The City and County of Honolulu recently touted its efforts to slightly reduce its job vacancy rate, which they calculated at 23%. And while they were successful in cutting down the hiring timeline, there has been little effort to resolve some of the major issues that make these jobs unattractive in an age where our concept of work was reshaped by a global pandemic. 

Overall vacancy rates remain high across jurisdictions: 27.1% at Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, 26.3% at the Department of Education, 25.1% at Hawaii County and 20.9% in the Judiciary. 

In extreme cases when workplace issues are ignored for too long, public workers and the average taxpaying citizen bear the brunt of the consequences. For instance, the Hawaii Government Employees Association has reports of Hawaii County dispatchers working 13 days straight with no days off, 12-hour shifts with no lunch breaks, and being asked to wear headsets to the bathroom.

When public servants forgo their own dignity and basic human needs because it could mean the difference between life or death for emergency callers, you have to ask what officials are prioritizing. 

While we hear about efforts to increase recruitment, officials mired in a traditional mindset of work stall progress to improve working conditions for employees who provide essential public services.

The Hawaii Senate Ways and Means Committee’s outdated views on telework is one example of this. Citing complaints and a publicity stunt by state senators who visited the state Consumer Advocate’s office in the fall of 2021 to find the majority of staff teleworking, the committee set their sights on telework management this session. 

The Department of Human Resources Development is now proposing development of a telework monitoring system pilot program with an estimated price tag of $1 million per participating department. In other words, they found a way to waste money on a relatively budget-neutral work benefit. 

As an executive director, I don’t need to purchase fancy equipment to monitor the work of my staff and tell me how long it takes for someone to finish writing a report. If their work can be done remotely, I’m more than happy to provide them that flexibility. 

Employees As “Scapegoats”

Instead of working on innovative ways to make jobs more attractive to a new generation of workers, officials ignore growing problems and use employees as scapegoats. Councilmember Calvin Say even went so far as to blame higher property tax valuations on the modest raises of city workers, a baseless allegation that he later retracted.

In the meantime, these same officials find the time to pass proposals with exorbitant pay raises for themselves at the City and County of Honolulu and the Department of Education. Council members expecting a 64% raise while there are about 350 government jobs that make $20 per hour or less is appalling.

Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, whose county faces a daunting vacancy estimate of 700, definitely gets that something needs to change. Maui is offering a nice $20 per hour wage to recruit more employees for Summer Fun.

Workers want a better quality of life and a livable wage.

But this move brings a stark reality into focus: a plethora of jobs in county and state government from 911 emergency response operators to educational assistants pay less than what these summer attendants will make.

To stop chronic understaffing from reaching a point of crisis as it has with Hawaii County dispatchers or the Department of Planning and Permitting, government needs to figure out how to attract the next generation of workers. 

Workers, especially younger ones, want a better quality of life and a livable wage. It’s time that officials look at ways to make this happen for public workers. If nothing changes now, problems will only get worse. 

We talk a lot about making Hawaii a better place to live and work, but there is little action, especially by officials, on making that a reality.