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Alameda County HR: professionals are largest group; turnover and retirement risk concentrated in certain cohorts
Summary
HR Director Margarita Zamora presented a 2023 workforce analysis showing professionals make up about 40% of county employees, generational and occupational turnover patterns (Gen Z and baby boomers notable), and retirement-eligibility that could create short-term staffing gaps; supervisors requested annual reports and more granular residence/occupation cross-tabs.
Margarita Zamora, Alameda County’s director of Human Resource Services, told the Procurement and Contracting Committee on Dec. 16 that county workforce data for 01/01/2023–12/31/2023 show professionals constitute roughly 40% of the county workforce and provide the largest share of separations and retirements.
"We're going to look at specifically our workforce retirement eligibility, those who, of our employees whom could walk out the door at any point in time," Zamora said, summarizing the retirement-risk analysis and the categories examined (professionals, protective services, administrative support, technicians, paraprofessionals, service and maintenance, skilled crafts, and officials/administrators).
The presentation included demographic breakdowns by gender and race and generational cohorts: Gen Z represented about 3% of employees with the highest separation turnover (16.5%), millennials about 36% with a 9.9% turnover rate, Gen X about 45% with lower turnover, and baby boomers showing a high retirement rate (14%). Zamora reported a countywide separation average of 6.3%, retirement average of 3.4% and total turnover of 9.8%.
Supervisors pressed for follow-up data. One asked whether departments conduct exit interviews; Zamora said some do and the auditor’s office is consolidating a countywide survey to standardize reasons for leaving and destinations. Another supervisor asked about incentives for Gen Z, such as student-loan assistance and retention bonuses; Zamora said the county could explore dovetailing federal loan-forgiveness programs and other creative options.
Board members also requested the workforce report be produced annually and asked staff to provide additional cross-tabulations, including occupational categories by employee county of residence and multi-year trend comparisons to help identify recruiting and retention priorities. Zamora said recruitment enhancements and a succession-planning focus are already under way and that the county will assess progress in the coming year.
The committee did not take formal action on the report; members directed staff to return with an annual update and additional analyses that compare the current data to available previous years and provide more granularity on where employees live by occupation.
