To attract and retain more workers in the city, the Juneau Assembly may offer sign-on bonuses or enhance retirement benefits.
Some city bus routes were temporarily cancelled due to a shortage of drivers this winter. The problem is deeper: more than 25% of city employees have been working for less than one year. This is due to the fact that more experienced workers are leaving the workforce, while younger workers stay longer.
Rorie Watt, City Manager, stated that some positions that require technical skills are particularly difficult to fill.
He said that heavy equipment operators with commercial drivers licenses, bus drivers, IT workers and programmers are difficult to find. “People with commercial drivers licenses and bus drivers, as well as IT workers span, are in high demand.”
Watt presented three ideas to the Assembly finance committee Wednesday night. First, sign-on bonuses up to $40,000 could be offered to certain positions. An employee must work for at least two to four consecutive years depending on their job to qualify for this bonus.
The city leaders suggested that the city contribute to flexible spending accounts for dependent care. This is a pretax account that employees can use for childcare.
Watt sent a memo to the committee stating that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, two million fewer women are working than before. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there are two million less women working than before the pandemic span>
Jeff Rogers, Finance Director, proposes a third proposal. It would match contributions to retirement made by workers who were hired after July 2006. The state law in Alaska allows these employees, who are Tier IV of the Public Employee Retirement System, to have individual retirement accounts and not a pension. They can also transfer their accounts to new jobs within five years.
Watt stated that contributing to their accounts could encourage city employees to stay for many years.
He said that he tried to duplicate the hook that employees receive in terms of defined benefits. They start thinking about job changes, and then they decide, “If I stay longer, I’m incentivized span>
Michelle Hale, Assembly Member, said that it could be a local solution for a statewide issue.
span style=”font weight: 400 It has felt at the city-level like we’ve fallen into a trap of an old legislature’s making,” she stated, referring to 2005’s decision to create Tier IV.
The finance committee voted to move the proposals forward. These proposals will be incorporated by the city leaders and presented to the full assembly.
