“The Great Resignation” is affecting all workplaces and city governments are no exception.

Council received a presentation on recruiting and retaining employees from Assistant City Manager Lauren Rose during the Monday, April 4, regular meeting.

Data presented by Rose cited 52% of public sector employees leave because of burnout or stress. Between May 2020 and September 2021, the turnover rate for city staff increased from 14% to 23%, said Rose.

The main theme of the presentation was “The War for Talent,” which is how employers are quantifying new hiring challenges caused by shifting employee expectations in the workplace. 

Workplace expectations are changing, said Rose, and employers are having to adjust to retain employees.

Additionally, “The Great Resignation” is another backdrop the city is contending with. The trend has been characterized by employees voluntarily leaving their current jobs for a better workplace for themselves and changing fields entirely in others.

Rose said it is important for the city to consider why employees leave their jobs as well as why they choose to work for a certain employer. She added the top reasons employees leave are compensation, burnout or stress, and too few benefits.

“What this really reflects is the ‘do more with less’ philosophy that’s been adopted over the years isn’t really serving us well anymore,” Rose said.

For the full story, see the April 14 issue of The Sachse News.