(Illustration by iStock/VectorMine)
As of 2023, nearly 20 million people are employed by the government at the state and local level. State and local government employees play a significant role in supporting and uplifting their local communities by making a direct impact through the essential services they provide such as policing, engineering, maintenance, skilled trades, dispatch, and information technology. Despite playing a crucial role, government agencies across the United States are facing a challenge.
Last year, 114,500 government workers retired, with more departures imminent as the Gen X workforce—comprising 42 percent of government employees— eyes retirement. With only 8 percent of government employees under the age of 30, agencies need help to prepare for this impending generational shift and find an effective way to attract a younger workforce.
This generational imbalance is even impacting booming states like Colorado. While the state’s economy is ranked number 4 in the nation by US News and World Report, the Colorado Department of Personnel & Administration reported a public sector vacancy rate of 23 percent via the Denver Post, with 7,500 state government positions open as of July 19, 2023. Gen Z has the power to help solve this problem and strengthen the government’s impact—but first, the public sector must bring them on board.
Gen Z Perceptions of Government
Gen Z currently comprises less than 2 percent of government employees nationwide with a 12 percent turnover rate, twice that of other age groups. Forty-four percent of recent graduates say they would not consider a government job, let alone pursue one. To change Gen Z’s perception of government, the public sector will need to revolutionize the role of government in people’s lives and nurture a next-gen workforce committed to outcomes and responsive services. That shift could be the key to unlocking Gen Z’s interest, especially because they already aspire to do meaningful work. According to Deloitte’s 2024 Gen Z and Millennial survey, 39 percent of Gen Z respondents said they value a job that lets them make a difference in the world, and only 32 percent named money as their biggest career motivator.
The problem isn’t a matter of Gen Z’s goals and motivations; it’s that much of Gen Z doesn’t think a government job will provide a healthy work environment that empowers them to create positive social change. Many are disillusioned with our politics and may doubt that public service work can achieve real solutions for communities in need.
Historically, many government agencies measured the effectiveness of their programs and services by how many dollars were spent, or how many people came through their doors. In part, this is driven by the need to account for every taxpayer dollar and avoid charges of waste. But it’s rooted in the belief that public dollars will solve every problem and that we can apply cookie-cutter approaches to human services. You can review any policy report and see references to how much money an agency has spent, with the attendant inference indicating that the amount of money spent itself is a success. That’s only true if the agency takes an approach that ties those dollars to specific community-defined and generated outcomes that measurably improve lives.
A compliance-driven culture of government that isn’t responsive to the needs of communities puts civil service in unnecessary conflict with the values of younger generations who want to do work that positively impacts the world. Therefore, the public sector must apply an outcomes-driven model, which focuses on the jobs people want to accomplish and the outcomes they want to achieve for greater impact. An outcomes-driven model would change the government workplace model to meet Gen Z where they are and can show them and future public servants that the field rewards creativity, risk-taking, and innovation.
As two people who see this problem up close in our day-to-day work advising the public sector at Third Sector (Caroline) and working in Colorado’s Department of Personnel (Tony) we offer examples of how the sector can focus on outcomes and use a sector strategies approach to recruit talent that will help shift government’s workplace culture and make it more attractive to Gen Z.
Workplace Culture Shift to Outcomes
One example of an outcomes-focused approach is the Governor’s Dashboard in Colorado. This innovative digital report card displays data indicating progress (or regression) toward the state’s desirable outcomes in line with the governor’s objectives: reforming the state’s hiring practice to adopt skills-based hiring initiatives; creating new and sustaining existing rural employment opportunities; increasing infant and toddler care; transitioning to cleaner sources of energy and improving air quality; improving and expanding public parks and spaces; and increasing the number of treatment beds for youth with complex behavioral health needs. Initiatives and products like this dashboard help demonstrate to Gen Z that their work within the public sector can result in measurable, impactful outcomes in the communities they serve.
Here’s another example from California: In 2023, the state invested $5 million over 5 years in the Transformational Change Partnership as one strategy to address the ongoing behavioral health workforce crisis and transform how it delivers behavioral health services across the state to improve outcomes and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in care. The partnership supports a cohort of managers and staff from county behavioral health departments as they transform services, improve results, and reduce racial and ethnic disparities.
Studies show that individuals working in behavioral health are often doing so because of a desire to make a difference. But few professional behavioral health training programs provide skills in change leadership and often program staff are too overwhelmed by competing priorities to take advantage of policy initiatives to implement truly transformative change. California’s Transformative Change Partnership is one critical step toward attracting a new, vibrant, young workforce because it has the potential to catalyze impactful system-level change, empowering public servants to develop the tools and skills they need to innovate, achieve desired transformation, and provide better outcomes for those who have not been well served by the mental health system. After the program, participants have developed key skill sets that allow them to advance and sustain positive change within their organizations.
Another example where Third Sector has seen the benefits of shifting to an outcomes-centered approach is with the Los Angeles County Youth Justice Work Group. Following Governor Newsom’s order to close California’s state-run juvenile justice facilities, Los Angeles County shifted its approach to support young people by transitioning from a rehabilitative model to a preventative model with the formation of the new Department of Youth Development (DYD). This was a bold step with a long-term outcomes-driven approach to eliminate the county’s overreliance on probation and incarceration by implementing a preventative and holistic county model. DYD coordinates community-led programs in diversion, reentry, education, housing, and support services to address the life needs that may lead to future involvement with the criminal-legal system. By rethinking how to resource a department from scratch and incorporating insights from community members and young people the department would like to serve, Los Angeles County has embarked on a rapid and immersive hiring cycle that will bring in new perspectives and skill sets—and inspire a whole new generation of public servants in Gen Z.
The Power of a Sector Strategies Approach
Sector strategies are another tool to support government’s shift to a culture of outcomes that can attract new and younger talent. Sector strategies are place-based, industry-specific approaches that multiple employers or businesses undertake together to address industry-wide challenges to building a skilled workforce. These strategies recognize that some challenges cannot be addressed by any one company alone. Many companies across emerging or growing industries like nursing or IT use sector strategies to build more diverse employee pipelines in areas where they want to grow, or where they historically have struggled to find qualified employees.
One example is the Rural Employers Infuse Vital Economic Success in Texas (REINVEST), a Good Jobs Challenge project in rural Central Texas led by Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area, a nonprofit community partnership organization. REINVEST is applying a sector strategies approach across three sector partnerships (health care, skilled trades, and finance and information technology) to build economic opportunities for working people and employers who have been historically underserved by economic development projects and business investments. The sector partnership model fosters close partnerships with the industry and employers to create high-quality jobs for workers while simultaneously developing a robust pipeline of skilled talent for employers. The program is increasing individuals’ access to quality education and training that enables them to obtain high-quality, high-wage jobs. As of July 2024, 322 participants have been recruited and enrolled in the REINVEST initiative, and 187 have successfully completed training. Additionally, 126 participants have obtained employment, receiving job offers from quality employers—the majority of which are REINVEST partners.
Some states are already applying this approach. For example, Colorado Governor Jared Polis issued an executive order directing all state agencies to work together to accomplish a “critical transformation toward skills-based hiring.” As a result, state agencies are implementing initiatives to reduce unnecessary barriers and reduce bias in the hiring process by providing a description of skills that are unique to the position, understanding the applicant may have developed these skills through education, training, or past experiences. Colorado’s Department of Personnel & Administration is developing novel approaches to recruit and retain state employees through programs such as the Step Pay Program, a step rate-compensation structure based on an employee’s time-in-job, and the Secondary School to State Service Program designed to help high school students transition into entry-level state government roles upon graduation. In addition to cultivating a steady supply of state employees from Gen Z, hiring agencies will be expected to provide mentorship, training, and enhanced evaluation of the recent graduates within the workplace to help nurture the next generation of public sector employees.
Recruiting and Retaining Gen Z
Based on examples from other sectors and nascent programs at individual government agencies, we also suggest the public sector more broadly build out practices to specifically recruit and retain Gen Z in the workforce:
- Share relatable and engaging social content that gives insight into real government jobs. Winning over Gen Z first means reaching them beyond textbooks and government websites. TikTok creators like Manny the Mailman (@mannyjp22) and Peter Kalmus (@climatehuman) offer examples of how to give prospective job candidates a sense of the day-to-day and, most importantly, the impact of public sector work.
- Offer employee referral bonus programs. Public sector jobs can offer marginalized workers a clear path to the middle class, while also providing more equitable pay between, Latino and Asian workers and white workers, and women and men, as opposed to private sector jobs. Good examples include Missouri’s Show Me’s Got Talent Program and the city of Torrance, California, Employee Referral Program.
- Remove barriers and offer user-friendly and accessible ways to upskill. Waiving civil service applications, lowering degree requirements, utilizing blind recruitment processes, and compressing hiring timelines will dismantle the operational barriers that stand between prospective Gen Z workers and government jobs. Additionally, government agencies should meet Gen Z’s desire for work-life balance by embracing hybrid workplace models and flexible scheduling wherever possible. Apprenticeship programs also increase potential employees’ skills while providing them with real-world experience.
- Provide ongoing training and development opportunities. To nurture and strengthen Gen Z’s desire to make a difference in their communities, agencies should invest in training and development, particularly training that connects the day-to-day work to the mission of improving lives for constituents. The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance invests in internal training units to support all employees in delivering responsive services for their communities, whether frontline SNAP benefits administrators, data analysts, or managers. Additionally, Denver has created PEAK Academy, which has been providing agile and human-centered design training to city and county workers in Denver for over a decade.
Conclusion
The public sector needs to become the winning team Gen Z wants to join. Above all, what’s needed at this moment is an ongoing dialogue about values, the potential for our government to deliver results, and the potential for flexibility between traditional government agency operations and the future of work, particularly with Gen Z employees. Success here will allow us to channel Gen Z’s innate strengths to improve the public sector’s delivery of better outcomes. By providing better outcomes, government employees can deliver a greater quality of life to the people and communities they serve.
Read more stories by Caroline Whistler & Tony Gherardini.