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Resignations have surged 43% at the Otago Regional Council this year, and include a series of high-profile exits.
Information released by the council to the Otago Daily Times shows there were 20 resignations by December 12, compared with 14 for all of last year.
These include the departure of three directors last month.
There were five redundancies this year, which is equal to the previous four years combined.
The organisation employs about 200 people in full or part-time roles.
Council chief executive Sarah Gardner said no organisation wanted to lose good staff.
"It's always something to think about.
"We try and understand people's reasons for leaving as much as possible."
The increase in resignations was partly because of a trend of people staying in jobs for shorter lengths of time, she said.
"People leave organisations for a number of reasons; they do tend to vary."
Many losses in the past year related to personal and family situations.
"And that's unfortunate because we lose good people."
The redundancies were due to changes to the organisation's structure, particularly in its policy, planning and resource consents and stakeholder engagement departments, she said.
"We also had new roles created, particularly in the communications space."
Forty-three staff joined the organisation this year compared with 47 last year and 39 in 2016.
Twenty of the staff who joined in the past year were on fixed-term appointments, up on 11 the previous year.
Temporary staff were used during transition periods in departments and when the council had temporary projects, Mrs Gardner said.
Regarding resignations, she said the council was working to "remain competitive in the marketplace".
This included changes to salary banding and leadership training. It was also creating more flexibility around location and hours.
The ORC was addressing the culture at the organisation, she said.
"I think culture is one of those things that we always need to work on. It can change quickly with different pressures and changes within the organisation."
Council chairman Stephen Woodhead said that when new chief executives arrived there were often changes occurring which could result in staff deciding to look for "other career opportunities".
"The changes that have come are not a surprise to me."
Mrs Gardner had "very strong" support among the councillors, he said.
"She's only in the role coming up to 12 months.
"It does take time for new CE to settle in the role and understand the region. They rarely make changes quickly," Mr Woodhead said.