Georgia county’s HR policy council goes digital, boosting attendance, reducing grievances

Key Takeaways

To better serve county employees and streamline processes, the DeKalb County, Ga. Human Resources and Merit System (DeKalb HR) moved its quarterly policy council meetings online. The shift to digital has boosted attendance and made the meetings more efficient by enabling chat-based Q&A and real-time issue tracking, according to Jadia Haynes, the DeKalb County interim Human Resources director. 

Since the DeKalb County Department of Human Resources and Merit System-led policy council moved online, there has been a 50% reduction in grievances, a 67% increase in meeting participation and a 50% improvement in Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) processing efficiency for 6,600 employees, according to county data. 

DeKalb County has 45 departments, with more than 200 locations across the county where staff work, so many people who would otherwise want to attend the meetings when they were in-person were unable to, according to Katherine Furlong, interim deputy director, DeKalb County Human Resources Information Systems Division. 

Between the length of the actual meeting and the time it took to commute there and back, it could take up to three hours out of some people’s days, noted Haynes. 

County survey feedback shows 88% of department liaisons feel more informed and aligned with human resource policies after participating in a policy council meeting. Since shifting the meetings online, attendance has increased from an average of 75 people to 126.

“This gives the employees a lot more flexibility,” Haynes said. “So now the time commitment is a lot less, and more people can participate.”

The meetings are much more efficient and interactive now, as people can submit questions through Zoom’s chat feature, said Furlong. 

People share more often with the comment feature, which Haynes attributes to people feeling more comfortable typing a message vs. speaking up in-person or on camera. 

Policy council participants include directors, deputy directors, managers and department administrators. Utilizing Zoom enables the human resources department to review meetings to better inform the process and make improvements moving forward, Haynes said. 

“We can go back and check the chat too, and see what types of questions people ask, so we can make sure we can follow up to ensure that we’ve addressed them,” Furlong said. “If we don’t address them verbally in the meeting, we say, ‘OK, we’ll take that as an action item and come back and make sure we give that back to the team.’”

Human Resources has received “rave reviews” from county employees regarding the shift to virtual, Haynes noted. 

According to Kevin Buford, DeKalb County Parks and Recreation’s deputy director, the new structure has been “so valuable and useful.”

“We would be totally lost without this policy council,” said Debra DeBerry, DeKalb County Clerk of Superior Court.