IS WORKING!
We Must Keep Moving
Forward and UP!
2 The vacancy rate has dropped below 10% for the
first time since 2012.
6% 6%
7%
8%
13%
10%
11%
12%
13% 13%
12% 12%
13%
17%
14%
12%
10%
9%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
Citywide Vacancy Rate
*2024-25 based on November 2024 data. 3
The Rate of Job Vacancies more than Doubled in
2012 and has Averaged 12% Since
6% 6%
7%
8%
13%
10%
11%
12%
13% 13%
12% 12%
13%
17%
14%
12%
10%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
Citywide Vacancy Rate
4 Despite improvements in staffing, close to 700
positions are vacant.
745 754
883
1089
904
799
693
0 200
400
600
800
1000
1200
FY 17-18 FY 18-19 FY 19-20 FY 20-21 FY 21-22 FY 22-23 FY 23-24 Total Full-Time Equivalent Vacancies by Fiscal Year
5 San Jose Budgets 441 fewer full-time positions
than 20 years ago, the lowest staffing of any large
city in California.
Source: Mayor’s March Budget Address, 2022; Annual Report on City Services, 2021-2022 7481 7445 7240
6814 6699 6870 7019 7012
6650
5867
5427 5522 5655 5759 5945 6159 6250 6413 6647 6592 6647 6884 7040 0 1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
Total Budgeted FTE's
6 7
Memorandum: May 19, 2022,Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies –Jennifer Schembri
Documents Referenced in above Memorandum presented to City Council NEOGOV: 2023 Report—Top 5 Public Sector HR Trends
SHRM: Reducing Employee Turnover with Creative Workplace Solutions, February 22, 2019
Sources:
8 “After five years of service, the City is retaining only 60% of its employees. Said another way, the City is losing about 40% of staff after five years of service”.
- Jennifer Schembri
Source: Memorandum - May 19, 2022,Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies –Jennifer Schembri 9 The Cost of Getting Retention Wrong
According to the City's own sources NEOGOV & SHRM, each employee departure costs about one third of that person’s annual pay, meaning higher retention requires less recruitment resources and saves money. Improving retention is addressing the root cause instead of the symptom.
Source: SHRM: Reducing Employee Turnover with Creative Workplace Solutions, February 22, 201910 Estimated Cost of Employee Turnover to
San Jose
Formula: Total Cost = # of Departures per Year × Cost per Departure
Assumptions:
• Total Employees = 6,605.26
• Annual Turnover Rate (FY 23-24)= 11%
• Average Total Compensation = $150,000
• Cost per Departure = 1/3 of Compensation = $50,000
Calculation:
• 6,605.26 × 11% = 726.5 employees leave per year
• 726.5 × $50,000 = $36.3 mil annual cost
$36 Million Per Year
in Turnover Costs
Source: SHRM: Reducing Employee Turnover with Creative Workplace Solutions, February 22, 2019 11 12 Strategy 2: Special Salary Adjustments
If the City had a compensation philosophy that worked, it wouldn’t find itself constantly playing “whack -a-mole” with market salary adjustments.
Hundreds of classifications either have recruitment issues and/or remain significantly behind the market concerning wages and benefits. It’s no surprise that classifications that the City has increased in just the last year or two needed to be raised again because they had already fallen behind in recruitment and retention efforts and their wages compared with market comparators.
The Special Salary Adjustments methodology is flawed. The City only compares base wages, not total comp. It only looks at classifications with a 10% vacancy rate or higher and completely ignores retention data (e.g. a classification with a 50% turnover rate, but an 8% active vacancy rate would not be evaluated).
Half measures and band-aid approaches continue to leave the City playing catch up and hampering our efforts to retain staff.
13 Strategy 3: Flexible Workplace Policy
The City could go much further than only providing remote work opportunities to 18% of staff and, in doing so, would lend more credibility to it as a retention strategy.
This includes expanding Alternative Work Schedules – like, "9-80's" and "4-10’s" – that the City has historically resisted.
Do not reduce "Remote Work Opportunities".
CMO’s 2024-2025 Cost Control Measures Memo (12-4-2024):
14 Strategy 4: Mentoring Program
The City claims that its staff mentoring program is a part of its retention strategy despite only 29 staff – or less than 1% of staff – participating in the program. 15 Strategy 5: New Employee Welcome (New
staff orientation)
New Employee Orientation is not part of a retention strategy. 16 Strategy 6: Employee Experience
Conversations (EECs)
The City claims it has hundreds of City leaders “trained in employee experience conversations.” These are similar to “stay interviews,” which have replaced exit interviews as Human Resource professionals with new strategies for employees to explore what is important to them as individuals, considering their satisfaction, engagement, and motivation at work.
These are laudable and vital efforts, which is why the Union is frustrated that the City doesn’t track their conversations and results, nor does the City require or set any goals for managers to perform these conversations.
What gets measured gets done. The City can’t be laissez-faire about these conversations and simultaneously claim they’re a legitimate retention strategy. 17 Strategy 7: Human Centered Design Learning
Lab + Innovation Academy
The Learning Lab and the Innovation Academy are also laudable and important programs that develop City employees and seemingly could contribute to a sense of engagement and motivation at work.
Sadly, only 38 and 79 MEF-represented employees have participated in the Human Centered Design Learning Lab and Innovation Academy, respectively.
This represents just 3% of front-line staff. It’s hard to imagine this being an effective strategy for retention, given the significant turnover the City suffers from. 18 Strategy 8: Trauma Informed and Resilience
Oriented Culture Building
Public employers and organizations throughout the nation working amid structural and direct violence are exploring how to trauma-inform their efforts and create more trauma- informed workplaces.
Resilience-based programming is not a unique concept, and while hugely important for a City like San Jose, its effect on the workplace culture and, by extension, employee retention is being significantly overvalued here.
A very limited number of staff have participated in these trainings and the impact on retention must be close to zero.
19 Strategy 9: Wellness Programs and Offerings
Employees understand that no matter where they choose to work in the professional world, they will be offered a wellness program. The Affordable Care Act practically requires it.
City HR is reaching here by claiming that hosting a few fitness and nutrition classes or helping with financial planning for retirement is moving the needle in any meaningful way concerning retention.
20 21
Source: Annual Reports on City Services
As Budgeted Staffing Levels Dropped and Vacancies Grew, Residents Reported Less Satisfaction with City Services
0 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
8 9
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Full Time City Staff per 1,000 Residents and Reported Satisfaction with City Services 2002 - 2022
Residents Rating City Services as Good/Excellent or Satisfactory/Somewhat Satisfactory Staff per 1,000 Residents 22 The Unseen
Looming
Crisis
The City has MAJOR
problems on the immediate
horizon that, left unaddressed,
will balloon into
insurmountable negative
effects for resident services.
Retention Emergency
The City is spending untold millions on rehiring
and retraining 55% of its workforce every 5
years
Recruitment Efforts from Other Agencies
Other Agencies are already implementing tactics to stand out as employers to ensure their service delivery levels, leaving San Jose further in jeopardy.
The Great Resignation
Significant numbers of employees are
eligible to retire in the next 5 years
Union Coalition Plan
.
Retain Existing Staff
Stop the Staffing Problem
from Returning
City workers need above market wage
increases to make us competitive.
We need benefits that compete with
other Silicon Valley employers and are
attractive to newer professionals.
Provide incentives to keep existing employees
from leaving and stop the endless cycle of
costly recruitment and training.
Make improvements as determined by each
Union in their respective contracts
Put metrics and processes in place that stop
classifications from becoming understaffed and
addressing where it becomes an issue
Raise Wages
Significantly
Attract New Professionals
Entering the Workforce
Union Specific
Enhancements
24 SF.gov Vacancy Dashboard
Source: SF.gov Vacancy Dashboard
25 SF.gov Vacancy Dashboard
Source: SF.gov Vacancy Dashboard 26