Finding Human Capital Efficiencies in Local Gov
As labor market conditions remain tight in 2023, managers must find ways to increase worker efficiency to meet their organizational missions with smaller teams. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 58% more position openings than candidates successfully hired in their latest data. The answer for the near-term is not as simple as hiring more team members or filling vacancies, new strategies must center around creating greater flexibility in positions, fostering cultures of innovation and continuous improvement, and embracing automation and machine-performed tasks.
Shedding the Civil-Service Mind Block around Position Responsibilities
High functioning teams must be flexible with position responsibilities. The concept of quiet quitting was much opined in 2022 (Quiet quitting: the concept of doing exactly what is in your job description and nothing more). Some might argue that quiet quitting isn’t a novel concept in government. StateTech describes the “civil-service mind block” of organizations who stick to outdated practices and processes because there is an underlying assumption that there are (and will always be) people available to complete these functions – as though innovation poses a risk of eliminating someone’s role. Hiring managers now face a daunting labor market that cannot fill all of their teams’ vacancies.
Rapidly evolving customer needs require innovative problem solvers who can think on their feet and be flexible in what their responsibilities and job look like day-to-day. Contemporary employees do not want to feel that they are being taken advantage of at their own expense but highly engaged employees who feel that their problem solving skills and innovative ideas are respected and encouraged are more likely to collaborate outside the strict duties and responsibilities of their job description or departments. Implementation might present itself as creating cross-departmental roles for full-time employees or bringing on freelance or consultant specialists for specific projects.
By reinforcing organizational mission and empowering employees to rally around a shared sense of purpose, collaboration can work cross-departmentally to meet mission, and to improve customer and employee experiences.
Fostering a Culture of Innovation and Failing Fast
The largest generational segments in the workforce today are Gen X and Millennials (born anywhere from 1965-1996, with 1980 being the end of the Gen X generation and 1981 the start of Millennials). Millennials will range in age from 33-48 in 2029, when BLS data indicates that people ages 35-44 will outnumber any other age segment in the civilian labor force.
As government organizations transform to meet the customer needs of more customers who are digital natives and as they seek to hire more Millennial and Gen Z candidates, legacy operations must begin or continue their transformation into digital organizations.
Some of the key cultural facets of digital native organizations are their capacity to think creatively, innovate and disrupt their services, and test new practices. Digital organizations are comfortable with failing fast in order to pivot when something isn’t working and course correct. Failing fast is a practice familiar to those in the tech sector– but can be uncommon in the status quo government world.
An agile and innovative organizational culture hinges on having a shared desire to continuously improve – with individuals seeing that there isn’t a static endpoint – the goal is to enhance services, meet evolving needs, and solve problems as they emerge into the future. Organizations examined that function like this have a tendency to recruit people for their mindset vs. their skillset – which results in a workforce that is solution-oriented, flexible/adaptive and creative. Innovation must be an expectation, not a happy accident.
The Machines Aren’t Here to Take Your Job
Machines and automation will replace tasks, but they won’t replace workers – at least not just yet. Highly repetitive tasks (such as data entry) will be ideal candidates for process automation in the public sector. Replacing these low value tasks empowers the employee who used to perform them to perform higher value, less repetitive tasks. Implemented broadly, this can lead to operational efficiencies, and enhance the customer and employee experiences. The impending machine disruption of the workforce is knocking at our proverbial door. An estimated 40% of public sector task hours are anticipated to be completed by machines by 2024.
Technologies that can be implemented in government to benefit customer experience:
Robotic process automation of repetitive, low value tasks
Machine learning to reduce bias and empower data-driven decision-making
Predictive analytics to anticipate customer needs based on complementary service inquiries or requests
In the same vein, the following technologies can be implemented to benefit employee experience:
Cloud data storage cross-departmentally vs. isolating data across suites of non-collaborative departmental programs
Remote collaboration technology to support hybrid or remote employees (and to lend itself to a culture of innovation)
What is the cost of not adapting to the technology-centric future of work? Tthe cost is missing out attracting or retaining on top prospective talent in a limited labor pool. The EY Work Reimagined survey of public sector employees indicated that 63% of government employees “believe extensive or moderate changes are needed to enhance (their) workplace digital tools and technologies in the future”. That sentiment was felt by a whopping 78% of respondents indicating their consideration to leave their job in the next twelve months.
