Dallas’ Development Services Department continues to clash with the private sector in its recruitment and hiring efforts.
The department had 76 total vacancies as of January 23, 2024, with inspectors and plan examiners making up the majority of open positions, according to its latest Monthly Technology and Metrics Review.
Although the Development Services Department (DSD) has struggled to move the needle in terms of overall staffing levels, it has made some progress. For instance, despite struggling to hire engineers in January, Andrew Espinoza told Dallas’ Economic Development Committee earlier this month that DSD was able to fill those positions thanks to hard work and improved compensation.
However, DSD is generally unable to match the benefits, perks, and flexibility offered by private-sector employers, which is one of the leading drivers behind the department’s current attrition rate, according to Espinoza.
Espinoza said the department is being “proactive” by reaching out to trade schools, colleges, and universities and participating in and organizing local hiring events.
Since the department is competing with the outside market for qualified employees like plumbers and plan review staff, Vernon Young, assistant director of DSD, said it has been difficult to get a “good gauge” on what specific benefits to offer candidates to stay competitive.
“With so much change, there’s been a lot of turnover and folks kind of seeking to do other things, but we believe that we have a good handle on this,” Young said.
Despite making progress, Espinoza suggested that the main challenges around hiring and retaining staff boil down to which employer offers better wages and work-life flexibility.
“Development Services is forward facing, 100%. We don’t always have the flexibility or the perks of working from home,” said Espinoza. “Customers come in, they want to visit, they want to consult, they want to constantly air. And so, we’re constantly competing with the outside market, which allows for more flexibility, more work from home, flex schedules, hybrid schedules.”
“We can’t do that for our inspectors. We can’t do that for our consultants and our project coordinators. They got to be hands-on. They got to be boots on the ground,” Espinoza explained.
“And so that does make it a little bit challenging for us. But as we mentioned, we’re going to continue to remain diligent,” he added.
Despite making numerous improvements and changes to make employment at DSD more exciting for candidates and staff, attrition has been a frequent problem under the stewardship of City Manager T.C. Broadnax, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Although attrition has not severely impacted permit turnarounds yet, improved staffing efforts may be necessary so the department does not trigger another period of long approval times, lengthy review times, and permitting backlogs — a problem that plagued DSD until about a year ago.