We are committed to being a strategic partner with city departments by providing outstanding customer service in attracting, retaining, developing and deploying a high-performance, diverse workforce in support of the changing needs of the organization.
Department Mission
We are committed to being a strategic partner by providing outstanding customer service and stewardship of resources in attracting and retaining a high-performance, diverse workforce in support of the changing needs of the organization.
Department Vision
We empower employees to be collaborative, innovative, and responsible, one person at a time, throughout the work life cycle.
Department Goals
We are committed to being a strategic partner with city departments by providing outstanding customer service in attracting, retaining, developing and deploying a high-performance, diverse workforce in support of the changing needs of the organization. As a business partner to each of the city’s departments, the HR Department promotes the sound management of employee resources and best practices for the city that fulfill community needs and citizen expectations.
Work Culture and High Performance Organization Focus – Continue to implement human resources programs that focus on the desired high performance work culture, and that support the city’s core values of Exceptional Public Service, Stewardship, Commitment to Employees, Integrity, and Innovation.
Organizational Workforce Development – Implement improvements to the city’s learning management and employees’ performance management systems with a One City performance evaluation process, which includes annual goal setting, individual development plans, ongoing feedback between supervisors and employees throughout the year, training for all managers in people management fundamentals, and training for all employees to strengthen the demonstration of the city’s core competencies of customer focus, instilling trust, communicating effectively, and cultivating innovation.
Diversity and Inclusion - Continue to implement strategies and programs that result in the city’s workforce demographics reflecting the community that we serve, increasing access and opportunities, and a supportive, respectful, and inclusive work environment and community.
Metric 1: Annual Voluntary Turnover Rate
This metric represents the percentage of employees that left the city voluntarily within the calendar year. This figure excludes involuntary terminations, temporary assignments, and retirements.
How was this calculated?
This metric is computed by dividing the number of voluntary separations by the average number of employees throughout the year.
Data:
Why is this important?
Tracking employee turnover provides one perspective to indicate the level of the city’s employee engagement and effectiveness of people management strategies. It is a broad metric that when combined with demographic data and exit surveys leads us to a deeper understanding of who’s leaving and why they are leaving. This and other metrics enable the city to determine the effectiveness of our engagement and retention initiatives and drive action to improve performance.
Turnover can be impacted by both internal and external factors, so when considering the impact of turnover, it is important to take into account the current rate reflected in the region and industry. According to the 2023 US Mercer Turnover Survey, the average turnover rate in the U.S. was about 17.3% between 2022 and 2023. In 2022, the City's annual voluntary turnover rate was 8.1%. While this is an increase of 3.6% from 4.5% in 2021, it is in step with what other similar jurisdictions and organizations are experiencing. The City understands the importance of employee engagement and low turnover in order to be a high performing organization focused on supporting the community, and will continue to take steps to increase retention of all employees.
What are the next steps?
We will evaluate Human Resources programs to determine appropriate adjustments and best practices to incorporate. We will also combine voluntary turnover data, demographic data for those leaving the city, and exit surveys to discover areas where we can target efforts to increase retention.
Contact Name: Bellevue HR
Contact Email: BellevueHR@bellevuewa.gov
Contact Phone Number: 425-452-6838