Amid wave of new Sonoma County hires, recent survey highlights leadership and management issues

In less than two years, Sonoma County has made big strides in reducing the level of vacancies in its workforce, gains that county officials highlighted Friday during a special meeting of the Board of Supervisors.

But during that same meeting, county officials cited a recent survey of 2,318 employees that showed that 709, or under a third, planned to leave their county jobs. Career advancement, salary and benefits were cited as the main factors for those planning to exit.

The county survey, completed with an outside consultant, found employees are mostly happy with their work and view it as important but many have concerns about workforce leadership, culture and workload.

Supervisor Chris Coursey and Board Chair Lynda Hopkins zeroed in on one of the survey’s key findings: a large gap in how employees and their bosses viewed those same workplace elements.

According to the survey, 88% of “senior leaders“ said they valued their employees’ ideas. In contrast, 53% of line staff said senior leaders valued employee ideas.

Also, 89% of senior leaders said they believed their actions were consistent with department values, while 64% of employees answered the same question in the affirmative.

“That is a real call for leaders to reevaluate how they’re running their departments,” said Coursey.

Hopkins said she would like to see the county look closer at the disparity between “line-level staff and higher management.” She also stressed the need to create more inclusive and collaborative work environments.

Friday’s discussion was the first meeting on vacancies, recruitment and retention under a new state mandate requiring public agencies to hold a public hearing on the state of the workforce. Those hearings must be held before the adoption of budgets.

Janell Crane, the county’s human resources director, said the county had made significant improvements to workforce vacancies that spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Crane said that as of March 4, the county’s overall vacancy rate was 8.36%. That rate was 13% in August 2023, when vacancies in critical positions at key departments reached as high as 40%.

Staffing shortages in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic were the worst the county had seen since the Great Recession a decade and a half earlier.

A six-month Press Democrat investigation showed the vacancy rates — the highest since the Great Recession a decade and a half earlier — impacted delivery of essential services for vulnerable residents, including Medi-Cal recipients and mental health care patients, even as the diminished workforce struggled with rising workloads, overtime and burnout.

The staffing shortages prompted county officials to launch a number of recruitment initiatives, including hiring bonuses, targeted job fairs and changing job qualification requirements.

The county brought in CPS HR Consulting, a public agency that specializes in assisting local governments, to survey how employees feel about working for the county.

To date, the county has spent $21,000 on CPS HR Consulting’s services. That cost is expected to reach $63,000 as the firm continues with its tasks, which will include hosting employee focus groups, said Crane

The survey, conducted in November 2024, asked questions about job satisfaction, workplace culture, leadership, future plans and any experiences with harassment or discrimination. About half the county’s 4,000-plus employees responded to the survey.

It sought to assess employee engagement based on the level of job satisfaction, motivation, pride in work and personal connection with the county as an employer.

Major findings included: the number of employees “not engaged” with their work jumped significantly after three years of employment, to 18%- 20%; fully remote workers had the highest disengagement score, at 47%, while remote workers with the option of on-site work had the lowest “not engaged” score, at 14%; on-site employees had the highest engagement score, at 37%.

The survey also delved into discrimination or harassment experienced at work. Employees were asked: “Who discriminated against you?”

A third of the 255 respondents to that question said other employees discriminated against them while 13% said the source of harassment or discrimination was members of the public.

Crane said the next steps in the county’s workforce evaluation include focus groups and a closer analysis of the data, looking at demographics and individual departments.

Future surveys could be done every two years to help track the county’s progress, Crane said.

“The work ahead isn’t going to be solved with a single initiative or policy,” she said. “This is going to require some sustained commitment and attention on our part and collaboration with departments to get this work done.”

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or [email protected]. On Twitter @MurphReports.