Risks in managing the city’s workforce identified by auditors

The City of Portland’s Bureau of Human Resources needs to focus on six areas to better serve the public and its 8,000 regular and seasonal employees, according to an audit released today by City Auditor Mary Hull Caballero.

Primary takeaways for city management to focus on include:

• Responsibilities for personnel are split between individual bureaus and the Bureau of Human Resources

• Recruitment is time-consuming

• The city’s workforce is not as diverse as Portland’s population

• Rising employee benefit costs are a financial risk

• Staff turnover rates and reasons for leaving are unknown

• Senior managers of bureaus are outside the Civil Service system

You can download a PDF copy of the report here.