When Gov. Joe Lombardo entered office more than two years ago, the state government’s sky-high vacancy rate was top of mind.

With about a fourth of state positions vacant, Lombardo signed an executive order in his first week in office that called for a review of the state’s hiring practices and a return to fully in-person operations within six months.

In the ensuing months, he also signed an executive order to suspend certain state employment qualifications and sponsored legislation that would give more hiring authority to individual state agencies, rather than the human resources division.

The Republican governor also approved retention bonuses that were passed unanimously during the 2023 legislative session, in addition to approving the largest pay raise for state employees in decades, which passed along party lines with no Republican support.

The efforts appear to have paid off.

The state’s total vacancy rate has been cut roughly in half — to about 13 percent — since Lombardo took office in 2023, while the rate for actively recruited positions has dropped by more than 36 percent, according to data from the governor’s office.

The state has about 2,000 fewer vacancies than it did 18 months ago out of more than 24,000 positions across all agencies.

“Morale and working conditions have improved dramatically, state employee productivity is significantly higher, employees are back in the office and we are back in business,” Lombardo said during his State of the State address in January.

Officials acknowledge that challenges remain in hiring, particularly in hard-to-fill positions in rural areas and agencies such as the Nevada State Police, but they said raises and simplifying the hiring process have made state employment more attractive. 

“We are a competitive employer now,” said Jack Robb, Nevada’s chief innovation officer who previously led the Department of Administration, the state’s primary personnel agency.

In an interview, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) applauded the efforts to increase state worker pay, but said Lombardo could have done more, such as not vetoing a bill that would have paid out more than $25 million in an arbitration award to some state worker bargaining units, or one that would have increased the state's share of workers' retirement contributions.

“I want to commend the Legislature for going above and beyond what the governor had called for in his recommended budget,” Cannizzaro said.

On Wednesday, Assembly leaders sent a letter to Lombardo calling on the state to hire recently fired federal workers, and the governor’s office in response dismissed the letter as “grandstanding” and said these workers “are encouraged to apply for state employment.”

Robb said he expects to see an increase in federal workers applying to work for the state.

Erin Kinney, a state employee and steward for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 4041 (AFSCME), said the state still has more to do to lower the vacancy rate.

Kinney, an employee in the Aging and Disability Services Division speaking on behalf of AFSCME, said there are still significant vacancies in her division, particularly among necessary positions such as therapists. The division as a whole has a vacancy rate of about 13 percent, on par with the statewide average.

She particularly noted that although bonuses are beneficial, the cost of living remains high.

“When those things do hit the bank account, you can breathe — but only for a minute,” Kinney said.

Why did vacancy rate drop?

Robb attributed the declining vacancy rate to several factors.

One comes from a change outlined in 2023’s SB431, Lombardo’s government modernization bill.

While Democratic legislators significantly winnowed down the original scope of the bill, one aspect that remained shifted most state hiring decisions to designated officials within each agency. Previously, the state’s human resources division led hiring efforts, including determining the applicant pools for open positions.

“They know what's best for their agency, not [the human resources division],” Robb said.

Robb believes the pay raises and bonuses approved during the 2023 legislative session played a “substantial role” in lowering the vacancy rate.

He acknowledged that the state’s strict transition away from remote work resulted in some employees leaving, especially after more lenient policies were in place during the pandemic. 

“We did lose some individuals, but if that fit their lifestyle better, we encourage them to find a position to fit their lifestyle,” Robb said. “It might not be with the state because we want people back in office, and we see the direct benefit of people being back in the office.”

Data shows that there was not a noticeable bump in employee vacancy rates at the start of 2024, when in-person work requirements took effect.

Around that same time period is when the Department of Corrections — the state’s second-largest agency by number of employees — began experiencing a steep drop in vacancy rates.

In an interview, Deputy Director Bill Quenga attributed the decrease in part to the agency’s partnership with All-Star Talent, an external law enforcement recruiting firm responsible for job marketing and streamlining onboarding processes. When the collaboration began at the start of 2024, the agency’s vacancy rate was 29 percent — it now stands at 15 percent.

Quenga also said that pay raises and bonuses made state employment more desirable — allowing the agency to be more competitive against local law enforcement agencies — but that hiring remains a challenge in rural areas, namely the Lovelock Correctional Center and Ely State Prison.

Robb added that the state has seen notable improvements in job recruitment efforts. A recent hiring fair in Southern Nevada yielded 2,000 job applicants after two days.

“We have agencies ready to hire you on the spot,” Robb said. 

Vacancy data

Across 35 state agencies, only two have seen an increase in vacancy rate since the start of Lombardo’s term: the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange, the Department of Indigent Defense Services and the treasurer’s office, all of which have 50 or fewer authorized positions.

Meanwhile, some of the state’s largest agencies have seen noticeable declines in vacancy rates.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), which, at more than 7,000 positions, is so large that Lombardo is trying to split it into two, saw its vacancy rate drop from a high of 24 percent in November 2023 to its current rate of about 12 percent.

However, some agencies still face challenges. The Division of Child and Family Services, an agency within DHHS that has long faced obstacles in recruiting employees — some of whom have reported a toxic work environment — still has a vacancy rate of more than 24 percent, according to data from the governor’s office, though that is significantly lower than its 35 percent vacancy rate at the start of 2024.

Additionally, the Department of Public Safety, the state’s fourth-largest agency and the one overseeing the Nevada State Police, only saw a 2.5 percent decrease in its vacancy rate during the past two years. At least one small, rural law enforcement agency also recently criticized the state police for not sufficiently assisting its officers. 

The state police has long struggled with vacancy rates — and in July, employees’ mandatory retirement contributions are expected to increase between 4.25 and 8.75 percentage points, chipping away at their take-home pay. Union officials said these contribution rates would be among the highest in the nation and would exacerbate hiring challenges.

Dan Gordon, president of the Nevada Police Union, said in an interview that the “biggest issue” for state police troopers is the high share of retirement contributions, especially because newer employees likely aren’t thinking about their retirement plans decades down the line.

“We have a lot of people who can literally go across the street to another agency … and they can make 20 to 30 percent more,” Gordon said. “It’s a no-brainer.”

In 2023, Lombardo vetoed AB498, a bill that would have halved state employees’ share of retirement contributions, and one that Democrats say could have prevented some of these concerns. The veto triggered a provision in another bill that gave state workers a 7 percent pay raise.

“We're hopeful that we'll be able to at least discuss some possible solutions, but it makes it hard when this is something that we could have helped to address with legislation last session,” said Cannizzaro, who added that she was looking to discuss proposals with officials overseeing the state’s retirement system.

Gordon said policies to increase the state’s share of troopers’ retirement contributions, similar to what AB498 would have done, would be a positive step in addressing the high vacancy rate.

“I’m a firm believer that the state has the money — it’s where they choose to spend it,” Gordon said. “We’ve got to fix this problem. We’ve got to keep our citizens and our visitors safe when they’re driving on our roadways.”

Future changes

More changes are underway.

Lawmakers in 2023 approved funding for a study to analyze state worker salaries and classifications. The findings — unveiled during an Interim Finance Committee meeting in January — called for consolidating more than 2,000 job titles into fewer than 700 job designations, a change that state officials hope will streamline hiring processes. These new classifications would also consider any managerial role to be an unclassified position, an “at-will” employment designation that is typically reserved for appointed positions and comes with fewer job guarantees.

Officials expect the study’s recommendations — if approved by lawmakers and the state’s Human Resources Commission — to take effect during the 2027 fiscal year.

“[We want to] simplify the process that was built very restrictive over time,” Robb said.