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SUBJECT/TITLE:Add 1 FTE, Employee Relations Analyst, to HRRM
Department
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Refer to Finance Committee
DEPARTMENT: Human Resources
STAFF CONTACT: David Topaz, HRRM Administrator
EXT.: 7657
$193,805, including one-time Facilities and IT costs
The need for an additional ER (Employee Relations) Analyst is crucial to HR operations due to the
increasing HR initiatives such as the addition of a two day per month New Employee Orientation
and onboarding process, organization for and attendance at HR recruitment events and
outreach opportunities, the addition of a Learning Management System (LMS), and the need to
provide ever-increasing amounts of workforce development training as well as increasing job
recruitment workloads. HR functions such as reclassifications, job audits, and personnel
investigations are also a priority for this new position. A new ER Analyst is necessary to cover
approximately 2,000 hours of additional work in the above areas, allowing current ER Analysts
and the Senior ER Analyst to address ongoing recruitments, job analysis, reclassification and
employee investigations.
• Recruitments: Current HR Employee Relations staff (two ER Analysts and one Sr. ER
Analyst) are spending most of their time working on job recruitments, which increased 15%
in 2025 and are currently heavily backlogged. The city averages 10 recruitments per month
and the case load averages 12-16 per recruiter at any given time. Time to fill vacancies has
risen slightly; data from 2024 through present shows an increase of time to fill from an
average of 35 days increased to an average of 53 days. Since January 2024, the shortest
time to fill a recruitment was 32 days in March 2024; the longest was 179 days which came
in September 2025.
• Other HR priorities have been shelved or delayed or are being completed by managers or
the Administrator due to the backlog of recruitments.
o Job Audits have not been done during reclassification processes. Job audits are a
crucial part of the classification process. Job audits have not been done in a long
time, and the most recent evidence of a job audit dates to 2014.
o Personnel Investigations are not being assigned to the ER team due to workload
City Council Regular Meeting
FISCAL IMPACT SUMMARY:
SUMMARY OF ACTION
2
capacity. Personnel investigations are crucial to the city’s operations and to protect
the city from liability and should commence every time there is an allegation and
evidence of potential policy violation by a city staff member. HR Investigations are
currently completed by the HRRM Administrator and the HR Labor, Class & Comp
Manager through close work with department managers. In the last six months
alone, the HR Labor Manager and HRRM Administrator have completed 13
investigations and are currently working on four investigations.
• Salary savings: The salary and benefits cost for one Employee Relations Analyst in 2026 is
$179,805, plus $10,000 for one-time Facilities charge and $4,000 for a one-time IT charge
for a total cost of $193,805, with salary savings for a mid-year hire. HRRM has already
saved $18,172 in 2026 by replacing two Senior ER Analysts with two ER Analysts. If
approved, a new ER Analyst position will save an additional $9,086 over adding a Senior
position, saving a total of $27,258 by having three ER Analysts instead of Senior ER
Analysts.
Include the additional FTE Employee Relations Analyst in the next budget amendment.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION