Local News
On Thursday morning, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu took the stage on the Harvard Club of Boston to talk with reporter Katie Johnston concerning the city's hiring practices. The conversation, a part of this yr's Globe Summitaddressed a spread of issues that impact how town hires recent staff and what the Wu administration is doing to incentivize them to work and live in Boston.
What town has been doing currently
During her remarks, Wu reflected on how town's hiring practices have evolved over her time as mayor. When she took office in 2021, Wu said her government immediately focused on negotiating recent contracts with worker unions and collective bargaining units. Many of town's roughly 23,000 employees are a part of these groups, and at this point an unprecedented 48 bargaining units had expired contracts.
The overwhelming majority of town's workforce had not received cost-of-living wage increases for a while, and there have been many job openings. These vacancies were concentrated in areas where people had more lucrative opportunities outside of the general public sector. But those are also a few of crucial jobs in town, Wu said, referring to jobs corresponding to a college bus driver, a 911 call center operator, a snowplow or street sweeper operator or an information technology employee.
“We had to hire a lot of staff and had to rethink it to be competitive between different industries,” Wu said.
As a result, Wu said town has modified its approach to supporting its municipal workforce. This was done through the creation of the People Operations Cabinet and the Worker Empowerment Cabinet. The former was intended to shift town's human resources department from a “pure HR mindset” to 1 that supports skilled development and allows staff to view municipal work as a profession ladder with ongoing support.
The Worker Empowerment Cabinet is designed to construct town's “internal hiring channels,” Wu said. As an example, Wu said that when town previously needed to rent bus drivers, it specifically searched for applicants who already had a business driver's license (CDL). Now town is accepting interested community members and paying them to get their CDL before they’re hired. Similar practices are being implemented for paramedics and a few roles within the parks department.
Boston is moving away from job fairs where flyers were handed out and folks took home details about jobs they may later apply for and is placing more emphasis on “hiring days.” During these events, staff are prepared to gather resumes and interview applicants on-site.
Boston has hired around 7,500 employees up to now in 2024. The goal, Wu said, is to have a “focused one-stop shop” for community members to directly fill open positions. These “hiring days” are best when people know there are immediate openings. That's why town is increasing its reach through promoting campaigns in places like transit stations and doctor's office waiting rooms.
A comprehensive approach to the longer term of recruiting
Wu said it’s crucial to make jobs in town accessible to a broad talent pool.
“We are looking for great people. “We're not looking for the perfect answer to the questions. This is about just coming along and talking about who you are, what you've done, and having the opportunity to share your own experiences,” she said.
Wu said her administration is in the process of reviewing thousands of job descriptions and considering whether to eliminate some college degree requirements. When asked what the city specifically looks for when hiring new employees, Wu emphasized that many municipal jobs are about reliability and a willingness to accept feedback from residents. Anyone who already lives in the city can have an advantage here because they have first-hand knowledge of how these systems work.
Several Boston City Council members recently expressed concerns about the residency requirements associated with many jobs. As the cost of living rises in Boston and staffing shortages continue in some areas, eliminating the requirements could help the city recruit and retain talent, they said.
Wu acknowledged that these requirements could be a factor because housing in Boston is at a “crisis point.” The gaps between housing supply and demand and the resulting price increases are causing “enormous pressure and displacement” in town, she added.
Wu disagreed that lots of Boston's openings are tech jobs that require specialized backgrounds, and that corporations are due to this fact mostly looking across the country and all over the world for applicants quite than locals. Wu said her focus is on getting corporations to recruit from anywhere.
Increasing the variety of jobs in each community is a “win-win” for residents and businesses, Wu said. However, she stressed that infrastructure should be in place to support these staff.
“The only downside is that you end up not having the infrastructure to support a growing population base,” she said. “We work very hard and at the same time recruit everyone who wants to come to make sure that people not only want to be here because they have the jobs, but can also afford to be here because of the housing and transport infrastructure and what we always talk about.” .”
image credit : www.boston.com