunities Sheboygan County has to offer outstanding well not bad for a 30 minute presentation you've got a wonderful overview of HR roles responsibilities and as you can see incredible breadth of responsibility for Jean and her staff thank you for joining us today wonderful overview if you have more questions or as Jean said are not able to get on the website and have some interest in learning more about what may open or available in the county at our HR department or the job center please don't hesitate to contact us thank you for being here and thank you for your good work the past few months as Roger said I'm hoping that we've got a we're going to have you around for a long time Jean well thank you it's good to be here thank you Roger and thank you for joining us next month again we're going to have another important department head come in and talk about roles and responsibilities and switching gears a little bit we haven't had our corner here for quite some time and corner David Lafine who's been our corner in the county for years years and years and provides of course a very important service is going to be here to talk about his roles and responsibilities and I generally don't see the corner very often it's always the budget process when I see Dave and sometimes that feels just about right for me but he's always interesting so please join us next month and until then have a good summer thanks for joining us