Richmond human resources reports lower turnover, expands training and tuition assistance

Tyrone Alexander, director of the Department of Human Resources, told the Governmental Operations Standing Committee on July 16 that the city's multi-year effort to become an "employer of choice" has begun yielding measurable results.

Alexander said the HR review begun under the prior administration produced recommendations across six pillars: culture and employee engagement, recruitment and selection, compensation and benefits, professional development, and performance accountability. Since that 2023 review the city has implemented a $20 minimum hourly wage, restored participation in the Richmond Retirement System, launched an employee wellness clinic, expanded tuition-assistance partnerships with Reynolds Community College and revamped leadership and onboarding training, he said.

The nut graf: Alexander presented data showing reduced turnover and higher program participation that he said indicate progress against the city's stated human-resources goals, while flagging areas—especially frontline staff trust and departmental culture—that require further work and follow-up.

Alexander provided several program and performance details: since January 2024, after the city moved into the Virginia Retirement System (VRS), 537 former city employees returned to city employment; 129 city employees used tuition-assistance or Reynolds Community College programs as of June 30, including 109 in the tuition-assistance program specifically. Of those 109, 66 were in public-safety roles (54 in fire, 12 in police), Alexander said. He also reported 20 employees completed Reynolds professional-development classes, 10 employees completed commercial-driver-license training and seven completed HVAC training offered by the city.

On workforce metrics, Alexander said the city's projected turnover rate for the fiscal year was 10.3 percent, the non-termination separation rate about 8.1 percent, and the aggregated vacancy rate through the third quarter about 15.3 percent (he said the final calculation might be roughly 14.9 percent after final data reconciliation).

Alexander described recent and planned training and engagement work: creation of an employee-engagement unit inside HR, 16 bargaining-unit training sessions in June and July (including the Teamsters contract), a revamped new-leader orientation, a four-month leader cohort pilot (monthly engagements, blended learning), summer compliance "policy boot camps" and a mayor's fellows 10-week internship program. He also said the department is beta-testing a NEOGOV electronic performance-management module with a handful of offices (HR, PDR, Parks and Recreation, Mayor's Office, Council Chief of Staff) ahead of a broader launch.

Council members asked about comparators and drivers of retention. Alexander said national public-sector turnover ranges roughly 10–15 percent and that Richmond's rate has dropped from 15.7 percent in 2020–22 to 12.2 percent in FY23, 11 percent in FY24 and 10.3 percent in the current year. He told council members the city received about 810 survey responses to a recent engagement survey conducted April 14–29 and that staff plan follow-up focus groups and additional analysis to understand differences in trust and culture across job categories.

Committee members pressed for a vacancy report on HR metrics; Alexander said staff expect to finalize the quarterly vacancy report within about one to two weeks and that it would be scheduled for one of the committee's upcoming meetings so council receives its required quarterly update.

Ending: Alexander said internal audit has been collaborating with HR to close legacy audit items; he reported the number of inherited open audit items has dropped and staff are working with internal audit to clear the remaining entries. The committee asked staff to route the HR vacancy and quarterly metrics to the September or October meeting as part of the committee's revised schedule.