Worcester Offers Perks To Lure New Workers

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester launched a new campaign Monday to lure talent to work in city government, including a free parking benefit and a streamlined hiring process.

The city has lots of job openings, but is competing for employees with plenty of other private and public companies across central Massachusetts. To sweeten the city's position, acting City Manager Eric Batista Monday said he'll eliminate parking fees that city employees pay starting Oct. 1.

The city is also removing some old-school requirements for city jobs, like having to get a physical and take a drug test to work in a municipal office.

“We’re reviewing all of our hiring procedures to ensure that they make sense by today’s working standards,” said Worcester HR Director Bill Bagley said in a news release. “For some positions, physicals and drug tests are critical to the function of the job and therefore a condition for employment. But for others, including positions where staff are at in an office workspace for the majority of their time, physicals and drug tests are unnecessary and just hinder the hiring process."

Excluding Worcester Public Schools, city government employs about 2,000 people, from librarians to police officers and tree climbers.

As of Monday afternoon, there were more than two dozen jobs open in City Hall and other departments, plus police and firefighter jobs and laborer positions. See all the openings here.

“We’re looking for people with a wide range of skills, who come from diverse backgrounds and want to make a difference in Worcester,” Batista in a news release. “With a growth mindset, we are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace and hope to see more people of all ages, races, gender and ability apply.”