Heading up HR at One of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Cities

Why It Matters

Calgary’s tech‑driven HR overhaul demonstrates how rapidly expanding public sector organizations can balance cost efficiency with talent innovation, setting a benchmark for municipalities facing similar growth pressures.

Key Takeaways

• Calgary added over 100,000 residents last year
• HR staff operates with just low‑300 employees
• AI advisory committee governs citywide tech projects
• Focus on upskilling and future‑skill recruitment
• ERP overhaul aims to integrate HR, finance, supply

Pulse Analysis

Calgary’s population surge—over 100,000 new residents in a single year—has turned the city into Canada’s fastest‑growing municipality. That rapid expansion puts pressure on municipal services to deliver more with the same or lower tax base, a hallmark of Alberta’s low‑tax philosophy. With a workforce of roughly 18,000 full‑time equivalents and more than 20,000 total employees, the City of Calgary must redesign its people operations to sustain service levels while avoiding budget overruns. The challenge mirrors a broader trend where local governments grapple with scaling infrastructure, housing, and public safety amid fiscal restraint.

To meet those constraints, HR chief Gregory Juliano has paired his office with the city’s CIO to embed technology at the core of workforce management. An enterprise AI advisory committee now sets governance, security, and privacy guardrails before any AI experiment receives funding, ensuring responsible innovation. Simultaneously, Calgary is rolling out a major enterprise resource planning (ERP) overhaul that will unify HR, finance, and supply‑chain functions on a single platform. This dual focus on AI oversight and system integration positions the municipality to automate routine tasks, improve data‑driven decision‑making, and keep operating costs low.

The technology push is complemented by a ten‑year people and culture strategy that emphasizes upskilling, future‑skill recruitment, and matrix‑style leadership development. By keeping HR headcount in the low‑300s, the city demonstrates that lean teams can drive high engagement and remarkably low turnover, even in the public sector. Other fast‑growing cities can learn from Calgary’s model: establish clear AI governance, invest in integrated ERP solutions, and align talent planning with long‑term demographic forecasts. Such a holistic approach can help municipalities balance growth, fiscal discipline, and a modern workforce.