America's public sector labor market is experiencing rapid change due to ongoing societal shifts and evolving skill requirements, but shifting workforce dynamics have been in the works for a long time. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, today's American workforce is older, more diverse, and better educated. And while the job market is expanding, employers are struggling to hire and retain skilled talent across all industries, including government.
This comes at a time when federal agencies are seeking to build a more diverse workforce to serve constituents equitably, reach diverse demographics, and address real and implicit bias. As the government advances diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, leaders are working to achieve tangible, meaningful outcomes that will positively impact people, communities, and the country as a whole.
A diverse workforce benefits government agencies, improving decision-making, engagement, and innovation, and bringing unique voices and perspectives to important issues. Yet agencies often struggle to make this a priority. Below are three areas where leaders can promote more inclusion, diversity, and equal opportunity in recruitment and retention, and at the C-suite level.
In recruitment activities
The Chamber of Commerce estimates that there are currently about 168 million people in the labor force, and that number is expected to grow to about 170 million over the next seven years. Governments can capitalize on this growing workforce by expanding access to public sector employment through skills-based hiring, which attracts people who “acquired skills through alternative routes,” such as technical training, community college, or prior work experience, and provides a pathway into a public sector career.
Some states have already begun to implement this hiring methodology and are seeing benefits: Maryland eliminated formal education requirements for more than half of its 38,000 positions, resulting in a 41% increase in new government hires without college degrees and a 14% increase in state employee hiring overall. This skills-based approach is helping Maryland and other states expand their talent pool in a tough labor market.
Holding
The key is not just to find and hire talented people, but to retain them. To grow an agency's workforce, it's essential that managers prioritize employee onboarding, training, and upskilling opportunities, and provide a supportive community for collaborating with colleagues. Once candidates are hired based on their skills and potential aptitude, it's important to provide training focused on helping them succeed in a specific position.
In a rapidly evolving technology environment, prioritizing colleague support, upskilling, and reskilling will ensure employees have the tools they need to do their jobs well.
In Leadership
Any major government workforce program focused on long-term success needs support from the top. Champions in the organization, such as the Chief Human Resources Officer or Chief DE&I Officer, need to ensure that the workforce is provided with equitable opportunities and that an inclusive environment is maintained.
Appointing leadership dedicated to the success of these efforts is one strategy to ensure DEI programs remain at the forefront of agency decision-making. For example, Austin, Texas, hired its first chief equity officer to play a key role in creating the state capital's first equity assessment tool. Austin's equity team now works with 42 city departments to monitor and improve the assessment process. By prioritizing DEI efforts, agencies are better able to implement programs that support employees of all backgrounds, abilities, and skills and encourage them to thrive and thrive in the workplace.
By placing DEI at the center of their agency's recruiting and retention strategies, government leaders can continue to build a workforce that is representative of today's society and addresses some of the complex challenges the country faces every day. In doing so, they can also prepare their agencies to execute on other priorities and trends, becoming more productive, agile, and innovative.
Shrapti Shah is a public policy and performance management expert with over 25 years of experience in the public and private sectors. She led the team advising the President's Office on the President's management agenda.
At Deloitte, she leads the Behavioural Insights practice, helping government agencies design, develop and test behaviour change interventions. Shrapti's experience and advice is sought by governments, the ILO, the World Bank Group and the OECD. She has advised governments in nine countries on developing results-driven strategies, and monitoring and managing performance.
