Filling the Workforce Pipeline: Targeted Solutions Address Critical Needs by Randi Kay Stephens
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early 15 percent of all jobs in California are public sector jobs; more than 10 percent — 1.7 million — are in local government. Approximately 25 percent of these local agency workers are 55 or older with the opportunity to retire in the very near future. Moreover, the public sector is evolving at an exponential rate, with changes in technology and administrative systems fundamentally redefining what work is needed and how that work is done. This underscores a growing need for cities and towns throughout California to focus on recruiting skilled employees and retaining existing staff to:
• Keep departments running efficiently. • Continue delivering innovative programs and services. • Design and maintain the infrastructure that residents and local businesses rely on.
Efforts are underway statewide to address the talent scarcity and retirement wave affecting local government and the greater public sector. California’s statewide chapter of the International City/County Management Association, Cal-ICMA, launched its Talent Initiative in 2016 to address workforce recruitment and retention challenges. In 2018, Cal-ICMA released its flagship report, Talent 2.0: A Modern Approach to Attracting and Retaining Top Talent in Local Government. The report outlines strategies to increase satisfaction among existing employees. These include the use of “stay” interviews and flexible work schedules. The report also offers tips to increase recruitment, such as eliminating minimum qualifications for entry-level positions, enhancing job announcements to highlight the meaning and purpose of
the work, and fostering opportunities for growth and development. The Institute for Local Government (ILG) leads a capital region group known as the Innovative Pathways to Public Service consortium, composed of officials from local and state governments, community partners, and educators from high schools, community colleges, and universities. The consortium’s mission is to develop a strong pipeline for a new generation of public sector professionals. In September 2019, the consortium published the Public Sector Workforce Needs Assessment report detailing the highest need positions, analyzing the critical challenges and opportunities, and offering recommendations to address continued
Randi Kay Stephens is a program manager for the Institute for Local Government and can be reached at rstephens@ca-ilg.org.
www.westerncity.com
Western City, March 2020
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