Significant staff shortage impacts street maintenance crews in Winston-Salem

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) —The City of Winston-Salem has to adapt to a significant number of staffing vacancies in its field operations department, which maintains more than 1,000 miles of city roads.

They currently have a 40% vacancy in the department.

Field operations workers deal with work like street maintenance, drainage maintenance and concrete work. Due to the staffing shortage, they are now having to prioritize projects by importance.

“We’re having to do more with less,” Winston-Salem Field Operations Director Keith Huff said.

If it was fully staffed, WSFO would have a team of 81 people. The vacancies are forcing the department to find ways to get projects done around the city with a smaller workforce.

“We are having to prioritize jobs. Sometimes, you will have to change up the staffing on a certain crew to get a job done, but we’re trying to maximize the resources that we do have,” Huff said.

One area deemed a priority is Country Club Road where they are currently doing concrete work ahead of a resurfacing project set to begin in September.

“We want to get those major roads that are affecting the traveling public in something that is not affecting … the traveling public or the pedestrian public,” Huff said. “That’s something that we would prioritize for a later time.”

WSFO officials are working with the Human Resources Department and a consultant to conduct a class and compensation study to determine how they can increase the recruitment and retention of employees.

“It’s a tough working climate right now. There’s a lot of private contractors with jobs going on, state or other entities doing similar work with those CDL drivers and those folks with that skill set, and the talent pool is perhaps a little bit leaner than it used to be, so thus our challenges with the vacancies,” Huff said.

That class and compensation study is going to be presented to the city council in September. Field operations workers are still encouraging people to apply to help get these positions filled.

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