“Knowing how much institutional knowledge is going to be walking out the door—it’s going to have an impact,” one employee said.
At 11:30 am on Friday, November 14, more than 100 King County employees, including some who had worked at the county for decades, were called into a meeting about the future of their employment with the county.
The message they received from an HR representative was simple but alarming: The new King County Executive, Girmay Zahilay, would be reorganizing the entire executive branch, starting with the roughly 150 positions that answer to him. If you get a call by the end of the day on Monday, you still have a job. If not, you can apply for a different position, along with the roughly 1,200 people who have already submitted applications…