Amending the personnel policies manual: Nygren wanted the personnel policies changed to hire people, and they have been

Navajo Times

WINDOW ROCK

As of Monday, the Navajo Nation is hiring again.

After three attempts over 90 days, Division of Human Resources Director Debbie Nez-Manuel and Division of Social Services Director Thomas Cody were able to shepherd necessary changes to the Nation’s hiring policies that hadn’t been changed in decades.

In April, the Council’s Health, Education, and Human Services Committee approved a change in the Navajo Nation Personnel Policies Manual that would permit job applicants to be hired and go to work while their background checks are being processed.

The change takes effect immediately.

The hiring is referred to as “a provisional basis.” The applicant is hired and goes to work, but if something arises in their background that is questionable, it is brought before a review committee.

The committee will examine the situation, consider the circumstances and determine the next steps. Their rights as employees will be a conversation leaning heavily toward working out details.

If the check remains “non-favorable,” the employee is released knowing they cannot take action against the Nation.

“Our goal is to hire people, so we want to look at what we can do to support and empower the employee,” Nez-Manuel said. “Everyone else can talk in deficits. We’re going to talk in positives.”

This policy change will permit the Department of Personnel Management to shrink the 2,100 position vacancies in the tribal government. Work in almost every division is proceeding at a snail’s pace or not getting done at all.
“It takes human power and motivation to move forward,” she said.

Cody uses his division as an example.

“I have over 600 positions within the division (of social services),” he said, “Only 350 are filled. The provision to hire will allow me to bring in people while they’re going in through background checks, and that will greatly decrease the vacancies which the president promised.”

“It’s decades old,” Nez-Manuel said. “We don’t mess around. The president said, ‘Get it done now, Debbie.’ This is the president’s commitment from last year. I’m really grateful I’m working with a leader that is going to make it happen.”

As it was, program managers throughout the divisions have had the option to request a background check that went back five years, 10 years, or back to age 18, irrespective of the applicant’s age. That decision should have been made depending on the position’s sensitivity.

Those with the most sensitive job – those who work with money, police, anyone who carries a firearm, social workers, Head Start employees, or those who work with older people – would have a complete, intensive background check.

What was happening, however, is that some were mostly “cutting and pasting,” and many applicants were being assigned the comprehensive background check, even maintenance workers.

“The current system with the background check is very invasive,” said Human Resource Deputy Director Nathaniel Brown. “That’s what we’re here to change. And the key thing is the Navajo Nation personnel policy manual. It’s the hiring process.”

Two separate divisions are charged with background investigations. First is the Office of Background Investigations, also known as OBI, with the Division of Human Resources led by Nez-Manuel.

The second is the Information Management Section, also known as IMS, in the Division of Public Safety, led by Director Michael Anderson.

Because of a staff shortage and external requests coming from many other tribes, organizations, or agencies, taking six or seven months waiting for a background check to be completed was not uncommon.

“In the meantime, applicants often secure another job off the Navajo Nation,” Cody said. “So we are losing people because people are waiting for their background checks. The problem is rooted in lack of technology and outdated policies.”

Nez-Manuel said that the policy change is simple, but its application may not be as easy because of the human element and training needs.

“Today, in 2023, we’re also helping our current personnel unlearn practices that have been in place,” she said. “So this transition means we’re addressing all of these policies, old practices, and reducing divisions working in silos. This continues to be a big conversation.”

“That keeps us from hiring our own people, Navajos,” Cody said. “Our vision is to hire as many of our people all over the Navajo Nation, and this is coming from the president.”

“If they don’t have skills or experience, bring them on through Workforce Development,” Nez-Manuel said. “This is tapping into one of the greatest resources the Navajo Nation has, which is our human resources.”

---