QUESTION
What challenges are faced in filling positions at the New York City Board of Correction?
4:33:06
·
3 min
The New York City Board of Correction (BOC) faces staffing challenges due to a hiring freeze, impacting efforts to review medical documentations and HR needs.
- The BOC aims to increase staff for monitoring jails and fulfilling its mandate despite hiring freezes.
- Outreach efforts for filling positions include posting on Jobs NYC, the BOC's website, and sharing internally, with plans to expand visibility on job boards like LinkedIn and Indeed.
- Despite a brief increase in active staff, the hiring freeze has led to reduced headcount, highlighting the impact on the BOC's ability to operate effectively.
- Proposals include improving public awareness of vacancies and leveraging criminal justice schools for recruiting.
Sandy Nurse
4:33:06
You know, when we asked Commissioner Jeeha, Was it Monday?
4:33:10
Monday was the hearing.
4:33:12
Feels like 2 weeks ago, you know, why there was proposed cut for the border corrections.
4:33:21
He said, well, you know, these positions are underutilized, they're vacant, and that seems to be an ongoing issue.
4:33:29
That's what he said to us.
4:33:30
My understanding is these are really challenging positions to fill given the nature of the work.
4:33:35
Could you expand a little bit more on what what are those challenges, why is it hard to fill these positions, you know, you could touch upon salary if you want that we could, you know, that we could use in advocating for more funding for you all.
Jasmine Georges-Yilla
4:33:53
Yes.
4:33:53
I would say the challenge at least this year has been the hiring freeze.
4:33:58
We actually had postings for a part time position that would assist our special investigations unit to review medical documentations We had to pull that due to the hiring freeze.
4:34:12
We also had a a part time HR specialist that we were going to hire for.
4:34:17
So the nature of of monitoring inside the jails is definitely difficult, but we want to increase our staff so we can accomplish our mandate.
4:34:28
So we should not be restricted by hiring phrases or any thing of the such, and we will definitely wholeheartedly move forward with billing any vacancies.
Sandy Nurse
4:34:39
Right.
4:34:40
And we argue that this is This is a key function of public safety, which was one of the exemptions for some of the folks from from having a hiring freeze.
4:34:50
Prior to the hiring fees, what type of outreach had been done by the board to try to fill these positions?
Danielle Ortega
4:34:58
Sure.
4:34:59
So the board so I just wanna talk a little bit about free hiring craze a little bit because when we talk about our vacancies and we talk about our vacancies rates, in fiscal year 23, the board actually did make growth in increasing its headcount, increasing its active staff from 23 to 28.
4:35:19
Right?
4:35:19
And so as you start the fiscal year, you know, it further displays the the impact of the higher increase to the fact that we're now at 24.
4:35:31
Right?
4:35:31
So just to kinda talk a little bit about our vacancies and give context
Alex Stein
4:35:35
Yeah.
Danielle Ortega
4:35:35
That we are trying and we are working.
4:35:37
So what did we do?
4:35:38
So our postings when we post them.
4:35:41
We post them on jobs NYC.
4:35:45
We also post them on our website.
4:35:47
And, you know, to the fact that opportunities for internal promotion are important, we also spread them around internally so that our staff are aware.
4:35:57
One of the things that we are looking at is how in the future as we have opportunities to hire is to make more public, our vacancies, and our postings.
4:36:10
And that includes working for job boards, such LinkedIn and Indeed, and also looking at opportunities with criminal justice schools.
4:36:20
1 of our requests of our in HR generalists would also help with some of our recruiting and retention activities.
Sandy Nurse
4:36:30
Thank you.