WSMV Channel 4 Audit: TN system of hiring, promoting employees broken

Audit: TN system of hiring, promoting employees broken

A new audit is calling the way Tennessee hires and promotes employees a system that's completely broken.

Many job seekers have reported experiences where they apply for a state job, then never hear anything about it.

Now, the director of the state audit division says there is a reason for it and calls this audit the most important report the office has ever done. And it is coming at a time when the governor is trying to change the system.

The state of Tennessee has dozens of jobs listed on its human resources website, but every application for those civil service jobs go into what auditors call "the funnel."

"There are basically 12 people that assess everyone who applies for a job in state government," State Auditor Art Hayes said.

Those people score applications and then place applicants on a register.

Agencies looking to hire or make promotions must take the top names on that list. But auditors say most times, the applicants really don't want the job, aren't qualified or aren't getting the offers in time to do anything about it.

"Many times, people receive a letter for an interview and the deadline for responding is before they got the letter. So by the time they get the letter, it's already too late to apply for the job," Hayes said.

Also, Hayes says there are so many state employees on the registers and many people know how to work the system that it's often hard to hire new blood.

But state employees disagree.

"If they have problems with scoring, fix that. Change that. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water," said Robert O'Connell, with the Tennessee State Employees Association.

The audit comes at a time when Gov. Bill Haslam has proposed major changes to the system, including abolishing the practice of bumping, in which an employee with more experience can take the job of an employee with less experience in a layoff.

Auditors say it is best to abolish the whole thing, but state employees warn that could lead to the old system of corruption and unfairness.

"Anybody who points to the nonexistence of a problem has to realize we don't have it, because the solution is in place. When we take that away, look out," O'Connell said.

Negotiations are currently ongoing to try and work out a compromise on changing the way state employees are hired and fired.

While auditors don't get involved in the political issues, they say the system needs to be decentralized, so that individual agencies can make the call on employees.

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