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Riley County HR reports 23% year-end turnover and details leadership training, openings
Summary
County HR reported 285 regular employees, 367 seasonal/stipend workers, 67 new hires and 66 separations for the year, a 23% turnover rate for recent months; staff outlined leadership and supervisory training programs planned for 2025.
Riley County’s human resources director presented a year-end staffing and training update on Jan. 2, reporting current headcount, turnover, open positions and leadership-development efforts for 2025.
The director said county staffing as of the week of the meeting included 285 regular employees and 367 stipend or seasonal workers (largely firefighters and election workers). For the calendar year, the county recorded 67 new hires and 66 separations among regular employees; the director reported a 23% turnover rate for November–December and noted several retirements and grant-funded positions that ended.
The county has six current regular openings, including emergency medical services, an emergency-management planner, an administrative assistant in the clerk’s office, public-health positions (with public-health nurse a top priority) and public-works facilities positions requiring technical construction skills. The director said certain maintenance-type positions are difficult to fill because of the limited local labor pool with those skill sets.
HR staff described ongoing leadership-development programs funded by the county: a municipal leadership program brought in via Zoom (the “highly effective managers”/supervisor training), the NACo High Performance Leadership Academy (completed by some staff), Flint Hills Regional Leadership Program participation (26-person cohort across the region) and local supervisor mentoring in the health department. The director said the county will continue to invest in leadership training as part of succession planning and will nominate two county participants for the next cohort year.
The director also reported year-end work on performance evaluations, pay-rate assignments and benefit-rate updates for 2025; payroll systems and benefit-rate changes were being finalized ahead of the first payroll of 2025. HR staff plan an overhaul to digitalize FMLA filing and move other compliance records online to improve access and reduce physical storage needs.
Commissioners heard the report with no action taken; staff said they would return with further implementation details and invitations for commissioner participation in training-sponsorship decisions.
