County taking deep dive on updating employee handbook

YORK – For the past year or so, a committee has been meeting to discuss updates to the county’s employee handbook.

​It’s a big document which is utilized for outlining many rules, fringe benefits, time off, etc.
“We have been meeting off and on for quite some time now,” said Commissioner Chairman Randy Obermier, who has been part of the committee.
Maddie Hughes from the county’s human resource contractor, Zelle, has also been working with the committee from the beginning.
She explained how the committee was formed, with all the department heads having the opportunity to be part of the process.
“We went through every single policy,” Hughes told the commissioners this week.
The county board will have the final say on what updates will be made.
“It is a delicate dance in supporting the employees while also protecting the county,” Hughes said.
Some updates were small, like outlining how some employees would record work time when they don’t have direct access to a time clock.
They talked about comp time, benefits.
One of the big changes is how previously, there was a one-year wait until an employee could start to accrue vacation time. Now, an employee can start to accrue vacation time upon hiring.
“We also created clearer language on when and how to carry over hours, depending on what tier you fall in based on seniority, so employees won’t be penalized for not using vacation hours,” she explained.
Unused vacation time, after a certain period of time, will be paid out to the employee.
“There are some employees whose positions make it really hard for them to take vacation,” Hughes acknowledged.
“It will be a budgeting consideration because some people are in the hundreds of hours accrued,” said Obermier, with Commissioner Daniel Grotz adding it would “also be a better budgeting tool” rather than suddenly having huge amounts of vacation to pay out when an employee leaves. The unused time would be paid out on hiring anniversaries.
The new language will clear up wording regarding holiday pay and observing holidays that aren’t already on the official federal/state list (like an unexpected day of mourning for a presidential funeral, as an example).
Commissioner Grotz had a wide variety of questions regarding policies, which the board discussed, with Hughes making comment regarding her professional opinion.
There was also the addition of wording to define job abandonment. The handbook changes would include that if an employee does not show up for work or communicate about their absence – for two straight days – it would be considered voluntary resignation.
They also added language regarding cell phone use, policies about social media, the use of county-owned credit cards.
The commissioners will take the next two weeks to review all the proposed changes and they will take action in two weeks when they again convene in regular session.
“It’s my preference to get in front of all the employees to talk about the changes,” Hughes said. “We could have mandatory meetings and I could meet with all of them, so they can ask questions and I can explain what all of these mean to them.”
Once the final draft is created and approved, it will be made available to all employees so they can review the document before those meetings are held.
“I want to thank Zelle and all those who participated in this long process,” Obermier said. “These are 50 pages of black and white words. We need to treat everyone fairly and equitably and if we ever need to deviate from this guide, we need to remember this is a guide to help employees understand the policies while we understand some instances might be different and will need discretionary consideration.”
“We had a lot of great insight brought to the committee by different people from different departments,” Hughes added. “And that created a lot of really good conversation.”