Public Service Innovation at Work: Part 2

See the first installment from this two-part series on careers in public service.

With historically low unemployment numbers and a diminishing labor force, talent is in great demand in both the private and public sectors. Creating a sustainable local government workforce is a complex undertaking characterized by negative perceptions of wages and benefits, civil service structure, limited resources, and, most significantly, lack of awareness of public-sector careers. In addition, some local government employees need additional background checks because of the sensitive information being handled.

Innovation is at work in Southeast Michigan! A workshop at SEMCOG’s General Assembly asked local leaders what they are doing to create a sustainable local government workforce, in particular, how they are filling key positions and creating more interest in public-sector careers. Some of their initiatives are highlighted below.

Increasing Flexibility for Oakland County IT Professionals

At a time when there is an incredible surge of companies demanding people with IT skills, it is difficult for local governments to compete with the private sector – either in attracting or retaining IT talent – particularly middle managers with critical experience.

To address this dilemma, Oakland County hired a national recruiter and increased its salaries/benefits package. The highest level salary allowed with the existing step system was 40-50 percent below private-sector salaries for comparable experience, so the county added four additional salary steps. Oakland County also recognized that IT professionals – particularly Millennials – value work-life balance, modern work environments, and flexible work hours. As a result, the county now offers its IT staff the opportunity for 4×10 work weeks, work from home 1-2 days per week, and flexible work shifts, in addition to redesigning work spaces to provide natural light and open-plan work stations that encourage collaboration.

“People get burned out in the IT industry, but government allows them to work on cool projects and still be home for dinner with their family.”

– Phil Bertolini, Deputy County Executive and Chief Information Officer for Oakland County

Redesigned open plan offices in Oakland County encourages collaboration.

Maintaining Quality Public Safety in Clinton Township

Police and fire make up 30-40 percent of a local community’s full-time workforce, although this depends on size of community, whether it has volunteer or full-time fire department, or if it contracts with the county sheriff’s office. Where a community does have a full-time police and fire (or joint public safety department), these are highly valued by most residents.

Clinton Township police officers in action

Clinton Township is the largest township in Michigan with more than 100,000 residents. It has 93 police officers and 67 firefighters (with a total fire department staff of 75). The township offers good working conditions, salary, and benefits. It specifically looks for people with good attitudes and commitment to customer service. The main challenges are hiring people with EMS degrees and more minorities, so the township is partnering with organizations such as the Conference of Western Wayne’s Firefighter Testing program at Schoolcraft College to increase the pool of applicants. In addition, the township is promoting public safety careers on its cable network, and increasing its presence at community and school events to showcase all the positives that public safety brings to Clinton Township.

“We are committed to having the best possible public safety workforce and our stringent hiring process can take many months, because we want to keep our officers for a minimum of 25 years…”

– Robert Cannon, Clinton Township Supervisor

Reorganizing Public Services in the City of Ann Arbor

Departments of Public Works or Services (DPW or DPS) provide essential services such as snow plowing, street sweeping, water and sewer system maintenance and repairs, and solid waste collection. These are services that residents expect, but may not notice until there is a problem. Communities a workforce that is flexible, able to work in teams, and has problem-solving skills so they can provide the best possible services.

The City of Ann Arbor DPW was reorganized to provide a more flexible environment, where staff are cross-trained and can be deployed to different functions as needed in response to job vacancies or high need, such as large snow events. This provides workers with job security and a greater variety of work. The Public Works Technicians need the problem-solving, teamwork, and flexibility skills mentioned above. The hiring process now begins with a phone interview that screens for attitude and is followed by an interview if the applicant passes the phone interview.

“We may not be able to offer glamorous jobs or the opportunity to work from home, but we provide a great environment where our technicians can do different jobs and use their problem-solving skills.”

– Molly Maciejewski, Public Works Manager, City of Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor DPS workers on the job in Ann Arbor

These are just a few examples of Innovation at Work among SEMCOG members. If your community has initiatives to recruit and retain professionals to the public sector, please let us know. This information could be included in our publications and workshops as well as inform the SEMCOG/MAC Future Skills Task Force. The task force is developing policy recommendations to create a workforce needed to support economic growth and regional success in the changing world of work. Please contact Naheed Huq at SEMCOG with your initiatives.