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Title:
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Phoenix Police Department Hiring, Recruitment and Attrition Report
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Title
Phoenix Police Department Hiring, Recruitment and Attrition Report
Description
This report provides the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee with an update on the Phoenix Police Department’s hiring, recruitment and attrition efforts through October 2024.
THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.
Report
This year, the Police Department has experienced an upward trend in individuals applying to join the department. In September the department received 305 applications. Factors such as the City's hiring incentive and marketing strategies are contributing positively to this trend.
As reported in the June PSJ update, the Employment Services Unit aimed at an average academy class of 35 recruits and to streamline its hiring process. Since June, academy classes have increased with classes of 25, 24, 33 and December is anticipated at 39 recruits. This is an increase when compared to a previous average of 20 recruits per class over the past two years. These results were achieved by the following efforts.
Hiring Process Improvements
The Employment Services Unit identified four major bottlenecks in its hiring process:
Application Complexity: Applicants found the two-part application process confusing. The process asked applicants to apply first to AZPOST and second with the City of Phoenix. This caused confusion where many only applied to AZPOST and never followed up with the second step of applying with the City of Phoenix. Since the AZPOST database is not shared with the City of Phoenix, the Phoenix Police Department were unable to follow up with the applicants. The process was streamlined by asking applicants to apply to Phoenix first, ensuring their information is captured immediately and the Employment Services Team could guide the applicant through the rest of the process.
Eligibility Verification: Employment Services eliminated unnecessary double-checks, by trusting city Human Resources partners to process the applicants instead of relying on sworn police personnel to process the large influx of applicants. The utilization of the HR team enabled faster notifications to applicants regarding their application status.
Physical Agility Test Results: Applicants now receive immediate results allowing quicker progression to interviews.
Medical Screening Notification: We have partnered with our vendor, Concentra, to improve communication and ensure candidates receive additional screening if necessary, which has resulted in several candidates successfully passing the evaluation.
Advertising Pilot Program
In addition to the process improvements, the Employment Services Unit embarked on a pilot project in August 2024 with ON Advertising to increase advertising spending with investments into digital advertising, out of home advertising (billboards) and increased social media advertising.
The campaign has the following results:
Website, Social Media, YouTube, Meta and Paid Search
Total Impressions: 3,194,424
Male: 47 percent
Female: 30 percent
Uncategorized: 23 percent
2. Indeed.com
Total Impressions: 195,595
Click Through Rate: 9 percent
Clicks: 17,927
Leads Generated: 1,439
3. Billboards
Impressions: 16,145,767
Total Digital Billboard Activations: 387,859
A combination of the pilot program and other efforts have increased the overall applications to the Department from an average of 250 per month to an average of 305 per month. Similarly, all these efforts have helped support the larger academy classes in the June, August and December as well.
For a summary of hiring, recruitment and attrition data please see Attachment A.
Next Steps
The Employment Services Unit will continue refining its processes, focusing on improving outcomes for female applicants and enhancing communication through technology.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Assistant City Manager Lori Bays and the Police Department.