By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
It takes a village to run a large school district. USD 428 Great Bend employs approximately 700 full and part-time workers. At Monday's August board of education meeting, USD 428 Director of Human Resources Tonya Miller shared a new staff incentive program to help keep the district fully staffed.
"The employee referral program is something we want to put in place as a recruitment tool," Miller told the board. "We're kind of already doing it informally. It's really successful. But we'd like to start incentivizing our staff to continue that."
Miller said the program benefits everyone. Employees have the best knowledge of job candidates, and hiring employees from referrals leads to better retention rates and saves the district money.
"It gets employee referrals that are highly qualified, they're invested in the community, they're normally people we want to work with, they're a culture fit," she said. "So you reduce costs by not having turnover; they normally stay longer."
In the program, the district will post an open position. Candidates who are referred by a current employee will fill out the usual application and a referral form. The process stays confidential per district guidelines. If the candidate is hired, the referring employee will receive an additional $250. Another $50 is added for bilingual hires. The program does not apply to administrative employees or hiring managers, and temporary summer helpers do not qualify.
The board did not need to vote on the program Monday night, but Assistant Superintendent John Popp asked for its blessing.
"Word of mouth from your employees, they are your best recruiters," said Board President Jacquie Disque. "This only makes sense to incentivize them to look to some of those people they know would be a good fit."
Miller also reported on a recent job fair held for food service employees. The district was down 13 food service employees after the 2021-22 school year. Food services staff helped recruit some new employees, and the district advertised with local media prior to the July 28 job fair.
"Through all of that extra advertising, we had more applications coming in," Miller said. "We filled eight of those positions prior to the actual event. At the event, we had 16 people show up; really good, quality candidates. From the actual event, we hired three."
Miller reported Food Services Director Kristy Alvord now has her largest staff in two years. Popp later reported that all positions in the district have been filled, with seven positions being filled by long-term substitute teachers.