Dealing with frequent employee turnover and difficulty recruiting, Manhattan is hoping to make changes to its workplace environment and transform the city into an “employer of choice.”

Multiple department heads echoed similar staffing troubles during Tuesday’s City Commission meeting. Administrative staff told commissioners relatively low pay compared to what businesses or other cities offer in their respective fields, employee sentiment that good performance is not rewarded and growing dissatisfaction with the work-life balance in the organization have contributed to the situation.

“I really believe if we were a private company, we’re probably not heading in the right direction as an employer of choice and we need to turn that around,” says Public Works Director Rob Ott. “And that’s hard to say because I’ve been a big part of that in upper management and it is eye-opening [to see]some of the surveys that we’ve done. We do need to change and we need your help to turn it around.”

Turnover city-wide in 2019 was 11.5 percent and nearly half of all employees have been in their current positions for five or fewer years. Departments with the highest rates of turnover are typically those with lower pay, specifically in the areas of street and park maintenance. Parks maintenance has a 31 percent turnover rate and street maintenance has a 25 percent turnover rate. About 17 percent of the city’s workforce is also eligible for retirement within a ten year period.

(Read more: 1350 KMAN)