Innovative Human Capital Strategies

Frenship ISD shares Human Capital Strategies for Auxillary Staff

Districts across the State are not only facing teacher shortages, but they are struggling with auxillary staff shortages as well. Frenship ISD is located in the Lubbock area, and according to their district website, is “designated as one of the fast-growing school districts in Texas, Frenship’s enrollment grows approximately 2-5% each year. Today, approximately 1,300 Frenship staff members serve more than 11,100 students across 14 campuses in the Wolfforth and Lubbock communities.” Heath Simpson, Frenship ISD Director is Human Resources, states “this past spring we found ourselves short around 20 custodians. We normally employ around 83, so this really put is in a bind since we were beginning our summer cleaning and waxing. To help lighten the load on our auxiliary staff, we hired a crew of High School students to remove the furniture from the classrooms while our custodial crew cleaned the rooms and waxed the floors. When the rooms were finished, the high school students would come back through and move the classroom furniture back. Having 14 campuses, this helped us stay on schedule but also kept our custodial injuries down.” simpson goes on to say, “as we got ready to kick off the school year in August, we were still short around 20 custodians and needed to find a creative way to recruit and retain our staff as we began the year. So, we came up with a Recruitment and Retention bonus.”

During our face-to-face meeting held with all auxiliary staff at the beginning of the year, Frenship ISD created a flyer, passed it out, and explained how employees could earn an extra $100. • If someone came in, interviewed, and said that they were recruited by a current staff member, we would add that staff member to a spreadsheet (only if hired). • If we hired that person and if they were employed for 90 days, then the staff member that recruited them would earn a $100 bonus. • This is a onetime bonus for new employees.

If they work 90 days, then leave and try to come back, then they are not eligible for the bonus again. • After the 90 days is up, someone in the auxiliary office will complete a form to document that the 90 days is up. • This form will notify HR and the Business office that someone has completed their 90 days of employment and a $100 bonus needs to be awarded. Over the next couple of weeks, Frenship ISD had a rush of new applicants and quickly became full staffed. They currently have 14 staff members waiting on this recruitment bonus and some of the staff members will receive multiple bonuses. The first round of bonuses will be awarded late in late November. If this continues to be successful, then Frendship ISD plans to to visit with others in the district and try to apply this to their teachers and support staff. TASPA appreciates Frenship ISD for sharing their strategies. If you would like to include strategies your district is employing, please contact Chandelle Crane.