Indianapolis Public Works touts incentives to attract, keep employees
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Every day, the Indianapolis Department of Public Works is short from 20-25 trash truck drivers.
So, trash from hundreds of people is not getting picked up.
Public Works has taken drivers from other departments to fill in, which creates a shortage of employees to fix potholes and perform other tasks.
Abby Brands is the Public Works deputy director of policy and planning. She said people notice the shortage of workers. “Probably the most evident, I think, the thing people feel the most is because they are setting their trash cart out and their trash is not getting picked up”
Public works this week was short 152 people, which is 20% of the union employee positions. I-Team 8 was told the COVID-19 pandemic saw several employees retire while others just moved on.
Brands said, “Part of it is due to our early retirement program that happen during COVID. We saw a lot of people take that package and leave the city.”
Many of the open Public Works positions require a commercial driver’s license, or CDL, which is required to operate a trash or larger snowplow truck.
The city is so desperate for people with commercial driver’s licenses that Public Works is paying the $3,500 training fee. Brands said, “And that is for new as well as current employees who we have that are interested. We will pay for the full training program for a Class B CDL.”
If the newly trained employee leaves within a year, though, the city will want the money back.
Getting new drivers trained takes time, although winter snow isn’t far off.
“I definitely think it could be a difficult situation. If Indiana weather were to snow tomorrow, we would certainly be in a tough spot in order to address that weather event,” Brands said.
To further entice people into working for Public Works, a sign-on bonus of $2,000 is being offered to new employees. The money is paid over the first six months of employment.
The city also has negotiated retention bonuses with the union for current Public Works employees. Employees with four years on the job will be paid a couple of hundred dollars. A 20-year employee can expect an additional $4,300 in 2022.
Plus, the city has increased the pay for entry-level positions to around $19 an hour.
The Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council approved the additional funding, and Public Works is planning a multimedia campaign to attract candidates. However, no guarantees exist that the added staff and higher salaries will get the roads fixed faster or the trash picked up on time.