Joplin losing dozens of employees a year as city struggles to compete with private-sector wages

Joplin loses as many as 100 employees each year, with some leaving for jobs that pay nearly twice as much.

During Monday night's City Council work session, Human Resources Director Michelle Ducre delivered a candid assessment of the city's growing recruitment and retention problems, warning that years of stagnant wages are costing valuable employees and making it increasingly difficult to replace them.

"I want to tell you about the heartache that we have in HR and in departments at the city with the turnover. I've stood here for five years now telling council that every year about 75 to 100 regular employees, not seasonals, leave this organization," she told the council. "Many of them leave before their six-month probationary period is over. Many of them leave before their one-year anniversary."

Ducre said she has temp agencies tell her they can't help with hiring because the city wages are too low.

She offered several examples illustrating just how far behind Joplin has fallen.

One employee earning between $15 and $16 an hour left to trim trees around power lines for $30 an hour. Another employee in the Health Department, making $15.33 an hour, left for a position paying $25.

A city dispatcher earning $37,211 annually took a job with Arkansas State Police paying $49,500.

Ducre said the problem extends beyond entry-level positions. Joplin has lost engineers, planners and other specialized employees to higher-paying employers, sometimes leaving the city unable to fill critical positions for months.

She said replacing one engineer took nearly a year, while the loss of engineering staff forced the city to contract out work it previously handled internally.

The city also faces the potential retirement of approximately 80 employees, threatening decades of institutional knowledge.

Ducre pushed back against the notion that government benefits can compensate for lower salaries.

"People need real cash in hand to pay their mortgages, to put gas in the car."

She added that employees cannot use their benefits packages to pay utility bills.

The staffing problems have placed additional pressure on the city's five-person human resources team, which Ducre said is constantly recruiting and training replacements.

"This constant turning, it's exhausting," she said.

The testimony came as council members debated proposed pay increases of 23% for police and firefighters and 12% for general city employees.

City officials say the increases are necessary to compete with other employers, although some council members questioned whether across-the-board percentage raises would adequately address the struggles of lower-paid workers.

Council member Brian Cowles questioned whether pay was the only reason employees were leaving.

Ducre acknowledged that some employees leave because of job fit or a lack of advancement opportunities, but said retirement accounts for only about five to seven of the annual departures.

She warned that Joplin's staffing challenges developed over years of wage freezes and delayed compensation adjustments and will not be solved by a single round of raises.

"We've got a ways to go, and this is just the start," Ducre said.

Council members are expected to revisit the proposed compensation plan next week.