Published: May 18, 2022

We know hiring challenges are only one part of the issue when it comes to high vacancy rates and increased workload.  The State is trying to solve this problem with hiring bonuses, but we know that with record high inflation and the competition for workers nation-wide, retention (keeping current state employees working at the state), is just as critical to address.  One thing the state can do right now is utilize some of the vacancy savings from the past year to raise the wages of employees who have been shouldering the increased workload since the Pandemic began. That’s why we’re proposing two additional cost-of-living raises, 2% on July 1 and 2% on October 1 (in addition to the 3.1% raise coming in December 2022). 

Some of the reasons we think taking this step is critical right now:  

  • Addressing recruitment challenges without simultaneously addressing retention will not solve the problem of understaffing and increased workload. We are seeing turnover rates of close to 20%—unless we solve that issue in addition to the problem of getting people in the door, we are only addressing one part of the larger problem. 
  • We signed the current collective bargaining agreement a few months before inflation jumped to the highest levels in four decades. As of April 2022, we have seen 12 consecutive months of CPI-U above 5% (with the last two months above 8%). As a result, SEIU-represented workers are feeling real declines in their spending power.  
  • With overall vacancy rates of more than 20% for SEIU-represented positions, we estimate that the state is seeing roughly $40 million in vacancy savings every month for SEIU positions alone. While we know that some of these savings are currently being directed towards overtime for employees covering the extra workload—or contracting out some bargaining unit work—we believe there is more than enough in vacancy savings to invest in current employees. Doing so will help with retention while also helping to address the way record-high inflation is negatively impacting our members. 
  • Workers in other local government and private sector jobs are regularly seeing raises of 5% or greater in 2022. In places like Marion County, where vacancy rates for SEIU positions are close to 25%, the issue of retention at the State will only get worse as opportunities for better paying jobs (potentially with more flexibility to work remotely) arise for State employees.