Redwood City is keeping vacancies below the new 20% state reporting threshold across every employee group, but hiring challenges remain in management, public safety and specialized positions as the city works to speed up recruitment, city officials told council members on Monday.
No employee group exceeded the 20% vacancy rate, according to the most recent data in March. Effective January 2025, a California Government Code requirement requires public agencies to report on recruitment and retention efforts at least once per fiscal year. Additional information is needed if any city department reports a vacancy rate of 20% or higher, which none have as of March 2026.
“When we have vacancies in our city, our service suffers, and we want to provide great quality service for the people in our community,” Councilmember Diane Howard said
Citywide vacancies were down from 10.4% in 2024 to 9.2%. HR Director Michelle Katsuyoshi commended the City’s overall vacancy rate, noting Redwood City ranks in the bottom three of 11 agencies in its labor comparator market — organizations or other city departments competing with the City’s hiring effort.
Part of that improvement, according to Katsuyoshi, was due to financial incentives and added capacity in the HR department, among other changes. Such incentives include tuition reimbursement to support the pursuit of college degrees, professional training and specialized licenses or certificates. In addition, a “lateral recruitment incentive” is in place for Police Department hiring, where current police officers who join the City’s agency receive $500.
“We also have a vacation benefit accrual for any lateral police officer,” Katsuyoshi said. “Typically, if somebody were to leave an agency and join another, they may lose their vacation and/or sick balance, and so (as) an incentive to attract officers to our agency, we will front load them a vacation balance to use.”
This move comes as the vacancy rate in the Police Supervisors Association rose to 11.1% in 2024, up from 6.3%. In contrast, the Police Officers Association vacancy rate fell to 5.5%.
Since March, “the City has extended numerous offer letters for both new hires and internal promotional opportunities, reflecting continued progress in filling positions and supporting employee advancement,” according to the City.
The City is preparing to issue a request for “a cloud-based software program to help our human resources team streamline recruitment processes, as well as to better track vacancy data.” Currently, if a department seeks to fill a vacancy, they are referred to the top three names on the candidate list — a restrictive policy, according to Katsuyoshi. She said the department is working with labor groups to ensure that anyone eligible for a position has a chance to be hired, regardless of rankings.
City officials discussed similar recruitment initiatives during a May 2025 City Council meeting. When asked, the City said it “continues to prioritize recruitment and retention efforts across all departments.” In the latest report, staff again pointed to recruitment software and eligibility-list rules as areas for improvement.
Also being worked on is collaborating with labor groups to streamline the creation of new job descriptions.
Three employee groups reported lower vacancy rates compared with 2024: the Service Employees International Union Local 521, the Redwood City Police Officers Association and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2400.
Three others reported higher vacancy rates: Redwood City Management Employees Association, Executive Management Group and Confidential Employee Group, which includes employees who work with sensitive internal information. The Confidential Employee Group’s vacancy rate rose to 6.7%, up from no vacancies two years earlier.
The main challenges impacting Redwood City recruitment, according to a written response from the city’s Human Resources Department, include competition for salary and benefits with the private sector, limited applicant pools for specialized technical and public safety positions, among others.
For Mayor Elmer Martínez Saballos, the 83% employee satisfaction rate was a testament to the work culture within City departments.
“This (report) has shown a real benefit. I’m glad we get to see it once a year to see that we are making improvements, although we’d like to see better,” Howard said. “(Vacancy is) a problem every city has, but I am glad you’re making such a dent.”
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