People and Culture director outlines hiring gains, veteran pipeline and safety upgrades for Pflugerville

Robbie Craig, the city’s People and Culture director, told the Pflugerville City Council at its Sept. 23 work session that the department has hired 97 new full‑time employees this year, onboarded 167 seasonal workers and is operating with roughly a 6% vacancy rate as it plans for fiscal‑year 2026.

"As of today, we've brought on 97 new employees this year," Craig said, describing a mix of recruitment tactics that included employee referrals and expanded outreach on platforms such as LinkedIn.

Craig said voluntary turnover for the year stands at about 11% and total turnover at about 17%, figures he described as lower than broader industry averages and roughly in line with neighboring, similarly sized cities. Council members noted the pace of hiring: "That's not a small number," one council member said.

The presentation highlighted the city’s efforts to recruit veterans. Craig said 14% of employees self‑identify as veterans and announced Pflugerville’s approval as a Department of Defense SkillBridge partner, which allows eligible service members in their final 180 days of service to participate in paid internships, apprenticeships and training with the city and potentially transition into civilian positions.

Craig also described operational improvements in safety and incident reporting. An internal incident review board has reviewed 26 cases and recommended training and procedural changes. The city launched a building coordinator program for facility oversight and deployed a QR‑code reporting tool that has produced 65 submissions in about 160 days for staff to flag hazards. "That has reduced processing time by 95%. So down to about 2 hours within an incident, they're being reported," Craig said, describing the new workers’‑comp reporting workflow.

On training, Craig said the city offered a variety of safety sessions (fire extinguisher use, de‑escalation, first aid/CPR, AED and civilian response to active shooter instruction) with 247 participants overall and 35 attendees for the CRAZE course.

The department’s biannual employee engagement survey drew 361 responses (about 79% of those surveyed, excluding seasonals). Craig said the highest scoring constructs were work group, strategy and community; lower scoring—but still positive—areas included pay, benefits and internal communication, which remain focus areas for retention work.

Craig outlined next steps for culture and retention, including a presentation at the International City/County Management Association conference in Tampa, the launch of a Supervisor Fundamentals program for newly promoted supervisors, an October benefits‑education campaign, November open enrollment and a relaunch of the city’s 457 retirement plan with a new vendor. He said the department plans a broader digital transformation of personnel files and processes ahead of the city’s move to a new city hall.

When asked how much of the personnel record system is paper‑based, Craig said much of the employee file system remains on paper for non‑police files: "100," he said when asked what percentage remain paper, and confirmed the city is starting the scanning effort. Council members noted a position to specifically staff scanning did not make the current budget.

The council thanked Craig for the presentation and his team’s accomplishments. Later in the meeting the council convened an executive session to consult with legal counsel on extraterritorial jurisdiction and litigation matters under Texas Government Code §551.071; the council returned to open session with no action taken and adjourned the work session.

What this means: The presentation portrayed active hiring and retention efforts, expanded veteran outreach via SkillBridge and measurable operational improvements in safety reporting and training. Several implementation items remain—budgeted staff for digitization, follow‑up data on QR submissions and resolution rates for reported incidents—that council members asked staff to provide.