Top Stories of 2023: Recruitment and retention become common refrain

Loudon call firefighter Kelsie Leonard puts on breathing apparatus after stretching out the fire hose during a training exercise at the Loudon Fire Department on Monday, June 19, 2023.

Loudon call firefighter Kelsie Leonard puts on breathing apparatus after stretching out the fire hose during a training exercise at the Loudon Fire Department on Monday, June 19, 2023. GEOFF FORESTER

Loudon call firefighter Chris Warren (center) finishes up a hose drill during a training class at the station on Monday, June 19, 2023.

Loudon call firefighter Chris Warren (center) finishes up a hose drill during a training class at the station on Monday, June 19, 2023. GEOFF FORESTER

Monitor staff

Published: 12-26-2023 5:29 PM

Two words can summarize this year’s labor market: Help wanted.

Virtually every industry has struggled to hire and retain workers in 2023, some more than others. A few high-demand positions have stood out including first responders, plow drivers, teachers, childcare workers, and medical professionals, just to name a few.

Sometimes the issue is wages, as the state’s elder care and childcare workers remain lower on the compensation ladder despite the importance of their jobs.

Other factors could be the lingering effects of COVID where prospective employees prefer a work-from-home model as opposed to a hands-on job. At the same time, rising wages across different sectors have increased competition for available workers.

Teachers, police officers and firefighters have been willing to leave lower-paying jobs in smaller communities for similar positions in cities that offer higher wages.

To make up for that, communities like Lebanon began offering $30,000 bonuses to newly hired officers.

For example, late this year the Concord City Council gave the city’s police force an extra $500,000 in bonuses to help with recruitment and retention. In October the department had 11 open positions out of 90 sworn officers, a vacancy rate of 12%. But in 2022, the city council approved the addition of two new officer positions at a time when vacancies were still prominent in the department, making the vacancy rate worse. If those positions had not been added, the vacancy rate would be 10%.

Some have gotten creative trying to solve the problem.

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The state’s healthcare industry started offering generous signing bonuses and paid training after the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing workforce shortages, doubling the vacancy rate for nurses and LNAs between 2019 and 2022, according to the New Hampshire Hospital Association. The state made it easier for out-of-state practitioners to get a New Hampshire license. A team of healthcare leaders developed 107 strategies to recruit and retain workers.

Others, like New England College, have offered new partnerships to help students and hospitals at the same time. Nursing students spend two-thirds of each school year on academics and the rest in a hospital, working two shifts as a paid LNA and one alongside a nurse, gaining real-world experience. Meanwhile, hospitals gain a much-needed LNA who they hope will stay on as a nurse when they graduate.

The Henniker-based college also introduced a Bachelor of Arts program in Community Mental Health where students combine traditional classroom experiences with two paid immersive working experiences at mental health facilities that contract with the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Similarly, Plymouth State University partnered with the Franklin School District to help teachers achieve their master’s degrees, which will in turn boost their base pay.

Now in a formal partnership with the Holmes Center for School Partnerships and Educator Preparation at Plymouth State, more than 20 teachers in Franklin are participating in a weekly graduate course on-site at the middle school. With the ability to earn these graduate credits free of charge, it is the latest solution to address a teacher shortage that plagues the industry.

Most recently state officials announced a program to recruit more police officers, firefighters and EMTs, through a tuition reimbursement program at the state’s community colleges for students looking to enter the field.

The First Responder Tuition Reimbursement Program was launched in partnership with the New Hampshire Department of Safety, the Police Standards and Training Council and the Community College System of New Hampshire.

Look for more partnerships and incentive programs to increase the number of job seekers in 2024.