Employment and Personnel Matters

District employees  As public officials, you may hire employees to carry out the day to day responsibilities of the conservation district.  Once hired, it is your responsibility to ensure that the person you hired is carrying out those duties.

Do you need a new employee? Things to consider  What will this person do?  How much can we pay this person?  Will we offer them insurance?  Will we offer them retirement?  How many sick and/or vacation days will we offer them?  Will we expect them to run errands during the business day?  How will we pay any travel needs?  How will this person be trained?  What hours will this person be working?  Are we going to allow for state or federal holidays?

Hiring a new employee  Position should be posted in the local newspaper for a week, at a minimum. Other places to post would be on the radio, on the district website, on job search websites, etc.  You can require resumes or have potential hires fill out an application.  Your field representative has sample applications.  After the position closing date, choose (by committee or by full board) at least 3 potential hires to interview.

Interview Questions You Can Ask  What is your education and work experience?  Have you had any experience keeping budget records?  How soon could you begin work?  Do you have any experience with writing reports?  How familiar are you with conservation districts and what we do?  How do you prioritize work tasks?  Does occasional travel or night meeting attendance pose a problem for you?  Are you self-motivated?  Do you have any questions for us?

Interview questions you can not ask  Are you married?  How old are you?  What religion are you?  What is your birth place or national origin?  Do you have children?

Interviews  Your field representative has a list of interviewing dos and don’ts.  After each interview, discuss with the committee or full board the positives and negatives of each candidate.  Once you have chosen a candidate, notify them. If your chosen candidate does not accept the position, you can either reopen the position or offer the position to your second choice candidate.  Once you have a candidate who has accepted the position, notify all the rest of the candidates that the position has been filled.

Probationary period  This is the time period (usually 6 months) during which the board can evaluate how an employee is working out.  If your new employee leaves during this period, you will need to repost the position.  At the end of 6 months, the board or the personnel committee should have an evaluation with the employee so that you can tell him or her what they are doing right and what they need to improve.

Evaluations  An evaluation should be done for all of your employees each year.  This is an important time because it gives the employee and the employer a time set aside specifically to voice any concerns about the position.  This is also a good time for the board and the employee to revisit the job description to make sure that it still reflects what the board is asking the employee to do.

Document, document, document  It is very important to have written records of what an employee is doing wrong and right.  If you give an employee a raise or a bonus for a job well done, these records can justify that expense.  If you need to discipline the employee, it is a defensible position because it is backed up by written records.  Minor issues (dress code, timeliness, etc.) can be addressed with a letter to go into the employee’s file with a dated time to reevaluate performance.  Major issues (embezzlement, discrimination, violence) should be addressed by termination, but should also be followed up with written records.

Termination of employee  It may become necessary to fire your employee.  Make sure that you have documented the offenses which have led you to this firing.  As district offices are secure locations, the former employee should be allowed to collect their personal possessions immediately after firing and should be escorted out of the office.  When an employee has been fired, his/her keys should be requested, all passwords should be changed, and notifications should be sent to NRCS, DOC, your internet provider (in case you need their help changing passwords), your banks, and any other business or group you feel should know.