Bethlehem Inn seeking to hire more staff to help at Bend and Redmond shelter locations
(Update: Adding video and comments by recruitment manager)
Need for more staff grows; employees filling in as others depart
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Bethlehem Inn is looking to hire more staff for their Bend and Redmond shelter facilities. There are about eight positions available.
The Bethlehem Inn's staffing shortages have forced the shelter to have staff step into other positions to help, providing the needed coverage, Michael Hancock, the organization's recruitment and training manager, said Wednesday.
The Bethlehem Inn's salaries have been raised this year by $1 an hour across the board. In the first year of employment, new staff can get up to four weeks of paid time off and holidays.
Former residents need to wait two years before they can come work for the shelter, Hancock said.
The new Redmond shelter is not as short-staffed, compared to the Bend location. The Redmond facility has been only open for a couple of months, and is still undergoing construction, so at this point it is housing only a few residents.
The shelter has been holding job fairs at work source, Deschutes County, and OSU Cascades to get the word out. There is a referral program for employees and if they refer someone to come in and if that person works 90 days, they can get a bonus.
The shelters haven't been housing as many residents as they normally would, as they are still social distancing and wearing masks under COVID-19 restrictions.
"The pandemic, Covid really affected our capacity here," Hancock said. "So social distancing automatically cut our capacity in half, cause we have bunk beds. Bunk beds aren't socially distanced from each other. So that was our greatest impact.
"And then losing staff that we've had to the Great Resignation. And also just the drop-off in the number of people who are out seeking employment right now. It has been a challenge. It kind of goes up and down in waves, and right now we're at a low spot."
For more information about the positions available and other details, visit: https://bethleheminn.org/employment-
