Bobby Humes, CHRO, City of Seattle
On this episode of The 3rd Question we talk with Bobby Humes, CHRO, City of Seattle about the challenges of running a city in a time where health safety and anti-racism are at the forefront.
Video Transcript
Ryan James:
Hello and welcome to The 3rd Question, season two. This is our public sector thought leader series with people like Bobby Humes, the CHRO for the City of Seattle. We've been able to do this now for a little over a year, and we're excited to have you here today, Bobby. So thank you for carving out a little bit of time.
Bobby Humes:
Absolutely, Ryan. I'm glad to be here. Thank you for thinking of me, man.
Ryan James:
Awesome. So before we get started, why don't you just give our viewers a little bit of an introduction of who you are, your background, and a little bit more about the city of Seattle?
Bobby Humes:
Yeah. Bobby Humes, CHRO of Seattle, official title, director. I'm a sworn official of the city. I'm originally from Long Beach, California. The army dropped me off here in beautiful Washington state and I have a passion and pursuit of service, and so I got employed by the state, and then later on, by the Kent School District. I still miss that place. And then, found myself in the city with this amazing opportunity to lead the Seattle Department of Human Resources. We provide HR support services and products to over 13,000 employees and their families. Happy to be doing that with an amazing group of folks. Though our department is centralized with 117 people, we have 350 HR practitioners across the city in a federated sort of franchise model, if you will. And we're doing some amazing things. I'm very excited and grateful to be a part of this HR team.
Ryan James:
Awesome. Thanks. Well, let's get into the questions. We've got three of them, so here's the first one. You have been involved, you just mentioned, in the public sector world, both on the municipal and the education side for over a decade now. Obviously, this last year of 2020, the one we just got through, is probably one of the most challenging that anyone has ever faced from a CHRO perspective, as it relates to the safety, engagement, communication, education of your workforce. So, I guess my question is, what would you say some of the biggest challenges have been for you and your team, but also, what have been some of the priorities that you've been focused on for your staff and your people?
Bobby Humes:
What has been and continues to be the major challenge, right? And there's always the unknown of HR when you're dealing with humans, and then lay on top of that a pandemic which we haven't seen in over a hundred years, our playbooks were thrown out, right? And so, we are a municipality that is truly focused on the system of government working efficiently. And so we were really, in some cases, waiting, in some cases, having to write the playbook ourselves. And so, some of those challenges were around. Some of the new federal benefits that came out, they were great benefits, but we had to wait to understand what they were so that we could implement them as accurately as possible, and then, it's not just like you flip a switch, right? You have to make sure that you're communicating it well. It's very clear to people, and in some cases, negotiate the terms of how it's going to look for our organization. So that's been a major challenge. I would say that's small fries compared to, I'll call it a burden of safety, making sure that we could protect folks, right?
Bobby Humes:
And doing that in a time that is politically divisive, where public health is scrutinized in extraordinary ways. And so, really having to use a coalition of resources, and we have an amazing communications staff, shout out to Linda Lowe, just to be able to make sure that we're telling the compelling story at the right time to keep people safe. And we're holding people accountable to the outcomes to keep everyone safe. And so, that's been the major challenge. I would say our priorities are consistent with our challenges. We want to get better and better and better at making sure that when the CDC comes out with something new, that we're adjusting in real time, and that is hard because we're getting all our stuff ready.
Bobby Humes:
We get a glimpse that, "Hey, they're about to change something again." It's like "Uh, uh, uh" It's just making sure that we can do that to keep people safe. And then, it's also pushing forward in our priorities on our goal around anti-racism. This year, not only has the pandemic been of utmost important and focus in our work, anti-racism, and the unmanaged, un-prioritized racial disparity in this country. And so, we looked internally and said, "Okay, what are we doing? What can we do more of, and what does that look like for us?" And so, moving on this concept that I white boarded one day and now it's moving forward, called the anti racist HR strategic roadmap, and really pushing on the practice of truly being a co-conspirator in the workplace around anti-racism, making sure that everyone can really feel like they belong.
Bobby Humes:
So, we're trying to do all that at the same time. And also, because we are a municipality, our, I don't want to say final priority, but one of our major priorities is making sure that we're fiscally responsible and responsive to the changes in our revenue forecast, and that we try to be as agile and nimble as possible. These are unprecedented times. I know people are going to be so tired of that word, but in all regards, we're having to have some really serious conversations. I'm blessed to have the partnership we have with our budget office so that we can make sure that we are thinking critically about what our next steps are from a budget landscape point of view.
Ryan James:
Cool. Well, I appreciate that, and I would venture a guess that the viewers of this might... Someone might reach out to you about that whiteboard, that anti-racism whiteboard that you've put together and those strategies, to maybe help them in their world, too. So I'm sure you'd be open to that.
Bobby Humes:
I'd love to share it. Yep.
Ryan James:
Awesome. Well, so the second question is this, and you led me into it. I've been following some of your initiatives and talks and thoughts around inclusion and racial inequality and social justice. And I appreciate it, getting this perspective and the things I've heard you say. But, as you look at the public sector vertical, what do you see as some of the opportunities and challenges in helping drive that messaging, not just for your city of Seattle, but really kind of across the vertical in general. And the second part to that is, because we've recognized in this vertical, the silver tsunami happening, 50% of the workforce eligible to retire in the next five to seven years. What are you doing to attract and retain some of that more diverse, younger generation?
Bobby Humes:
You know, the first thing I would say is, thanks for the feedback on what you might have seen me say and things like that, on social media, things like that. All of that comes from a platform and a foundation of learning. And I'm still learning and on my own journey, and there's a lot of people who have gone ahead of me, and we have a strong core of equity advocates within the city. And so, shout out to all of them first. I would say that the biggest opportunity in this vertical is acknowledgement. I think it's important that we acknowledge what our systems do, what our systems have done, and take stock of that. And, I think we take stock of it in a way that we're actually capturing data on how our policies and practices impact communities. And let that be the starting place for how we start to shift public service to outcomes that change some of the narratives that were purposely set up to marginalized communities.
Bobby Humes:
And so, I would start there. Some of the challenges in thinking about what makes public sector work attractive and sexy, we've got to be better storytellers. Being 10 years in the army, five years at the state, three years at the school district and here at the city, is all predicated upon service. I've been able to do so many cool things in my career that I know benefits and blesses my neighbors and people that I may never meet on this side of the mountain or the other side of the mountain. I'm in Washington state, so that's how we talk about regions here. So, it's an honor, and there's so many amazingly bright people who work in public sector, and there's so many growth opportunities.
Bobby Humes:
There's so many leadership opportunities. There's so many lifelong connections that you can make. Today's my birthday, as you said, and my phone just keeps blowing up with people that I've made relationships with, doing this work together and doing the sweat equity of trying to make our communities better. So, if you haven't thought of the public sector as a place to learn and grow and be entrepreneurial, I challenge you to think differently. There's amazing opportunity here in the sector. As far as the silver tsunami is concerned, I drank from that well for a long time, too. And we've got some smart folks in our data informatics team, and I asked them the questions, "Hey, how real is the silver tsunami?" And they say, "Bobby, it's real if it actually moves, right?"
Bobby Humes:
So, I think a lot of people are on the cusp of being able to retire, but we're not actually seeing that happen. We have a gift in the city of people being in the city for a long time. We have some folks who've been in our city for 44 years. And, the work continues to be compelling to them. And there's also folks who have a different story, right? We know about the economic challenges that happened in the mid two thousands. And then we also know what's happening now. I think there's some challenges in people being able to actually move on. So, I think it's two ways. We still need to think critically about how we attract new talent into our system, and we have to do that in a way that we're actually moving through diversities and we're building connections within communities.
Bobby Humes:
We're making sure that we are looking at our minimum qualifications for our entry-level jobs and making sure that you don't need a master's degree to be a customer service agent. And then, we're also leveraging that knowledge of people who are deciding to stay. They're choosing every day to stay in our organization and creating succession planning. My biggest fear in my role, and I know that fear is not a motivator, is that one of those folks might leave and we'll never capture that knowledge. We'll never know... It's not just what you can read in policy or city code or state law. It's the relationships that they have and how they nuanced those connections to get things done, so, that's our opportunity. Continue to make sure that we tell a compelling story to new folks coming into the organization, and we think critically about how broad that net is for folks who can come into the organization. And that we honor the legacy of folks who have been here for a long time. And we learn from them as fast as we can before they can get away from us.
Ryan James:
Great. That's good, good insight. I really like it. Stories sell, right? Whether it's trying to attract people in, or in my kind of role, in a sales role, stories sell, and it personalizes the experience so much. So, I appreciate that. Well, we're already at the third question.
Bobby Humes:
Okay.
Ryan James:
These are short and quick, and I know you have a great relationship with your budget office, so you said that. But, in season two, The 3rd Question, and I'm a props guy.
Bobby Humes:
I love props.
Ryan James:
This is my prop. It's a blank check.
Bobby Humes:
Yes.
Ryan James:
To the city of Seattle.
Bobby Humes:
Love it.
Ryan James:
Signed by me. So, it might bounce, but if you had a blank check that you could use for really any aspect of your organization in HR for, whether it's various tasks, communication, technology, what would you use it for, and why?
Bobby Humes:
Without a doubt, I would use that money to transform our classification and compensation system. I challenge every municipality to take stock of the... I call it R and D of HR, to really look at the infrastructure of HR and say, "Have we invested enough in this space in order to be able to provide longterm services to community?" And so, our classification compensation system is so complex, like 13,000 employees, there are hundreds upon hundreds of classifications. Some of those classifications are outdated, they need to be retooled. And they're not necessarily telling the story, going back to that storytelling, of what really might captivate someone coming in, or make a job transformation to make that job more exciting for somebody who's still staying. And so, there's a huge opportunity for us to do that. We know it's going to take a lot of money in order for us to be able to shift that. And, we know that a broken classification compensation system impacts people of color, impacts women, negatively.
Bobby Humes:
So, our focus in wanting to be more equitable and charge ahead should really come from that investment. And so, I'm a big proponent of that. My budget office has heard me say that a a hundred times, they're going to keep hearing me say that. It's just so important. And again, I challenge any folk who are listening to this to really challenge yourself to look at that R and D of HR and say, "Are we investing properly in the task conditions and standards and how we talk about them, and how we train people up? Right?" So, if your classification system is broken, that means you really haven't given them the opportunity to give people a chance to grow in a way that matches your strategic vision for your organization. So, something that I think our private sector team gets well, usually, I think it's a place of opportunity for public sector.
Ryan James:
Well, you knew what to do with that blank check, that's for sure. So, I appreciate it, and some good insight. Well, Bobby, that's it. We've gone through our three questions. I really appreciate you taking the time to just share a little bit with us today. If any of our viewers want to see more interviews like this with other public sector thought leaders, they can go to the3rdquestion.com and subscribe there, as we release these every two to three weeks. So, thank you. Happy birthday. I hope you have a great finish of this year, and really appreciate you spending the time with us.
Bobby Humes:
Hey, thanks, Ryan. Thanks folks.
